What was once the Obama reelection campaign will be relaunched Sunday as a tax-exempt 501(c)4, able to accept unlimited donations to advocate on behalf of President Obama's second-term agenda, Politico reports:
The new organization will be separate from the Democratic National Committee, with Obama’s 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina serving as the national chair of the group. [...]
The formation of the group will make Messina the de facto political director for Obama, and is an implicit rejection of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an Obama outsider not close to the president, as the party’s operational leader. [...]
The Obama campaign finished with an unmatched list of millions of email addresses of supporters and volunteers tagged by geography and degree of devotion that was perhaps Obama’s biggest advantage in mobilizing support for his second-term agenda. The campaign developed extensive technology for use in its organizing and finished with $5.3 million still in the campaign coffers.
A Democratic source said the group will disclose all donors, BuzzFeed reported Friday, though as a 501(c)4, the group will not be required to do so. Obama once called Super PACs, many of which are connected to 501(c)4 groups "a threat to democracy."
OFA has already begun to engage on the gun control issue. Messina sent an email Thursday to supporters advocating for Obama's slate of executive actions, while former deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter promised the campaign network would "activate very soon" the day before.