Left-wing billionaire Tom Steyer is the single largest donor to outside spending groups in the 2014 election cycle. He’s contributed more than $42 million thus far, which is almost as much as the top 33 Republican-leaning donors combined.
However, all that spending hasn’t been enough to significantly boost Democratic candidates. So Steyer’s dark money group, NextGen Climate, has come up with a backup plan: suppressing the vote.
In a memo sent to NextGen Climate operatives last month, the group promotes efforts to "degrade Republican voter enthusiasm." The group’s so-called "Republican Haircut Programs" outline messaging campaigns designed to make GOP voters "less likely to vote."
The memo concludes by urging NextGen staff to "drive [Republicans] into the rising seas," a phenomenon President Obama has personally failed to prevent, despite promising to do so in 2008.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus accused Steyer of trying to "suppress the Republican vote," and said Democrats "should be ashamed of the tactics they’ve resorted to to cling to their majority."
Republicans have a 60 percent chance of gaining control of the Senate, according to FiveThirtyEight.