Ohio just marked a major win ahead of Election Day. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a recently passed law that prevents foreign nationals from directly or indirectly bankrolling Ohio ballot issue campaigns. The ruling ensures that, for now, foreign nationals are banned from financing campaigns to change the state’s constitution, something they have had the license to do for far too long.
The ruling came not a moment too soon. Foreign-tied funding is being used in Ohio right now to push a ballot measure with national ramifications.
Issue 1 — up for a vote next month — is nothing less than a liberal power grab by Washington, D.C. dark money groups who want Ohioans to elect more Democrats. Their solution: rig the rules and redraw legislative maps that guarantee more liberals get elected. Issue 1’s backers are resolute on using every method at their disposal, including millions in funding from abroad, to guarantee that their side wins. If they succeed, the results could decide which party controls Congress in 2026, even before the 2024 election is over.
Here is how they plan to carry out their scheme.
Issue 1 would dismantle Ohio’s voter-approved protections against gerrymandering and impose an unelected, unaccountable commission on Ohioans. This commission’s mandate would allow them to retool and redraw the state’s maps to guarantee certain numbers of Democrats and Republicans are elected, almost no matter what. Every district would have to be drawn to favor one of the two largest political parties, even if that means carving up whole communities and towns to do it.
This whole system is modeled off of Michigan’s failed redistricting commission. The first time that commission drew Michigan’s maps, federal judges determined them to be in violation of the U.S. Constitution and minority voters’ civil rights. But that commission did what liberals wanted: it handed control of Michigan’s legislature to Democrats. Now, partisan activists are spending millions to impose this same kind of power grab on Buckeye State voters.
That’s bad enough. What is even worse is that they are using foreign-tied cash to do it. In fact, some Issue 1 backers are exploiting a loophole in U.S. election law that allows foreign nationals to funnel money into state ballot initiatives. This loophole has even been flagged by the Federal Election Commission for Congress to address, but so far, it remains unresolved.
That’s where Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss comes in — the most influential person in American politics you’ve probably never heard of. Wyss has been a top donor to one of the biggest left-wing operations in the country — the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Wyss has funneled at least $243 million into that group, which is also one of the largest funders of ballot initiatives in the United States. They’ve poured over $100 million into campaigns to rewrite state constitutions, change voting laws, promote abortion and more.
Ballot issues should not be a Trojan Horse for foreign interference in American elections. That’s why, earlier this year, the Ohio legislature worked closely with the state’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine to pass a ban on direct and indirect foreign funding. Shockingly, the very day that DeWine called Ohio lawmakers into session to close this foreign funding loophole, the Sixteen Thirty Fund injected $6 million into the group behind Issue 1. This group then spent every penny before Ohio’s new ban could take effect, baking foreign interference into the process before lawmakers could truly act.
Wyss’ attorney, leading liberal lawyer Marc Elias, even went to court arguing that foreign nationals should be able to influence American elections. A lower court blocked the law, but the Sixth Circuit disagreed with their findings, and in its recent ruling, prohibited the Sixteen Thirty Fund from pouring any more foreign-tied cash into Ohio’s ballot issue campaigns.
This is a crucial win for Ohio. But almost every other state remains exposed to left-wing, foreign funding. This is not an idle threat — this year alone, the Sixteen Thirty Fund has pumped millions in foreign-tied cash into ballot issues in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana and more. Lawmakers in every state should follow Ohio’s lead and ban foreign influence in their elections when legislative sessions begin next year.
In the meantime, while the nation focuses on November 2024, liberals have already set their sights on 2026. Democrats are trying — and will continue to try — to use foreign money to buy their way into power. The people of Ohio have the chance to help stop them by voting “No” on Issue 1.
Jason Snead is the Executive Director of Honest Elections Project Action.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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