A purported local, nonpartisan news outlet that has been heavily pushing Virginia Democrats’ redistricting effort ahead of the referendum this month is owned and run by Democratic operatives based in Washington, D.C.
In the lead-up to the April 21 vote on the redistricting measure in Virginia, which would redraw the state’s congressional maps favorably for Democrats, a faux newspaper called the Virginia Independent has been delivering near-daily messaging in support of the ballot initiative, presented as homegrown press coverage, both online and directly to the electorate’s doorsteps.
For instance, the Virginia Independent spotlighted a series of sitdown interviews it conducted with proponents of the constitutional amendment, portraying the supporters simply as working-class Virginia residents despite their ties to the Democratic base.
The profiles contained pro-redistricting commentary in Q&A format from “Mathews County retiree” Sheila Crowley, formerly a Democratic candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates; “Southside nurse” Paddy Rassbach, the current vice chair of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Committee; “Virginia Beach veteran” Susan Hippen, chairwoman of the Virginia Democrat Party’s veterans and military families caucus; and “Lancaster small-business owner” Charlotte Hollings, leader of the Lancaster County Democrats.
Those four feature stories, aimed at convincing undecided Virginians to vote in favor of overhauling the state’s congressional districts to the advantage of Democrats, either downplayed the subjects’ political affiliations or neglected to mention their leadership positions within the Democratic Party entirely.
The Virginia Independent published 14 other dubiously crafted pieces about the redistricting battle in March alone, including stories calling criticism against the proposed changes “MAGA misinformation” and asserting that the amendment’s approval “could change Congress for the better.”
Its content is available in digital as well as print form, with a roundup of articles physically appearing in the mailboxes of Virginia voters every month — no subscription needed.
On the front page of its March edition, the Virginia Independent featured former President Barack Obama backing the redistricting push, mirroring recent TV ads in the Virginia market of Obama telling Virginians to vote “Yes” on the ballot question.
Readers unaware of the outlet’s origins are led to believe that the Virginia Independent, because of its name and presentation style, is an impartial newspaper native to the Old Dominion.
But watchdogs monitoring political advertising schemes warn that the Virginia Independent, which operates out of a P.O. Box, is a front for advancing the Democratic Party’s agenda in Virginia.
Who is behind the Virginia Independent?
The Virginia Independent is a product of American Independent Media, a well-funded media network managed by a cohort of longtime Democratic operatives.
Its 501(c)(3) arm, the American Independent Foundation, is owned by prominent Democratic ally David Brock, the founder of Media Matters, a fact-checking website focused on countering conservative content.
Several past and present Media Matters executives have held senior positions in American Independent’s ranks. Pilar Martinez, the chief financial officer of Media Matters, is the CFO of American Independent Media and its 501(c)(3) counterpart. Democratic strategist Bradley Beychok, previously the president of Media Matters, also served as the president of American Independent Media until 2024.
Ankit Desai, the American Independent Foundation’s former treasurer, is a business associate of Beychok and Ryan Berni, an ex-Biden administration official, all of whom work together at Lafayette Advisors, a strategic communications and consultancy firm composed of former officials from the Biden, Obama, and Clinton administrations.
District of Columbia registration records identify Katherine LaBeau, a political law partner at Elias Law Group, as the “incorporator” of American Independent Media. Elias Law Group is the firm of Marc Elias, the Democratic Party’s go-to lawyer for litigating election matters.
American Independent Media says it “uses journalism to educate the public, giving them the information they need about local and federal issues,” while its charitable foundation describes their shared mission on tax filings as “foster[ing] strong, independent journalism that helps create positive societal change through increased public awareness of progressive issues.”
Politicking disguised as local news
American Independent’s content is a brand of “pink slime” journalism, according to the media monitor Columbia Journalism Review.
Pink slime sites, named after the byproduct used as filler in processed beef that is then passed off as higher-quality meat, take on the appearance of a community news outlet in order to gain readers’ trust and appear as a reliable source of information.
Political advocacy masquerading as unbiased, grassroots journalism is not a novel electioneering tactic, explained Michael Watson, the research director of Capital Research Center, a think tank tracking the mobilization strategies of special interest groups.
Websites serving as mouthpieces for political actors have infiltrated the local news space for several years now, successfully imitating neighborhood gazettes and regional dispatches.
Watson, however, told the Washington Examiner that the mass distribution of physical mailers posing as a traditional town newspaper, rather than relying merely on online articles, is a newer approach to reaching unsuspecting voters.
“If you don’t know what you’re looking at,” Watson said, “and you’re just a person and you see this mailer that pretends to be a newspaper, it can easily trick you into thinking that, ‘Oh, this is independent and not actually aligned with a consultant network that’s very close to the Democratic Party.’”
Watson said that such left-of-center projects created to platform Democratic arguments about certain state-specific policy issues can range from left-leaning political reporting to thinly veiled partisan propaganda.
“This goes not just for the American Independent network,” Watson said, “but for all these sorts of progressive pink slime news. There’s a sliding scale of outright talking points to ideological journalism.”
For instance, States Newsroom, which used to fall under the umbrella of dark money behemoth Arabella Advisors, covers state-level politics through a liberal lens. Courier Newsroom, meanwhile, is a Democrat-affiliated media service deployed specifically to generate public support for the party’s positions while appearing to be local news.
American Independent Media, such as Courier Newsroom, operates other state-centric variants in known swing states, such as the Pennsylvania Independent, the Michigan Independent, and the Wisconsin Independent, seemingly intended to sway readers there toward voting blue.
Booming pseudo-news business backed by Big Philanthropy
Watson said that similarly disguised influence campaigns tend to target battleground states, jurisdictions where politics are highly competitive at the local level, and areas whose voters are considering issues of great interest to the left-wing donor class.
The progressive philanthropy industry, Watson added, is deeply invested in the pink slime news sector, and Democratic donors see these dissemination sites as a vehicle for shaping public perception around contentious agenda items.
“In this case, George Soros has given a substantial amount of money to the Virginia redistricting campaign,” Watson said. “It’s of critical importance to the progressive donor class, even though Virginia is a relatively comfortable Democratic state.”
LIBERAL DARK MONEY BOOSTS DEMOCRATS’ VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING EFFORT, MASSIVELY OUTRAISING OPPONENTS
The proliferation of pink slime sites mimicking legitimate localized news is owed in large part to deep-pocketed donors, who are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into these pseudo-news operations, realizing that readers still prefer local media over legacy outlets.
Studies have shown that consumers historically are more likely to trust local media than national news sources.
“They’ve learned by now that national outlets like the New York Times are going to be progressive and Democratic, Fox News is going to be conservative and Republican,” Watson said. “But local outlets still have that ability to persuade, and so [philanthropists] are responding by throwing money, whether at ideological journalism or talking point mills essentially skin-suited as supposedly local journalism.”
Legal concerns and staying power
Though the Virginia Independent predates the state’s current redistricting fight, the publication only popped up last year. Its online stories date back to early 2025, and it began sending newspaper-like mailers during Virginia’s off-year election cycle, when Democrats were vying for — and subsequently secured — full control of the state government.
Some skeptical state residents who received unsolicited copies of the Virginia Independent in the mail took to social media at the time to question the political objective of the monthly mailers, many of them promoting positive press about Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s (D-VA) gubernatorial bid.
One Virginia voter complained that its September issue read like “a campaign ad for Spanberger,” adding, “Seems illegal to me!” Another recipient suggested, “It is an illegal, undisclosed Democrat campaign brochure. Supposed to disclaim ‘paid for by … ’ A class one misdemeanor.”
Regarding the legality of American Independent Media’s direct-mail redistricting campaign, Watson said that since it is structured as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, the nonprofit entity is allowed under tax law to engage in unlimited lobbying on any number of ballot initiatives.
“501(c)(4)s are designed for public advocacy, and [supporting or opposing] a ballot measure is considered lobbying the electorate,” Watson said. “As a 501(c)(4), you can make, as far as I’m aware, as many statements on ballot measures as you want.”
Tax-exempt entities organized as 501(c)(4)s frequently game campaign finance regulations by exploiting the legally vague distinctions between issue advocacy and direct campaign intervention, that is, explicitly acting on behalf of or opposing a candidate running for public office.
501(c)(4)s are able to participate in political activity that boosts a candidate’s visibility, for instance, as long as it is not the organization’s primary purpose.
A bulk of the Virginia Independent’s content has been dedicated this year to the redistricting referendum. The outlet also opines, with a liberal bent, on a wide array of other politically charged topics affecting Virginia and often airs general grievances against GOP leadership in Washington, claiming that the criticism comes from everyday Virginians.
One March 25 article titled, “Virginians say Trump administration policies are making their lives more difficult,” quoted a dog groomer from Charlottesville.
VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS JUMP INTO REDISTRICTING FIGHT WITH PLAN TO COUNTER TRUMP AGENDA
“A lot of middle-class people and lower-middle-class people are struggling so much that they are essentially in poverty,” the pet stylist, bashing Affordable Care Act cuts, told the Virginia Independent. “I can’t help but specifically point at the Republicans for doing this.”
That interviewee, the story failed to acknowledge, also appeared one day prior on a March 24 panel formed by Protect Our Care, a self-described “dedicated war room for [Obamacare].” Protect Our Care’s executive director is Brad Woodhouse, the previous president of the American Bridge 21st Century Foundation, which bankrolls the American Independent Foundation.
American Independent Media was contacted for comment.