Big Banks Funding Pro-Sherman Super PAC

Newly formed advocacy group of America's largest financial institutions supporting Sherman in CA-32 primary

A newly formed super PAC backing Rep. Brad Sherman received $800,000 in April — and every dollar came from a dark money nonprofit created by a coalition of America’s largest banks, according to newly filed Federal Election Commission disclosures.

The super PAC, Valley-Westside United PAC, reported a single contribution during the filing period: an $800,000 donation from Opportunity Forward Alliance, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit incorporated in Washington, D.C. in December 2025.

On May 14, Valley-Westside United PAC reported making an independent expenditure ad buy supporting Sherman worth exactly $800,000 — effectively transferring the entirety of the nonprofit’s contribution into media spending aimed at influencing California’s 32nd Congressional District primary. Sherman faces a competitive challenge from former Obama administration aide Jake Levine, but the filings suggest that some of the country’s most powerful financial institutions have already chosen a side.

Opportunity Forward Alliance is a project the Financial Services Forum, a banking industry advocacy coalition representing eight of the largest financial institutions in the United States: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, BNY, and State Street Corporation.

Corporate registration records list Opportunity Forward Alliance’s director and organizer as Amanda Eversole, the current CEO of the Financial Services Forum and a longtime Washington lobbyist. Before joining the banking coalition, Eversole served as Chief Advocacy Officer for the American Petroleum Institute, where she led lobbying efforts on behalf of the oil and gas industry.

The super PAC’s public messaging stands in stark contrast to its funding source.

Valley-Westside United PAC’s website describes the organization as a grassroots effort formed by “friends of Congressman Brad Sherman and residents of the 32nd District,” warning that “special interests will expend huge amounts of money to defeat Brad and replace him with a House member that will do their bidding in Congress.”

But according to the committee’s April filing, no other donors contributed to the PAC during the reporting period. The entirety of its financial backing came from Opportunity Forward Alliance — itself a special interest-backed dark money entity connected to a lobbying coalition representing some of the most influential banks in the world.

The arrangement underscores how modern campaign finance structures can allow industry interests to inject massive sums into congressional primaries through nonprofit entities that are not required to publicly disclose their own donors. While federal law requires super PACs to disclose contributors, 501(c)(4) organizations like Opportunity Forward Alliance can shield the original funding sources behind the expenditures—that means voters may never know which executives, institutions, or affiliated entities ultimately financed the effort to boost Sherman’s candidacy.