As outside spending continues to flood Minnesota’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, recently disclosed campaign finance reports have revealed that nearly all of the money behind the race’s largest pro-Angie Craig super PAC came from a nonprofit that keeps its donors secret.
North Star Dawn PAC reported receiving $7 million in June from Civic Progress Fund, a Delaware-based 501(c)(4). The contribution enabled North Star Dawn to become the dominant outside spender in the race, with the super PAC going on to spend more than $11.8 million supporting Rep. Angie Craig and opposing Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan ahead of the Aug. 11 Democratic primary.
Previous reporting established the financial relationship between Civic Progress and North Star Dawn. But business records, FCC political files, and a review of Civic Progress’s website provide new insight into the political professionals operating behind the organizations.
Corporate records show Civic Progress Fund was incorporated in Delaware on December 3, 2025. Just seven weeks later, on January 22, 2026, North Star Dawn PAC filed its Statement of Organization with the Federal Election Commission as an independent-expenditure-only committee. By June, Civic Progress had contributed $7 million to North Star Dawn—accounting for virtually all of the super PAC’s fundraising during the reporting period. Civic Progress is not required to publicly identify the individuals or organizations that funded it, classifying it as dark money.
Federal Communications Commission political advertising records identify Cory Warfield as Civic Progress Fund’s president, Annie Ellison as treasurer and chief financial officer, and Kerry Billings as secretary. Billings was campaign manager to Harry Dunn’s failed run at the Democratic nomination for congress in Maryland’s 5th district. The same filings identify Jerid Kurtz, as the nonprofit’s contact person. Kurtz’s private consulting firm, 1022 Strategies, rented office space to Dunn’s campaign, per FEC filings.
Cory Warfield is a longtime Democratic strategist whose résumé includes senior positions at EMILY’s List and as the independent expenditure coordinator for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, according to his profile on the website of political consultancy firm Potomac Waves.
Kurtz, meanwhile, appears throughout the outside spending operation surrounding the Minnesota race. In addition to serving as Civic Progress’s FCC contact, he has acted as spokesman for North Star Dawn, responding publicly to criticism of the super PAC’s advertisements, leading to questions on if the Super PAC is simply a vehicle for the nonprofit's political spending.
Business filings reviewed by PolitiFi show Warfield and Kurtz also share another venture. Wingspan Strategies LLC was organized in Wyoming on March 4, 2025, roughly nine months before Civic Progress was incorporated. Wyoming records list Cory Warfield as a company member. Wingspan has only one client in the FEC database, Montana Senate hopeful, Independent Seth Bodnar.
A subsequent registration filed in the District of Columbia identifies Warfield as the beneficial owner while also listing Jerid Kurtz as a principal associated with the company, whose stated purpose is public relations. The filings establish that Warfield and Kurtz operate together through a consulting company in addition to their roles connected to Civic Progress and North Star Dawn.
Kurtz has also recently taken on another position within Democratic political infrastructure. The Voter Protection Project, a Democratic voting-rights organization, identifies Kurtz as its staff lead on the “independent” side of its internal firewall. The organization instructs outside groups wishing to support its independent expenditure program to contact Kurtz directly, while coordinated campaign communications are handled separately by different personnel.
In addition, Kurtz is also listed as president of another 501c4, Defenders Of Liberty—though other than an Anedot donation page, not much could be discovered about the organization, nor could any public-facing messaging. 2024 tax filings show the group brought in roughly $2.68 million ($220,000 of which went to Kurtz via 1022 Strategies). The filing shows the group spent $762,000 on a nonpartisan voter registration initiative and $814,000 on a “state-based legislative advocacy program”. Defenders Of Liberty did not make any grants, and nearly all of their work and payments were through consultants, totaling nearly $2 million.
In the past, Kurtz worked as press secretary for former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), communications director for the Ohio Democratic Party, and most recently, campaign manager for Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) for a brief stint in 2020-21.
Civic Progress’s website reveals nothing of who runs or funds it. The site’s content, however, closely mirrors the group’s television advertising. Rather than functioning as a broad organizational homepage, it is largely devoted to immigration enforcement and ICE, including lengthy pages criticizing “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota and urging opposition to additional federal ICE funding.
That messaging aligns with the issue advertisements Civic Progress aired earlier this year praising Craig’s criticism of ICE. The Craig-Flanagan primary has quietly become one of the nation’s most expensive Democratic nomination contests, reflecting broader ideological tensions within the party between its centrist and progressive wings.
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, North Star Dawn has become the largest outside spender supporting Craig, while additional nonprofits and super PACs have also entered the race on both sides, such as Minnesotans For Progress—which was revealed through new filings to be entirely funded by American Center, a 501c4 that has been quiet in recent years. In 2022, American Center gave over $26 million to Oklahoma Forward—another dark money group that spent those millions on Super PACs opposing Kevin Stitt in the Oklahoma gubernatorial race.
Craig’s opponent, Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, has criticized what she describes as secretive outside money attempting to influence the election. The primary source of her Super PAC spending has come from the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association (DLGA). DLGA’s top donor is dark money organization Forward Movement Foundation, who has no known donors. DLGA has also taken large donations from PhRMA, Meta, Lockheed Martin, AstraZeneca, Amazon, Google, Northrop Grumman, and several labor unions.
Craig has countered that outside spending has become commonplace in competitive federal races and has said she supports broader campaign finance reform even as independent groups continue spending on her behalf.
The latest FEC filings answered one question by revealing that Civic Progress Fund supplied nearly all of the money fueling North Star Dawn’s advertising campaign. While business records now identify many of the political professionals operating Civic Progress and North Star Dawn—including the relationships between Cory Warfield, Jerid Kurtz and Wingspan Strategies—the nonprofit’s financial backers remain unknown.
Minnesota voters may be able to identify the organization that supplied the money, the consultants operating around it, and the Super PAC it financed. They still cannot see who ultimately provided the millions of dollars now underwriting the largest outside spending effort in one of the country’s highest-profile Democratic Senate primaries.
Mr. Kurtz, North Star Dawn, and Civic Progress did not respond to multiple requests for comment or clarification.
If she doesn’t come clean, kick her to the curb!
Any sympathy I had for Angie Craig was lost when she failed to take a stand against scurilous North Star Dawn PAC. After years of supporting you, Angie, I am deeply disappointed in your ethics.