Tom Tiffany Says He Backed Trump’s Bid to Overturn Wisconsin’s 2020 Election Over a Debunked Conspiracy Theory Pushed by Capital Research Center

Try And Stop Us Senior Advisor Mally Smith:

“Tom Tiffany stood on a debate stage and admitted he tried to overturn the votes of millions of Wisconsinites because of a conspiracy theory. ‘Zuckerbucks’ was cooked up and spread by right-wing operatives at the Capital Research Center, who took it all the way to the discredited 2000 Mules film. The Federal Election Commission cleared the grants 6-0, and even the libertarian Cato Institute admitted they didn’t change the outcome. Tiffany was full of it in 2020, and he’s still full of it today. Wisconsin voters chose their president, and no amount of lies about Mark Zuckerberg will change that.”

BACKGROUND

October 2026: Tom Tiffany Claimed His Concerns About “Zuckerbucks” Led Him To Support Donald Trump’s Attempts To Overturn The 2020 Election.

In October 2026, Tom Tiffany Claimed He Supported Donald Trump’s Attempts To Overturn The 2020 Election Results Because of “Zuckerbucks.” “The Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor who supported President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 loss in the battleground state said Wednesday he did it because of concerns with election funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. ‘One of the reasons that I did that is “Zuckerbucks,”’ U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said in a debate, using a term coined by opponents of the money.” [Associated Press, 10/21/26]

• Conspiracy Theorists Have Claimed That “Zuckerbucks” – Grants Given By Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg And His Wife Priscilla Chan To Help Agencies Run Elections During The Pandemic – “Somehow Made The 2020 Elections Vulnerable To Fraud.” “Ever since 2020, tinfoil hat-wearing Republicans have referred to such grants as ‘Zuckerbucks,’ a reference to grants given by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan to various state agencies to help them run elections during the pandemic. Conservative lawmakers and media figures have pushed the notion that these and other private grants somehow made the 2020 elections vulnerable to fraud…” [MSNOW, 02/20/24]

The Zuckerbucks Theory Was Heavily Promoted By The Capital Research Center And Their President Scott Walter Who Even Appeared In The Widely-Discredited Film 2000 Mules To Claim It Impacted The 2020 Election.

In Their 2021 Annual Report, Capital Research Center Bragged About The Spread Of Their Work And Theories Around “Zuck Bucks.” [Capital Research Center Annual Report, 2021]

Capital Research Center President, Scott Walter, Appeared In The Film 2000 Mules To Discuss The “Zuck Bucks” Conspiracy Theory That Private Funding For Election Assistance Was Somehow Secretly A Way To Help Democrats.

Dinesh D’Souza: “Here we’ve got an operation of illegal vote trafficking. You’ve got thousands of mules that are being paid to do this. What you’re saying is there is more than enough money available to fund any such operation. In fact, this would be only one part of a much larger effort to control the election.”

Scott Walter: “We are talking half a billion dollars in nonprofit charitable funds flowing into efforts to register and get out the vote for Democrats. Most of the left-wing mainstream media, when they reported on the Zuckbucks going through, they said – they made it sound like, oh, it’s all going to go for masks and, you know, plexiglass and all. And every study that’s ever been done of some of those grants to the big cities found a few percent maybe going to help people that way, and the massive amounts of money going into ginning up the vote-by-mail operation and the drop box operation and those sorts of things that benefit one political party.” [2000 Mules, 2022 (01:19:21)]

However, The Federal Election Commission Unanimously Confirmed That Zuckerberg And His Wife Committed No Wrongdoing During The 2020 Election, And Even The Right Leaning CATO Institute Admitted The Grants Did Not Impact The Election Outcome.

The Federal Election Commission Also Cleared Zuckerberg And His Wife Of Any Wrongdoing By A Vote Of 6-0. “The Federal Election Commission unanimously voted to dismiss a complaint over the 2020 nonpartisan election-administration grants funded primarily by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The grants provoked significant ire among many conservatives in the aftermath of the election and was used by some to further false claims of widespread election fraud. But new documents published by the FEC show that in a 6-0 vote, the commission agreed that there’s “no reason to believe” the non-profit, Zuckerberg or Chan committed any wrongdoing.” [NBC News, 09/08/22]

The Right Leaning CATO Institute Noted That “‘Zuckerbucks’ Didn’t Throw the 2020 Election.” [CATO Institute, 09/12/22]