# Mandel 3.5M to The Bench October 2026 On **1 October 2026**, **[[Stephen Mandel]]** put **$3,500,000.00** into **[[The Bench]]** (FEC committee **C00845271**). It is disclosed as a single Line 17 row on the committee's pre-general report — file **2039300**, an original `F3XN` covering 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-14, received **2026-10-22T19:24:39**. ## Terms | Item | Detail | |---|---| | Payer | **Stephen Mandel**, entity type `IND`, PO Box 4298, Greenwich CT 06831-0405 | | Occupation on the filing | Investor, self-employed | | Recipient | **The Bench**, FEC **C00845271**, PO Box 15845, Washington DC 20003 | | Line | **`SA17`** — Other Federal Receipts, a non-contribution account | | Amount | **$3,500,000.00**, dated **2026-10-01** | | Running aggregate on the row | $7,400,000.00 | | Original or amended | **original**, no amendment indicator, not memo-coded | ⚠️ **Line 17 is not a candidate contribution.** The money went into the account a hybrid committee may spend without limit on independent expenditure, not to any candidate. The line number is part of the fact, and this page does not present the payment as a contribution to a campaign. ## It is almost all of the committee's money | Line | Figure | |---|---| | Cash on hand, 2026-10-01 | $233,252.42 | | **Total receipts for the fortnight** | **$3,582,235.41** | | **This one row as a share of them** | **97.70%** | | Total disbursements | $3,647,129.81 | | Cash on hand, 2026-10-14 | $168,358.02 | The committee's own summary closes exactly — $233,252.42 + $3,582,235.41 − $3,647,129.81 = $168,358.02 — so the receipts figure is the committee's own, not a derived one. **Everything else The Bench itemised in those two weeks is small-dollar giving**, much of it earmarked through ActBlue in amounts of $1,000 and under. One person supplied the fortnight; thousands of people supplied the rest. It also spent nearly all of it inside the same two weeks, closing on 14 October with **$168,358.02** — 4.7% of what came in. ## Why it matters - **This is the payer's second committee on the record.** The same name, at the **same post-office box — PO Box 4298, Greenwich CT 06831-0405** — appears on [[MD PAC]]'s pre-general report giving **$1,250,000.00** on the same day, 1 October 2026, also on Line 17, alongside a matching $1,250,000.00 from [[Sue Mandel]]. The box number is what establishes it is one payer rather than two people with one name. See [[Mandel 2.5M to MD PAC October 2026]]. - 🔴 **The recipient is the fifth committee found at PO Box 15845, Washington DC 20003**, and the third of the five signed by treasurer **Christopher Koob**. The other four are [[United Futures PAC]], [[Lower Costs Now]], [[New Path PAC]] and [[Bold America]]. [[Bold America]]'s page had asked specifically whether a fifth would appear. See [[PO Box 15845 DC Three Committee Cluster October 2026]]. - **The box is already connected to a Senate race.** [[United Futures PAC]], at the same address, supplied **93.69%** of [[People Over Politics Action Fund]]'s money, and that committee has spent **$4,096,741.00** against [[Roger Marshall]] in [[KS-Sen-2026]]. **The Bench pays into the same recipient**, at $100,000.00. So a single Greenwich donor's $3.5 million entered a mailbox whose other occupants are funding independent expenditure in at least two Senate races. - **What it does not establish.** Five committees at one post-office box with three treasurers between them is consistent with one compliance firm serving five unrelated clients, which is ordinary and lawful. Nothing here asserts coordination, common control, or that Mandel's money reached any particular race. What is established is the money, the address, the treasurer and the dates. ## Open question The row's running aggregate reads **$7,400,000.00** against an amount of $3,500,000.00, implying roughly **$3.9 million** from the same payer to the same committee earlier in the cycle, on a filing not located here. That column is maintained by the filer and its meaning varies between filers, so it is recorded as a question and not published as a total. ## Related - [[Stephen Mandel]] · [[The Bench]] · [[MD PAC]] · [[Mandel 2.5M to MD PAC October 2026]] - [[PO Box 15845 DC Three Committee Cluster October 2026]] · [[United Futures PAC]] · [[Bold America]] · [[Lower Costs Now]] · [[New Path PAC]] - [[People Over Politics Action Fund]] · [[KS-Sen-2026]] · [[Kansas Senate Outside Money 2026]] - [[Hybrid PAC]] · [[Dark Money]] · [[Independent Expenditure]]