Republicans are fueling Democratic rage by bankrolling primary races across the country, strategically boosting candidates viewed as easier targets in November's general election. The tactic, once exceptional, has hardened into standard operating procedure on both sides of the aisle.
Three obscure super PACs with progressive-sounding names have appeared in recent months to pour money behind left-leaning or scandal-plagued Democratic primary contenders in key battleground districts. Lead Left PAC spent over a million dollars backing Maureen Galindo in Texas' 35th district, a sex therapist whose antisemitic comments torched her candidacy before she lost her primary runoff. The same group intervened in Nebraska's 2nd and Pennsylvania's 7th.
Real Change PAC targeted centrist Democrats in New Jersey's 7th, Maine's 2nd, and California's 22nd. Progressive Champions PAC is spending at least 1.5 million dollars to undermine Cait Conley, a moderate, in New York's 17th.
The Republicans behind these efforts have maintained plausible deniability, but the fingerprints are everywhere. Lead Left PAC's website links to GOP fundraising platform WinRed in its metadata. Real Change PAC's email confirmations arrive from Cavalry LLC, a Republican consulting firm. Two of the PACs list the same bank on their FEC filings and use the same Republican-affiliated compliance software.
A former House Republican familiar with the operation confirmed the strategy to Axios, framing it as retribution. "After Dems ran these fake PACs two years ago, Republicans have entered the fray with the same strategy," the anonymously quoted lawmaker said.
But the comparison rankles Democrats who executed similar interference in 2022 and 2024. Then, established groups like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and House Majority PAC openly funded GOP primary races. In 2024, a Democratic-linked super PAC called Duty and Country boosted now-Senator Bernie Moreno in his Ohio Republican primary. Democrats argue that approach differs from the shell game Republicans are playing now.
Former Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger called the current dynamic "awful" but conceded it was "inevitable" after Democrats pioneered the tactic in recent years. "They probably taught the Republicans a lesson," he told Axios.
House Democrats are not restraining their anger. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X: "Stay the Hell out of our races with your malignant and desperate scheming." A senior House Democrat told Axios that Republicans are "trying to help the far left," a characterization that underscores the fury rippling through the caucus.
The entire operation exploits a gaping hole in campaign finance law. Super PACs can hide their funding sources until after primary elections conclude, transforming the primary process itself into a shadow battleground where one party secretly shapes the opposing party's candidate slate.
Kinzinger warned that the practice is "extremely dangerous" because it elevates candidates who would never have won a decade ago but who are now making actual policy. Rep. Johnny Olszewski, a Maryland Democrat, threw up his hands at the absurdity. "This type of spending is as prevalent as it is awful by Dems and Republicans," he said, then added with barely concealed sarcasm, "If only Congress had the ability to do something about these super PACs. Oh wait."
Author James Rodriguez: "Both parties have weaponized primaries so thoroughly that hiding money and boosting opponents' weakest candidates is now just another Tuesday on Capitol Hill."
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