Pro-Israel super PACs have been unloading millions of dollars in Democratic primaries this year, attacking candidates they view as voicing criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), a super PAC closely tied to lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), raised $418,000 from Feb. 15 through March 31, according to a disclosure filed today with the Federal Election Commission. DMFI headed into April with almost $3 million cash on hand. The super PAC’s largest donation during the period came from Ann Pava of Connecticut, who gave $131,000 an ..read more

Corporate lobbying giant the U.S. Chamber of Commerce donated $4.1 million last quarter to support a Republican establishment-aligned candidate in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary who was defeated by a candidate backed by former President Donald Trump.  The Chamber, a trade association funded by dues from American companies, gave the funds to the Buckeye Leadership Fund over two transactions in early March, according to contributions information recently reported to the Federal Election Commission. The PAC spent more than $7  million in March to support Republican Ohio state Senator ..read more

Republicans are eyeing control of the U.S. Senate next year, hoping to flip the upper chamber by racking up wins in the November elections. The GOP will need a net gain of either one or two seats, depending on the outcome of the presidential contest, to have a Senate majority. In West Virginia, Republican Gov. Jim Justice is running for the Senate in a state that former President Trump won in 2020 by nearly 39 percentage points. The next most Trump-friendly state with a Senate race this year is Montana, which was won by Trump in 2020 by more than 16 points. There, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester f ..read more

No Labels announced yesterday it was standing down from its plans to run a third-party presidential ticket after it could not find candidates to carry its banner. Since the start of last year, Sludge has focused on digging into the group’s paperwork. In a series of stories, we exposed the extensive corporate ties of No Labels’ D.C. leaders, named more of its billionaire funders, and revealed the companies that have given it donations. We do this work as a two-person muckraking newsroom. We page through far-flung filings, research the people and organizations affiliated with Big Money interests ..read more

A super PAC funded by conservative megadonor Jeff Yass has spent more than half a million dollars in recent weeks urging Pennsylvania Democrats to support a primary challenger running against progressive House Democrat Summer Lee.  The Moderate PAC, which was formed in 2021, is airing ads in Pennsylvania’s 12th District that attack Lee for what it calls her “extreme socialist agenda,” and calling on Democratic primary voters to choose Lee’s challenger Bhavini Patel. The ads go after Lee for criticizing President Biden and the Democratic Party, and for voting against the debt ceiling bill ..read more

In September 2022, President Joe Biden made a rare appearance in the White House Briefing Room to call on congressional Republicans to get behind a Democratic bill to end “dark money” in U.S. elections.  “Dark money erodes public trust,” Biden said. “We need to protect public trust. And I’m determined to do that.” But that bill was never passed, and the Biden administration has not taken any meaningful actions to address the issue. For example, Democratic senators and a coalition of liberal groups have been urging Biden to begin addressing dark money in politics by issuing an executive o ..read more

Donald Trump’s net worth soared by billions of dollars after his social media company merged with an acquisition company whose largest institutional shareholder was the firm of billionaire Republican megadonor Jeff Yass.  The merger, approved Friday, increased the former President Trump’s paper fortune by more than $4 billion today, vaulting Trump onto Bloomberg’s list of the world’s 500 wealthiest people for the first time. The figure is based on the current stock price of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that owns shares in scores of compani ..read more

Shares of the cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks plummeted in after-hours trading on February 20 by nearly 20% after the company lowered its billings and revenue guidance for the rest of fiscal year 2024. The next day, Nancy Pelosi’s husband purchased up to $250,000 worth of call options in the company’s stock, betting that it will be above $200 a share when the options expire on January 17, 2025. The purchase was on top of the up to $1 million in Palo Alto Network call options that Mr. Pelosi had purchased days earlier.  The investments caught many observers by surprise. “Why is N ..read more

The House Democratic leadership's super PAC and its “dark money” affiliate have donated more than $1.1 million to a lobbyist-run centrist group that has worked to undermine the Biden administration's agenda on lowering drug prices, regulating the finance industry, and more. The donations were made to Center Forward, a dark money think tank that provides “centrist allies” with research and talking points, as well as to its super PAC that supports conservative Democrats in primary contests. The Democratic super PAC behemoth, the House Majority PAC (HMP), contributed $547,000 to Center Forward’s ..read more

During the 2022 midterms, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) flooded Democratic primaries with ads against progressives and critics of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians. The group’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), spent more than $26 million last election cycle, virtually entirely in Democratic primaries, making it the largest-spending super PAC in Democratic primary contests. UDP has amassed around $42 million this cycle, and in the months ahead it is expected to unload in Democratic primaries, with an allied super PAC, Democratic Majority for Israel (DMF ..read more