Democratic Party Gets $186 Million Boost in Effort to Take the House

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) leaves a press briefing with reporters after meeting President Joe Biden and other leaders at the White House in on May 16, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

House Majority PAC, a political action committee backing Democrats, will spend at least $186 million on federal races in 2024, according to the organization.

The PAC, registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as the hybrid PAC HMP, announced its plans on April 7.

In a statement, HMP said the campaign will hit 58 different media markets.

Most of the spending, $146 million, will go toward television, and the remainder will go toward digital ad placements.

The group called it an “initial round of reservations,” setting up the possibility of more spending later in the year.

However, according to its announcement, HMP’s initial outlay of $186 million is much larger than the $102 million it spent in 2020.

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“Through these historic television and digital reservations, House Majority PAC has made it clear that we are ready to do whatever it takes to flip the House and elect Hakeem Jeffries the next speaker,”​ HMP President Mike Smith said in the statement.

After a slew of resignations, the Democratic Party holds 213 seats in the lower chamber while the Republican Party holds 218. As of April 8, there are four empty chairs.

HMP is planning to spend more than $1 million in 39 markets, according to its statement. Its top five markets are Los Angeles ($19.2 million); New York ($16.1 million); Portland, Oregon ($9.5 million); Detroit ($8.4 million); and Las Vegas ($6.8 million).

A view of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington on Oct. 25, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Dark Money, Union, and Megadonor Ties

According to HMP’s FEC records, the group raised about $61.1 million between January 2023 and February 2024. It had about $43.9 on hand at the end of February.

HMP is closely tied to House Majority Forward, which, as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, is not required to disclose its donors or release financial information as often as an FEC-registered PAC.

For this reason, this type of nonprofit is commonly called a dark money organization.

When House Majority Forward last filed a tax return with the IRS, it said it had about $5.3 million on hand at the end of 2022.

In the current election cycle, covering 2023 and 2024, HMP has collected about $8.3 million in donations from House Majority Forward, according to the FEC.

HMP has also received significant donations from a group tied to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America union.

According to FEC records, the super PAC Working for Working Americans-Federal sent HMP $7 million in the current cycle.

Working for Working Americans, according to its FEC records, is entirely financed by the union.

HMP is also cashing checks from Democratic Party megadonors James Simons and Fred Eychaner.

Mr. Simons, according to FEC records, gave $2 million to HMP in December 2023.

Mr. Simons, currently the president of Euclidean Capital, is one of the founders of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies.

According to donor records maintained by watchdog group OpenSecrets, Mr. Simons frequently gives multimillion-dollar gifts to HMP and its upper chamber counterpart Senate Majority PAC, as well as other progressive organizations and PACs.

Elizabeth Simons, Mr. Simons’s daughter and the board chair of Heising-Simons Foundation, also gave $1 million to HMP in December 2023.

Mr. Eychaner, according to FEC filings, gave $2 million to HMP in June 2023.

According to OpenSecrets records, Mr. Eychaner, the former president of Newsweb Corp., regularly sends multimillion-dollar gifts to HMP, Senate Majority PAC, and similar progressive organizations.