3 months ago
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Political leanings: Democratic
2022 total spending: $327.4 million
The Senate Majority PAC, or SMP, is a super PAC that describes its “one mission” as helping Democrats “win Senate races.”
The super PAC is headed by J.B. Poersch, a former director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Poersch was named the super PAC’s president in early 2017. Other senior staff include Amanda Ach, digital director, and Ghada Alkiek, political manager. Ach previously worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Alkiek was deputy chief of staff to Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan.
As a super PAC, the Senate Majority PAC is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts, but it must report expenditures and all donations of more than $200 to the Federal Election Commission. The group cannot make contributions to candidate committees and cannot coordinate independent expenditures with candidate campaigns.
As of June 30, SMP had raised about $167 million and spent more than $53 million in the 2024 election cycle, according to an analysis of FEC data by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics. Much of its spending was on fundraising, administrative expenses and strategy and research.
Majority Forward, an affiliated 501(c)(4) organization that does not have to disclose its donors, has contributed almost $16 million to SMP, and two liberal super PACs, Democracy PAC and Working for Working Americans, have given $10 million and $9 million, respectively. Major individual donors include Fred Eychaner, a retired media executive; hedge fund billionaire James Simons, who passed away in May; Stephen Mandel, another hedge fund billionaire; and media entrepreneur Jeff Skoll.
In early March, SMP launched a $2 million ad campaign against Republican Eric Hovde, a California banker running in Wisconsin against incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Later that month, SMP said that it had reserved $239 million in ads to help defend Senate seats in Wisconsin and six other key states that Democrats need to win to maintain control of that chamber of Congress.
The largest portion of the reservation is $65 million for Ohio, where Sen. Sherrod Brown is running for reelection, and the second-largest amount, $45 million, is earmarked for Sen. Jon Tester’s race in Montana. In addition, $42 million is reserved for Pennsylvania, $36 million for Nevada, $23 million for Arizona and $14 million each for Michigan and Wisconsin.
SMP also has contributed to WinSenate PAC, an affiliated super PAC. SMP had transferred $22.8 million to WinSenate PAC, according to the WinSenate PAC’s FEC filings as of July 31.
So far, WinSenate PAC has put more than $66.9 million into independent expenditures against Republican Senate candidates in seven swing states, according to OpenSecrets.
During the 2022 midterms, SMP spent about $327.4 million in total, and more than $159 million of that was spent on independent expenditures, including more than $41 million against Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate who lost to Democrat John Fetterman in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
FactCheck.org Undergraduate Fellow Ian Fox contributed to this article.
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