WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party finds itself overwhelmed as external organizations pour unprecedented amounts of money into their midterm primary contests.
While Democrats work to reclaim congressional control, groups connected to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, along with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence organizations, have taken over television advertising, often pushing actual candidates to the margins of their own races.
“These primaries have become proxy wars, and the candidates are almost afterthoughts in larger skirmishes,” explained Democratic pollster Zac McCrary.
The Democratic National Committee is now moving forward with a resolution during their New Orleans spring gathering to criticize this spending surge that has disrupted their primaries and heightened internal party divisions. The final vote is scheduled for Friday.
Defeated candidates have blamed special interest groups for destroying their campaigns. Current contenders are appealing to voters by criticizing wealthy outside organizations. Even those who received benefits from the spending have voiced concerns.
“It’s definitely a brave new world,” McCrary noted.
“We’re not talking about doubling of campaign expenditures,” he continued. “We’re talking about 10 times or 20 times more.”
Dan Sena, who previously served as executive director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, explained that party organizations no longer hold the influence to promote their preferred candidates.
“All that’s been completely smashed now,” Sena stated. He cautioned that even if Democrats recapture the U.S. House, outside spending could harm the party’s future.
Speaking about House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, he warned, “You’re going to hand Jeffries a caucus that is divided.”
During this election cycle, external funding in U.S. House contests has primarily focused on districts strongly favoring Democrats, indicating the primaries will probably decide November’s general election winners. Following a record number of House retirements this year, numerous seats became available for the first time in years, attracting many Democratic candidates.
Illinois witnessed over $125 million in outside expenditures across five open Democratic primaries. In nearly every congressional race, external spending surpassed what candidates themselves spent.
Though the election calendar is still early, signs point to significant spending in many additional races. Nearly 40 seats have already experienced more than $1 million in outside expenditures, based on Federal Election Commission records.
In Illinois, AIPAC-affiliated groups topped the spending list for U.S. House races, according to AdImpact, which monitors political advertising purchases, with cryptocurrency-linked Fairshake following behind.
AIPAC was established to promote robust U.S.-Israel relations, a particularly divisive topic as Democratic opposition to Israel grows due to the Gaza conflict. Some DNC members sought to specifically address AIPAC’s primary involvement, but the final resolution avoided this.
“We had various resolutions that focused on different industries and groups, and instead of going one-by-one, we passed a blanket repudiation,” stated DNC Chair Ken Martin.
This recent DNC gathering represents another installment in ongoing conflicts between progressives and party leadership.
Progressive members want the party to establish official language requiring all Democratic presidential candidates to reject funding from dark-money organizations, or super PACs that don’t need to reveal their donors.
“It’s necessary that we actually have the party do something on this issue, not just say something,” said Larry Cohen, co-chair of Our Revolution, a progressive organization created by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who aligns with Democrats.
Progressives view the New Orleans DNC resolution as progress toward their objective. However, some Democrats caution against weakening their candidates when confronting a well-funded Republican Party.
“Provided that we don’t handcuff ourselves in the general elections — because if the Republicans are going to use dark money in general elections, we should be using our money in general elections, too — if you provide an even playing field, I think then that’s fine,” explained Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat. “But we just can’t be handcuffing ourselves in the general to lose races.”
DNC resolutions wouldn’t prevent outside groups from injecting funds into primary or general election contests. But some Democrats consider this issue fundamental to party principles.
“We should eliminate any super PAC in a Democratic primary. And I think every presidential candidate in 2028 should pledge that they will not have any super PAC spending in a Democratic primary,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive and potential Democratic presidential candidate who co-chaired Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
“That should be a litmus test,” Khanna maintained. “If you’re not willing to take that pledge, then you’re part of the problem.”
