The Democrats’ entry into the big-money era of politics was a story of playing catch-up. The post-Citizens United v. FEC era has seen Super PACs and outside money to explode and Republicans quickly took advantage to sweep the 2010 midterms—as then-President Barack Obama put it, Democrats took a “shellacking” that year.
Hoping to avoid more difficult Wednesday mornings, many Democrats decided to join the outside spending game. That was Ali Lapp’s rationale when she launched the House Majority PAC (HMP) in 2011.
The HMP is part of the Democratic Party’s now sizable stable of Super PACs and dark money outfits coordinating millions of dollars in donations each election cycle. But in its early years, the Super PAC had to withstand several rounds of disappointing election nights before finally delivering on its namesake.
Developing a new model
Before forming the HMP, Lapp worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in the 2006 midterms under Rahm Emanuel, who’d go on to be chief of staff to President Obama. Emanuel gained a reputation for his “blue dog” strategy of pushing centrist or conservative-leaning candidates in competitive districts. Then named Ali Wade, she and her future husband John Lapp coordinated the DCCC’s independent expenditures that cycle. This was before the Supreme Court cases of the following decade made independent expenditures a routine part of elections, and Lapp became one of the early architects of outside money strategy.
“She played a critical role in building the modern-day DCCC IE model,” former DCCC executive director Jon Vogel told The Hill in 2011 when Lapp formed HMP. “She understands House races and how to put together a large IE operation. That is something House Democrats desperately need.”
The Super PAC’s first win came in a special election to replace Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ seat in the summer of 2012. HMP spent just under a half-million dollars on spots bashing Republican Jesse Kelly, helping Democrat Ron Barker secure a victory. As President Obama cruised to re-election in November, HMP spent more than $30 million that year, almost all of it going to media opposing Republican candidates.
HMP attracted major donations from the emerging liberal mega-donor class. Chicago’s Fred Eychaner gave $4.25 million, Renaissance Technologies’ James Simons gave $1.6 million, and S. Donald Sussman gave $1.15 million. The Super PAC also took in just over $1 million from the Carpenters and Joiners Union, the Laborers Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, as well as smaller totals from other unions like the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Teachers.
A bumpy ride
Despite being one of the leading outside spenders of the 2012 cycle, HMP couldn’t deliver Democrats a majority in the House: Democratic candidates won more total votes than Republicans—by a 1 million vote margin—and picked up several seats, but the GOP maintained their hold on the chamber. The result was partly blamed on Republican gerrymandering.
Democrats faced similarly disappointing results in 2014. HMP raised similar amounts from many of the same donors and used the same strategy of pumping most of its money into opposing Republican candidates. When all the results were in, Republicans had secured the largest majority in the chamber since 1929.
This latest shellacking raised questions about the Rahm Emanuel approach to House races. With more than half of the Blue Dog Coalition losing their races in 2010 and failing to recuperate in 2012, Lapp and other HMP staffers were hopeful the enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton in 2016 would benefit Democrats in all races and get them back on track.
It didn’t work. Once again, HMP was among the leading outside spenders; once again, it took in major donations from its familiar mega-donors, and once again, it pumped most of its money into opposing conservatives. In the aftermath, Charlie Kelly, another DCCC alum, moved from his 2016 role of HMP deputy executive director to executive director in 2017. Kelly was credited for being skeptical of the Super PAC’s negative messaging and felt that focusing primarily on Donald Trump and Republican’s shortcomings would be insufficient.
Democrats finally broke through in 2018 as the HMP shattered its old spending and fundraising records—taking in nearly double ($95.6 million) its total from 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org. HMP spent just under $70 million on media, again mostly bashing Republicans, but this time, the momentum to resist Trump and his party generated a whirlwind of enthusiasm to help the House Majority PAC deliver on its namesake.
Many of the same donors continued their significant giving in 2018, including James Simons ($10 million), S. Donald Sussman ($4.75 million), Fred Eychaner ($4 million), and now George Marcus ($5 million).
Unexpected losses
Party officials and pundits are still reflecting on the Democrats’ 2020 performance. Although the party ultimately took narrow control of the Senate after winning both Georgia runoff races, it lost seats in the House, which surprised many who expected a massive blue wave. Robby Mook, who ran Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, was the Super PAC’s president for the cycle (though he has since left the role for an overseas stint with the U.S. Navy Reserve) and the HMP’s financial records reflect the liberals’ more mature outside and dark money operations.
2020 was the first cycle HMP had its own non-profit arm, House Majority Forward, which became another source of dark money for the party. In addition to spending around $1 million on its own on a North Carolina House race, according to OpenSecrets, House Majority Forward also moved nearly $8 million to HMP to fund the Super PAC’s roughly $139 million in outside spending. Other major donors included Michael Bloomberg ($25.6 million), the carpenters union-backed Super PAC Working for Working Americans ($13.1 million), and the Laborers Union ($5.6 million).
Moving forward, Democrats are still evaluating why they didn’t meet expectations in 2020 and expect the growing fringe element in the Republican Party to cause infighting that could help Democrats in 2022. As President Joe Biden tours the country to promote the pandemic stimulus bill, the party seems poised to shift to a more positive messaging strategy, which could finally help them and the HMP grow the House majority instead of playing catch-up.