Political leanings: Democratic
2022 total spending: $181.6 million
The House Majority PAC was founded in April 2011 by Alixandria Lapp, a former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official. In 2023, Lapp stepped down as the political action committee’s president and was succeeded by political strategist Mike Smith, who was most recently a senior adviser to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Abby Curran Horrell, a former chief of staff for Democratic Rep. Ann McLean Kuster, is the PAC’s executive director.
The House Majority PAC was one of several PACs formed by Democrats in response to the heavy spending by conservative organizations in the 2010 midterm elections, when Republicans gained control of the House. As a Carey committee, or hybrid PAC, the House Majority PAC can act as both a traditional PAC, giving money directly to candidates’ committees, and a super PAC, making independent expenditures not coordinated with candidates. It can also accept donations of any size for its independent expenditures from individuals, labor unions and corporations, but must disclose those dona and expenditures tions in reports to the Federal Election Commission.
On April 7, the House Majority PAC announced that it was reserving an initial round of $186 million in television and digital placements in 58 markets across the country. In a press release, the group said over $146 million has been reserved for TV ads and about $40 million for digital ones.
“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 of the House,” Smith said in a statement.
As of Feb. 29, the group had raised about $61.1 million for the 2024 cycle, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending. Of that amount, $8 million was donated by House Majority Forward, an affiliated nonprofit organization. Other large donors include hedge fund manager James Simons, businessman and philanthropist Fred Eychaner, Netflix Executive Chairman Reed Hastings, and Suffolk Construction Company Chairman and CEO John Fish.
This cycle, House Majority PAC already spent about $7 million on a variety of independent expenditures to help Democrat Tom Suozzi win the special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District seat against Republican Mazi Pilip.
During the 2022 midterms, the PAC spent over $181.6 million, including about $145 million on independent expenditures supporting Democratic candidates and opposing Republicans. In 2020, about $139 million of its more than $160 million in spending was on pro-Democrat or anti-Republican ads and other communications.
Staff Writer D’Angelo Gore contributed to this article.