A new mystery super PAC with ties to Republicans has spent more than $1 million meddling in at least three Democratic congressional primaries to select preferred opponents in what appears to be an effort to retain control of the House.
Among the candidates the super PAC has begun spending to promote is a left-wing sex therapist in Texas who has been accused of bigotry and antisemitism by leaders in both parties. The group is also running ads in Democratic primaries in Pennsylvania and Nebraska, which holds its primary on Tuesday.
The interventions in the opposing party’s primaries, apparently to elevate Democrats viewed as weaker candidates, suggest the race for control of the House has entered an intensive new phase in which both parties are vying for every imaginable edge. Some Republicans privately believe the party’s best chance to hold power this year is to cast Democrats as extremists.
A second super PAC, this one formally aligned with House Republicans, has recently begun paying for mailers in a fourth race, in California, where the group is promoting the progressive credentials of a candidate facing a more moderate rival in the Central Valley.
In three of the four races, the spending seeks to defeat candidates who are part of the Democratic Party’s “red to blue” program, a special designation for top recruits in key races that could determine control of the House. Those three candidates are also backed by the Blue Dogs, a traditional centrist group of House Democrats.
Representative Adam Gray of California, a moderate Democrat who ousted a Republican in 2024 and is the chair of the Blue Dog PAC, called the Republican spending a “callous political ploy” that reflected Republican fear of moderate challengers.
“They’re going into Democratic primaries and literally trying to boost the most extreme candidates and oppose the Blue Dog-endorsed candidates that, if they win, are going to beat the Republicans in the general,” Mr. Gray said in an interview.
One Democratic candidate who has received a recent boost is Maureen Galindo in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, a seat redrawn by Republicans last year. Party leaders, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the PAC aligned with the moderate Blue Dogs, are backing Johnny Garcia, who has worked in the local sheriff’s office. Ms. Galindo raised less than $10,000 through March but narrowly finished first in the initial primary two months ago, advancing to a runoff at the end of May.
A bilingual, pro-Galindo mailer said she was a “progressive Democrat” who would dismantle ICE and force Mr. Trump’s impeachment.
In a text message, Ms. Galindo suggested the money for the mailer had come from “a billionaire zionist who made the pac to sabotage candidates,” using the type of language that has previously prompted charges of antisemitism, including from Senator Jacky Rosen, Democrat of Nevada, and Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who called her “openly bigoted.”
“Dems and Republicans uniting against me in the same week with the same message is evidence that theyre working together for the zionist billionaires that control our government and tax money,” Ms. Galindo said in a message.
Some Democrats sought to censure Republicans for embracing a win-at-all-cost strategy, even when that means elevating an unfit candidate.
“I think the Republicans need to answer for promoting an antisemite,” said Brian Romick, president of the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC, which is spending in favor of Mr. Garcia.
The race for the House majority has grown increasingly competitive, even as history and President Trump’s unpopularity favor Democrats taking control. Two court rulings in the last two weeks have given Republicans an advantage in an ongoing redistricting fight. And while many Democrats still believe the political climate could result in a blue wave, they are also preparing for a House fight that will be waged district by district.
Republicans currently hold a narrow 217-to-212 seat majority.
Both parties have meddled in each other’s primaries in the past. In the 2022 elections, Democrats and their allies spent millions of dollars trying to elevate far-right Republicans whom they then cast as outside the mainstream in the general election, with some success.
Representative Suzan DelBene, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, accused Republicans of “resorting to underhanded, dirty tricks to meddle and mislead.” She had previously spoken against Democrats intervening in Republican races.
The bulk of new spending is from a new group called Lead Left PAC, which has a scant online presence and was created so recently that it has not had to disclose any donors yet. The PAC was registered to a treasurer who has not previously registered a political committee, with an address that matched that of a Staples office supply store in Tallahassee, Fla. The spending so far has flowed through limited liability corporations with little disclosure.
But Republican fingerprints are detectable. The ads the group has run in Nebraska closely mirror the messaging in ads previously paid for by a nonprofit group that is linked to House Republican leadership, called the American Action Network. And the metadata of the Lead Left PAC’s website includes links to WinRed, a prominent Republican donation-processing firm, as Punchbowl News previously reported. The metadata reference was later removed.
The PAC did not respond to an email requesting comment.
Torunn Sinclair, a spokeswoman for American Action Network and its affiliated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, declined to say if her group was behind the new efforts even as she cast these Democratic primary battles as evidence of the party’s disarray.
“The absolute lack of respect for Hakeem Jeffries’s leadership is costing Democrats a fortune as they bleed cash in brutal primary battles,” she said. “C.L.F. is more than happy to watch the left dismantle itself.”
Democratic strategists said they were preparing for more Republican interventions in states including California, Michigan and Colorado.
Mike Smith, who leads the main House Democratic super PAC, would not rule out spending money in Democratic primaries to counter the current G.O.P. efforts, which he derided as “trying to lie, cheat and steal their way to a majority.”
In Pennsylvania, the Lead Left PAC has reserved more than $600,000 in ad time in the Seventh District, according to AdImpact, the ad tracking service. Republicans flipped the key battleground district in 2024.
One TV ad attacks Bob Brooks, who has led a firefighters union and was named to the “red to blue” program, as well as Ryan Crosswell, a former Justice Department attorney, and promotes Lamont McClure, a less well-funded former Northampton County executive.
“Lamont McClure kicked ICE out of Northampton. He takes on Trump and wins,” the narrator says, hailing him as a “progressive Democrat.”
Mr. McClure was dismissive of the spending.
“First of all, it is not clear to me who this is, and I don’t care who it is because they should not be doing this,” he said in an interview, calling for all outside “dark money” groups to stop spending. “We were in great shape to win this nomination without their help.”
Mr. McClure raised only $20,000 in the first quarter this year — far below most serious candidates — though he has been competitive in some polls released by Democrats. “When I’m the nominee, the D.C.C.C. is going to be very happy with my candidacy,” he said.
In Nebraska, Lead Left PAC has also spent against John Cavanaugh, a state senator, casting him as supportive of some of Mr. Trump’s policies in the past. The specific accusations are nearly identical to those featured previously in an ad paid for by the American Action Network, a nonprofit group allied with House Republicans that does not disclose it donors. (That nonprofit ad asked voters to call Mr. Cavanaugh to thank him for working with Mr. Trump.)
Unlike in the other two races, Democratic strategists are more confused by the mystery PAC’s strategy in the Nebraska race. Mr. Cavanaugh’s top rival, Denise Powell, a political organizer who has raised $1.6 million, is seen as a serious candidate.
The Cavanaugh campaign accused Republicans of supporting Ms. Powell. Her campaign manager, Ryan Longenecker, said “Republicans are trying to create chaos” and called her the strongest candidate.
Lastly, the Congressional Leadership Fund, the official super PAC of House Republicans, reported its first spending of 2026, which included a small sum boosting a more progressive Democrat, Randy Villegas. Mr. Villegas is running in a California race that includes Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democratic assemblywoman. Both are vying to challenge Representative David Valadao, the Republican incumbent, this fall. The D.C.C.C. has backed Mr. Bains.
Voters would be angry at all the interventions, Mr. Villegas said in an interview.
“It shouldn’t be up to a bunch of D.C. insiders regardless of whether they’re in the Republican or Democratic parties or these groups to decide or influence elections,” he said. “It should be up to campaigns and voters themselves.”
Republicans are enjoying the infighting.
Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said, “Between the D.C.C.C. picking favorites, progressives revolting, dark money groups pouring millions into messy intraparty fights, and candidates publicly torching each other and party bosses, Democrat primaries have become a circular firing squad and must-see reality TV all rolled into one.”
Shane Goldmacher is a Times national political correspondent.
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