There’s a new must-have accessory for Democratic Senate candidates in 2026: their own super PAC.
Two candidates, Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Texas state Rep. James Talarico, have well-funded outside groups airing ads boosting their candidacies. A Democratic megadonor could soon fund a group backing Rep. Jasmine Crockett, according to four party sources with knowledge of the discussions. Candidates in Democratic Senate primaries in Michigan and Minnesota are also expected to have super PACs, operatives said.
While the Democratic base has long been suspicious of the role big money plays in shifting public policy in favor of the wealthy, operatives said the seemingly unstoppable rise of big-spending outside groups has led many candidates and campaigns to decide they have no choice but to fight fire with fire.
“If you are running for office, you should do everything you can under the law to try to win,” said Jared Leopold, a Democratic strategist. “The arms race is only increasing, so it absolutely makes sense to set up a super PAC to win a primary when no one else is coming to help you.”
Of particular concern, multiple strategists said, are PACs set up by monied interests like the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The groups have shown a willingness to spend tens of millions of dollars on ads on unrelated topics to boost candidates they support or destroy those they oppose, and officials want to be prepared to counter their efforts.
“No one wants to be caught off guard if crypto or AIPAC decides to carpet-bomb your candidate,” said one Democratic operative, requesting anonymity to speak frankly about intraparty divides. “And the only way to fight that kind of money is with money of your own.”
Candidates with the backing of those powerful groups may also want to have a group controlled by their allies in place to spend the money in a way they prefer.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums backing a candidate, provided they do not directly coordinate with the candidate’s campaign. While congressional leaders in both parties and presidential candidates have had allies run such groups, which tend to rely on massive donations from a relatively small number of wealthy backers, Republicans have been much quicker than Democrats to embrace super PACs set up to fund a single House or U.S. Senate campaign.
The move to embrace super PACs worries some progressives, who fear their side will always get outgunned in a cash race. It’s also causing agita for operatives focused on victory in November, who worry it will make primaries nastier and more difficult to recover from since super PACs often air more brutal attack ads than campaigns do. Republicans have a 53-47 edge in the Senate, with Democrats facing competitive primaries in at least five seats they hope to win in November.
Beyond the groups already airing ads for Talarico and Stratton, a super PAC backing Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota released a survey this week showing her leading that state’s primary. Democratic operatives said they had also heard discussions about setting up super PACs to back Rep. Angie Craig, Flanagan’s main competition, and for Rep. Haley Stevens’ campaign in Michigan. Conversations about creating the super PACs were in various stages, operatives warned, and it’s possible some of them don’t materialize.
Conversations seem especially advanced around an effort backing Crockett, who is competing with Talarico in Texas, a state Democrats hope to make competitive in November. Two sources said the group could receive funding from Democratic megadonor Karla Jurvetson and is looking to hire staff. Jurvetson is a board member for EMILY’s List and is known for backing female, Black and Latino candidates.
A super PAC named “Forward Texas” filed with the Federal Election Commission on Dec. 9, the same day Crockett officially announced her Senate run.
Jurvetson could not be reached for comment, though Punchbowl News reported Tuesday she was on a donor call last week with the Crockett campaign where a campaign strategist said attack ads targeting Talarico were incoming. The Crockett campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Such a PAC could help Crockett close a yawning spending gap in the primary: Talarico and the super PAC supporting him, Lone Star Rising PAC, have outspent Crockett $4.5 million to $441,000 ahead of the March 1 primary, according to a Democratic source tracking media buys.
“He’s taking on Trump and the billionaires, and winning,” a narrator says in one of Lone Star Rising’s digital ads.
Republicans, by contrast, embrace super PACs with little of the teeth-gnashing Democrats go through. Billionaire Republican megadonor Elon Musk gave $10 million to a super PAC backing entrepreneur Nate Morris in Kentucky’s GOP Senate primary earlier this month, and Morris’ campaign responded by putting very specific instructions on its website about how the super PAC should deploy its newfound wealth.
But the way super PACs can quickly reshape a race is most visible right now in Illinois’ Democratic primary. There, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has built a substantial lead in public polling without a super PAC thanks to his own superlative fundraising, which has allowed him to spend tens of millions on ads starting last May, nearly a year before the March 17 primary.
Stratton, his leading opponent, had under $1 million on hand as of the last Federal Election Commission reporting deadline — not nearly enough to mount a campaign that could challenge Krishnamoorthi’s lead. But a super PAC backing her, Illinois Future, has started spending hundreds of thousands on broadcast television ads.
“What will it take to lower costs in Illinois?” a female narrator asks in the group’s first ad over images of Stratton’s youth and career. “You need the grit of growing up working class.”
Illinois Future has not yet filed a fundraising report with the FEC. Its finances have been the subject of intense speculation within Illinois politics because of the possibility that Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire who has been willing to spend tens of millions of dollars of his own money on his political ambitions in the past, could donate to it. It could be enough cash to power a Stratton comeback.
The Krishnamoorthi campaign said the super PAC’s work ― including a recent incident in which it aired ads with an improper disclosure ― was “why people hate politics” and a sign of Stratton’s struggle in the polls. A Stratton campaign spokesperson fired back by noting that Krishnamoorthi’s campaign war chest and polling lead were built, in part, by donations from corporate PACs and some Trump allies, and accused the lawmaker of “being bankrolled by the same people executing and benefitting from the MAGA agenda.”