Their names are often vague — such as the “United Democracy Project” and “Maryland’s Future” — but their influence can be large, if little seen.
Super PACs, frequently propelled by massive donations, have long spent money in Maryland to help elect or defeat congressional candidates.
But with the state now a battleground in the race for U.S. Senate control, analysts expect super PAC dollars to flow to the state as never before, perhaps rivaling the influence of the candidates’ own campaigns or national parties.
Super PACs can raise unlimited sums from individuals, corporations and unions, and independently spend money on TV advertising and other campaign messaging. They are prohibited from coordinating with the campaigns they support or oppose.
“Money is going to pour into Maryland” to try to win the Senate seat held by Democrat Ben Cardin, who is retiring after this year, said Todd Eberly, an associate political science professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. “Super PACs have really come in and filled the space that parties used to fill.”
Democrats hold a 51-49 U.S. Senate majority. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a longtime Democrat who is becoming an independent, is retiring, and Democrats must defend a handful of seats in November in states that Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly won in 2020.
“If Republicans would win Maryland, they’d be almost guaranteed a Senate majority,” Eberly said.
U.S. House control is also in play. Republicans hold a 218-213 advantage with four vacancies.
In last month’s Maryland primary, the United Democracy Project — a pro-Israel super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC — spent more than $4 million to support Democratic state Sen. Sarah Elfreth of Anne Arundel County in her 3rd Congressional District victory, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit watchdog. The ads puzzled political observers because they didn’t mention issues involving Israel or Gaza. PAC spokesperson Patrick Dorton said it sponsored the ads because “she is the strongest candidate that reflects the views of the district.”
Elfreth’s campaign spent a fraction of that total — a little more than $1.2 million — in defeating her closest competitor, former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who was not targeted in the ads, according to Federal Election Committee records. She faces Republican Rob Steinberger in the Nov. 5 general election.
In February, a Super PAC called “Maryland’s Future” launched a week after Republican former two-term governor Larry Hogan entered the U.S. Senate race. The PAC was seeded March 6 with $10 million from major Republican donor Kenneth Griffin, head of the Miami-based Citadel LLC hedge fund.
Griffin has been a Hogan supporter, contributing $6,600 to Hogan’s campaign on Feb. 29, according to FEC reports.
Hogan’s Democratic U.S. Senate opponent, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, sought to capitalize on Griffin’s contribution to the Maryland’s Future Super PAC, telling supporters in a fundraising email the next month that “a shady super PAC supporting former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan just landed a $10 MILLION donation,” and asking for their “grassroots support.”
It’s not clear whether or how much the super PAC might spend on Hogan’s race. Its statement of organization was signed by its treasurer, Craig Mareno, who did not respond to requests for comment.
Mareno was previously affiliated with a super PAC called “Good Fight” that promoted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Republican presidential campaign late last year.
Griffin’s other big donations this cycle are focused on Republicans winning the Senate majority, including his only other $10 million contribution that went to a PAC supporting Republican Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race.
With about $400,000 in other contributions from big GOP donors, Maryland’s Future spent only about $50,000 on consulting, legal or other fees through the end of March, the latest reporting deadline.
Super PACs arose following a series of court decisions in 2010, including the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United case that corporations and unions have no limits on political activity.
Super PACs sometimes present “transparency” issues, said Susan Turnbull, a former Maryland Democratic Party chair who was gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous’ running mate in the 2018 race won by Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford. Hogan was aided during the campaign by more than $3.2 million in ads paid for by the Republican Governors Association, while Jealous saw support from the Maryland Together We Rise super PAC, which spent around $3 million.
Super PACs “can make such an impact without the transparency that goes along with it,” Turnbull said. “If they say who they are and why they’re doing it, it’s a different story.”
In Elfreth’s race, the United Democracy Project “was not transparent at all with who they were and what they were doing,” Turnbull said. “This is no reflection on Sarah herself.”
Dorton, the United Democracy Project spokesman, said it “runs ads on the issues voters in particular districts most care about. In some places that’s Israel. In some cases, it’s another issue. There has been widespread coverage about UDP as the AIPAC super PAC.”
In addition to supporting Elfreth, Dorton said the PAC was concerned “about anti-Israel candidates who are not Harry Dunn in the race.” He declined to say who among the other 20 candidates in the Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District he was talking about.
Because the November election is five months away, it’s too soon to know exactly which super PACs or other outside groups will be most active in Maryland.
Immediately after the primary, national Democrats indicated they would step in to help Alsobrooks, though how much of their vast financial resources they will commit to Maryland versus several other competitive states remains unclear.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launched a digital ad on the night of the primary highlighting Hogan’s Republican bona fides in a state that has twice as many Democratic voters as Republicans.
The committee, which has raised $116 million so far this cycle and had about $44 million on hand as of March 31, is expected to continue targeting Hogan.
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee said Monday it would spend $250,000 to pay for campaign staff and organizers to work with Maryland candidates, citing in particular the importance of Alsobrooks’ election to abortion rights.
A Democratic independent expenditure group, Senate Majority PAC, spent tens of millions on competitive Senate races in 2022 and has also started issuing statements targeting Hogan. With $123 million raised so far this cycle and $92 million in the bank as of March 31, it could also spend resources in Maryland.
EMILYs List, aimed at electing women favoring abortion rights to Congress, endorsed Alsobrooks in the primary. And the PAC of MoveOn, another national group backing progressive candidates, said after the primary it would make Maryland one of its targets this year.
In the primary, EMILYs List spent about $2.6 million against David Trone, Alsobrooks’ principal opponent — the most it spent on any of the few races it involved itself in financially so far this year, according to OpenSecrets. The group’s president, Jessica Mackler, said in a statement after the primary that the group was “thrilled to stand with Alsobrooks in the general election” against Hogan, as well, following a “robust television and digital campaign” in the primary.
Hogan is no stranger to the types of political organizations that have been popular in recent years for candidates and their allies looking for an extra — and unlimited — outside boost.
An America United, a nonprofit organization Hogan established while serving as governor, was set up as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit “social welfare” organization. Transparency advocates have called such organizations “dark money” groups because they may engage in political activity, do not have contribution limits and do not need to disclose their donors.
An America United raised more than $3.5 million and spent $2.7 million from 2019 through 2022, according to its tax filings. Hogan used it increasingly throughout his second term to help like-minded Republican candidates and to travel as he spread his message nationally and said he was exploring running for president.
While it’s unclear if An America United — and the $824,000 it had in the bank at the beginning of 2023, according to its last filing — will be used this year, Hogan’s new campaign committees are receiving direct help from national Republicans. The National Republican Senatorial Committee helped pay for his first roughly $1 million television ad in April.
And on Thursday, U.S. Sen. John Thune, a South Dakotan who is looking to replace Mitch McConnell as the GOP’s Senate leader later this year, headlined a pricey fundraiser for Hogan in Potomac in Montgomery County. According to the invitation, the proceeds were to be split between Hogan’s primary campaign committee, two related Hogan committees, the Maryland Republican Party and the NRSC. The recommended contributions, according to the invite: $1,000 to $10,000. The maximum allowed donation from individuals and some other committees, under FEC joint fundraising rules, was in the fine print: $307,400.