Democratic Group to Spend $186 Million Aiming to Win Back House Majority

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. In an interview on Sunday, the House Majority PAC president described the group’s investment as part of “an offensive strategy” for this election year. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority […]

Democratic Group to Spend $186 Million Aiming to Win Back House Majority

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You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

In an interview on Sunday, the House Majority PAC president described the group’s investment as part of “an offensive strategy” for this election year.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries speaks to a group of reporters who are surrounding him.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader. His allied super PAC announced a campaign-advertising plan covering 45 House districts.Credit…Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Maya King

House Majority PAC, the Democratic super PAC allied with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader, said on Sunday that it would spend $186 million on television and digital advertisements for this year’s elections — the largest early investment in the group’s history.

The hefty expenditure will cover 58 media markets in 45 districts, targeting Republican seats in districts that President Biden carried in 2020 as well as Democratic seats in districts that former President Donald J. Trump won. As part of that spending plan, $40 million will go toward digital advertisements, the group said on Sunday. Details of the ad buy were first shared with CNN.

In an interview on Sunday, the House Majority PAC president, Mike Smith, described the group’s plan for this election year as “an offensive strategy.” Democrats need to win just four seats to clinch a House majority, and they have said that doing so depends on races in New York and California. The group is spending the most in those states to unseat vulnerable Republican freshmen and to maintain the ample — and costly — messaging needed to break through to voters.

“The significant investment is the seriousness of which we are taking this election,” Mr. Smith said. “The core districts that are going to make or break whether or not Democrats win or lose the majority this fall are kind of consolidated, and a lot of them take place in the most expensive media markets in the country.”

Mr. Smith also noted that the group had invested early in advertisements in states like Ohio, Montana and Michigan, where there are a handful of competitive U.S. Senate races and tight margins for the presidential race. It is particularly focused on appealing to voters in districts with substantial Black, Hispanic or Asian American populations, in addition to swing districts.


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