After a week and a half of being pummeled by a mysterious super PAC with increasingly clear GOP ties, 7th district Democratic candidate Rebecca Bennett is taking legal steps to fight back, sending a cease and desist letter to “Real Change PAC” and demanding the PAC disclose more information about its motives.
The impetus for the letter was a series of text messages sent by the PAC telling 7th district voters that “Bennett is wrong for Congress” because she won’t commit to abolishing ICE. The texts did not list a paid-for disclaimer until voters responded to the message, which the Bennett campaign says runs afoul of FEC regulations.
The Bennett campaign’s claims, though, go much further. Real Change PAC claims to be “committed to progressive values” and has attacked Bennett from the left, but there is substantial evidence that the group’s true purpose is weakening swing-district Democratic candidates and aiding the GOP. If the PAC is indeed a Republican front group, the Bennett campaign says that may be a violation of state and federal law.
“This is not a technical issue,” the letter states. “Democratic primary voters are entitled to know whether an attack presented as a ‘progressive’ message is actually funded, directed, suggested, or assisted by forces that are seeking to help Tom Kean Jr. and/or manipulate the Democratic nomination.”
The PAC must disclose its donors before the June 2 primary, Bennett’s campaign insists – under FEC deadlines, it won’t be required to disclose anything until June 20 – and certify that it has not coordinated with any other campaigns or groups: “Real Change PAC has no right to disguise from Democratic voters the source, funding, control, or coordination of [its] intervention.”
Also receiving a legal notice today was Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield)’s re-election campaign; Bennett is demanding that any campaign documents related to Real Change PAC be preserved. (Kean’s campaign is legally barred from coordinating directly with any super PAC, and there’s been no specific evidence that any coordination has occurred.)
The Real Change PAC saga began last week, when the PAC suddenly started spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on anti-Bennett ads without having reported any donors or prior expenditures. As of today, the group’s total anti-Bennett investment stands at nearly $650,000, and voters are now also receiving mailers that depict AI-generated versions of Bennett standing with ICE agents and taking ICE contractor donations.
Right away, observers noticed the similarities between Real Change PAC and Lead Left PAC, another shadowy group that popped up to bash certain Democratic candidates in competitive districts and that had fairly conclusive Republican fingerprints. The footage Real Change PAC used in its advertising also matched footage that had been promoted by the Congressional Leadership Fund, the House GOP campaign arm’s main super PAC.
Earlier today, Axios’s Andrew Solender found perhaps the most unambiguous evidence yet of Real Change PAC’s GOP connections: when Solender signed up for the PAC’s email list, the confirmation email came back with a domain name of Cavalry LLC, a GOP consulting firm founded by Mitch McConnell’s ex-chief of staff.
In addition to the new legal filings, Bennett’s campaign has also taken the anti-Real Change PAC fight directly to voters, airing an ad that pushes back on claims made both by the PAC and by Tina Shah, a rival Democratic candidate who has begun running negative ads against Bennett.