Enigmatic super PAC lands in NJ-7 to boost Bennett

Article One PAC, a mysterious super PAC whose donors and motives remain largely unknown, is touching down in the race for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district on behalf of Rebecca Bennett.

The PAC has reported spending $25,304 so far on pro-Bennett mailers, but that’s unlikely to be the end of the group’s investment in the race; in other elections around the country where the PAC has gotten involved, it’s typically spent several hundred thousand dollars.

One of those races was in New Jersey’s neighboring 11th congressional district, which hosted a competitive and crowded special election earlier this year. Article One PAC, which was brand-new at the time, spent $350,000 boosting former Lieutenant Gov. Tahesha Way, who finished third in the Democratic primary; all of that funding came from the Guzman Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit that has not disclosed its donors or motives.

Since then, Article One PAC received another influx of $600,100, this time from the Article One Action Fund, which appears to also be a dark-money group without any traceable donors. An interrelated group, Article One Victory, received a $345,100 donation from Robert Granieri, the billionaire founder of Jane Street Capital.

The candidates that Article One PAC has supported, though, give some indication as to its motives. Besides Way and Bennett, the PAC has spent money on behalf of Reps. Valerie Foushee (D-North Carolina) and Mike Thompson (D-California), both establishment-supported septuagenarian Democrats facing younger and more progressive primary challengers. (Foushee narrowly won her race in March, while Thompson’s primary isn’t until June.)

Bennett, one of four Democrats running for the 7th district (and the preferred choice of most local party leadership), also has another very well-funded group on her side: VoteVets, a national PAC that supports Democratic veterans who run for office. VoteVets began airing pro-Bennett ads in late April, and its total investment in the race has now risen to $645,989.