Political Party/527

House Majority PAC

Website:

www.thehousemajoritypac.com/%20

Location:

Washington, DC

Formation:

2011

Type:

Carey Committee

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House Majority PAC is a Super PAC-turned-“Carey Committee” associated with House Democratic leadership that is a major financial supporter of Congressional Democrats. In the 2020 election cycle, the PAC spent $160 million, making it the second-highest source of independent expenditure of any Carey Committee, and the fifth-highest source of any organization. 1

House Majority PAC started as a Super PAC, but in the 2020 election cycle it became a Carey Committee,2 a hybrid of a traditional PAC and Super PAC which may both donate directly to candidates and spend unlimited amounts on independent expenditure to support candidates.

House Majority PAC was founded in 2011 by Alixandria Lapp, a Democratic operative. Lapp is currently listed as House Majority PAC’s treasurer. 3 Lapp and much of the staff of House Majority PAC are former employees of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). 4

Funding

In the 2020 election cycle House Majority PAC raised over $160 million, coming from almost 3,700 large donations (of at least $200). Its largest donor was Michael Bloomberg, who gave over $25 million. Other major donors included entrepreneur Fred Eychaner who gave $9 million, House Majority Forward which gave almost $8 million, billionaire hedge fund manager Jim Simons who gave $5 million, and investment manager Donald Sussman who gave $4 million. Labor union PACs Working for Working Americans and Laborers’ International Union of North America gave over $13 million and $3.5 million respectively. 5

Political Spending

After its formation in 2011, House Majority PAC raised and spent about $35 million in the 2012 election cycle, making it the fifth-highest spending Super PAC. The following cycle, expenditure increased to $38 million. Political spending rose precipitously over the following three cycles, from $56 million to $96 million, and finally topping $160 million in the 2020 cycle. 6

In the 2020 cycle, House Majority PAC was the second-highest spender of any Carey Committee, behind Future Forward USA. In the previous cycle, House Majority PAC was the fourth-highest spending Super PAC. 7

In the 2020 election cycle, House Majority PAC became a Carey Committee and began donating to individual candidates. The PAC donated to 78 candidates, with 24 receiving $15,000, five receiving $12,500, 23 receiving $10,000, and 26 receiving $7,500 or less. All recipients were Democrats, though Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) would later switch parties. 8

In the 2020 election cycle, House Majority PAC’s largest PAC recipients were Votevets.org, Patriot Majority, and LCV Victory Fund. 9

Independent Expenditures

The bulk of House Majority PAC’s spending is directed toward independent expenditures against Republican candidates. In the 2020 election cycle, the PAC spent over $133 million on advertisements against Republicans and $5.4 million on advertisements in support of Democrats. 10 In the month of October 2020 alone, the PAC released advertisements in 60 Congressional districts. 11

The PAC’s largest target was Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) who unseated incumbent Rep. Harley Rouda (D-CA) despite over $7 million in spending from House Majority PAC opposing her. The second-largest expenditure of over $5 million was spent unsuccessfully to oppose Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), whom House Majority PAC had donated $2,500 to earlier in the election cycle before he switched parties. Other major targets included Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA), Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), and Burgess Owens (R-UT), all of whom were elected for their first terms. 12

Despite focusing on Congressional elections, House Majority PAC spent $1.4 million on advertisements opposing President Donald Trump, and $35,000 to support President Joe Biden in the 2020 election cycle. In the 2016 cycle, the PAC spent $2.8 million to oppose President Trump. 13

House Majority PAC’s independent expenditure is heavily based on television advertisements. In the 2020 election cycle, it spent over $117 million in television ads, almost $15 million on internet ads, and less than $3 million on other ads. 14

The PAC’s website displays hundreds of television advertisements it has designed to support and attack Congressional candidates across the country. 15 Democracy in Color has criticized House Majority PAC for its “monolithic” reliance on television advertisements which the outlet considers inefficient by current research data on advertising effectiveness. 16

House Majority PAC has a close relationship with Waterfront Strategies, which has been its largest vendor by far. In the 2020 election cycle, House Majority PAC paid Waterfront strategies $118 million, compared with $57 million in the 2018 cycle, $39 million in the 2016 cycle, $25 million in the 2014 cycle, and $26 million in the 2012 cycle. 17

Coordinated Expenditures

In addition to its own funds, House Majority PAC’s website claims that it helped coordinate the expenditure of $220 million by other groups in the 2018 election. 18

Leadership

Alixandria Lapp

Alixandria Lapp is the founder and current treasurer of House Majority PAC. Lapp was previously the deputy director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and managed its independent expenditure arm under then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). She was also a lobbyist at Parven Pomper Strategies, which merged with Akin Gump. Her career began with a position under Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA). 19 Lapp’s husband, John Lapp, is also a Democratic operative. 20

Courtney Ryan

Courtney Ryan is the deputy executive director of House Majority PAC and was previously its finance director. She had formerly worked with the DCCC with Alexandria Lapp, and on the development team at America Votes, a Democratic-aligned advocacy coalition. 21

Elis Ribeiro

Elis Ribeiro is the chief of staff of House Majority PAC, and was previously its chief operating officer. Ribeiro is also a former employee of the DCCC, and worked as the regional operations director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign. 22

Nicole Runge D’Ercole

Nicole Runge D’Ercole is the leader of House Majority PAC’s development team. She is also a former employee of the DCCC where she was the managing director of marketing and finance. 23

Bruce Kieloch

Bruce Kieloch is a fundraiser for House Majority PAC. He has spent more than 25 years fundraising for Democratic organizations, including DCCC, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic National Committee. 24

Controversy

In October 2020, House Majority PAC ran an attack ad against Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) that accused him of “skipping out” on a vote to increase military salaries while collecting $1 million in compensation from the government. Hudson hired a law firm to publish an open letter accusing House Majority PAC of defamation. He stated that he had missed the vote due to quarantine measures in response to a potential COVID-19 exposure, and that he would have voted for this bill if he had attended. He also noted that the $1 million of compensation referred to his lifetime compensation over eight years in government. The letter threatened a lawsuit against House Majority PAC, but no legal action was taken. 25

References

  1. “2020 Outside Spending, by Group.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?cycle=2020&chrt=V&disp=O&type=H.
  2. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  3. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  4. “Our Team.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 27, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/about-us/staff.
  5. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  6. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  7. “2020 Outside Spending, by Group.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?cycle=2020&chrt=V&disp=O&type=H.
  8. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  9. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  10. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  11. “Press Releases.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 27, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/news/press-releases.
  12. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  13. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  14. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  15. “Our Work.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 26, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/our-work.
  16. “House Majority PAC.” Democracy in Color. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://democracyincolor.com/hmp2020.
  17. “House Majority PAC PAC Profile.” Open Secrets. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/spending-section.
  18. “Our Story.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 26, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/about-us/our-story.
  19. Livingston, Abby. “Meet the Super PAC Woman.” Roll Call. September 18, 2014. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.rollcall.com/2014/09/18/meet-the-super-pac-woman-2/.
  20. “John Lapp.” C-Span. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.c-span.org/person/?johnlapp.
  21. “Our Team.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 27, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/about-us/staff.
  22. “Our Team.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 27, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/about-us/staff.
  23. “Our Team.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 27, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/about-us/staff.
  24. “Our Team.” House Majority PAC. Accessed March 27, 2021. http://www.thehousemajoritypac.com/about-us/staff.
  25. “RE: False and Misleading Advertising by House Majority PAC.” CBS 17. October 13, 2020. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.cbs17.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2020/10/Letter-regarding-HMP-Ad-10.13.2020.pdf.
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House Majority PAC


Washington, DC