The 2028 favor bank: which hopefuls’ PACs are actually paying for the midterms

By Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON — Two weeks before the midterms, almost every Democrat and Republican who might run for president in 2028 is on the road for somebody else. Pete Buttigieg campaigned in New Hampshire this month for Senate nominee Chris Pappas; Sen. Raphael Warnock’s surrogate tour has run through all three early Democratic primary states. Speeches and selfies are cheap. The more telling evidence of who is building goodwill with the people who will matter in a primary is in federal campaign-finance filings: which hopefuls’ political action committees are actually writing checks to this year’s candidates and parties, and which are mostly paying for their own operations.

The Washington Inquisitor analyzed Federal Election Commission records for 14 committees tied to 14 Democrats and Republicans who are regularly named as possible 2028 candidates. We used the FEC’s bulk summary and itemized files posted early Tuesday and the agency’s itemized disbursement data. The totals cover Jan. 1, 2025, through each committee’s most recent report, which ended Aug. 31 or Sept. 30.

The findings at a glance

• The biggest war chests give the least. Buttigieg’s Win the Era PAC has raised $14.6 million this cycle, more than any other committee in our review, but has given $255,000 to other committees, about 2.6% of what it has spent. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s federal Campaign for Democracy PAC reported $3,000 in contributions on $3.5 million in spending.
• Senators’ leadership PACs do most of the giving. Sen. Mark Kelly’s Liftoff PAC gave $926,000, more than half of everything it spent. Sen. Chris Murphy’s American Mobilization PAC and Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s Mitten PAC each gave more than $500,000.
• On the Republican side, Vice President JD Vance’s Working for Ohio is the active giver. It reported $290,000 in contributions, almost all to Senate and House Republicans. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Reclaim America PAC has made no contributions this cycle.
• Early-state candidates are collecting. New Hampshire Senate nominee Chris Pappas has received checks from the PACs of Kelly, Murphy, Slotkin, Gallego and Beshear, and South Carolina Senate nominee Annie Andrews from Kelly, Murphy and Beshear, in the FEC’s processed itemized data.

The scoreboard

“Given” is what each committee reported as contributions to other federal committees (candidates, parties and PACs), plus independent expenditures where a super PAC spent on its own ads. “Giving share” divides that by total disbursements. Cash on hand is as of the end of the latest report.

The war chests: Buttigieg and Newsom

Win the Era has raised $14.6 million since January 2025, $14.4 million of it from individual donors, and spent $9.7 million, leaving $6.3 million in the bank as of Aug. 31. Its contributions came in a single burst: on June 29 and 30 it sent $5,000 apiece to 51 Democratic state and territorial parties, every state plus Puerto Rico, for a total of $255,000, according to its itemized disbursements. The FEC’s processed data show no direct contributions from the PAC to House or Senate candidates this cycle.

The rest has gone to building an operation. Its largest payees in FEC data are TrueBlue Digital (about $2.7 million), QCT Production (about $928,000), the corporate card company Ramp (about $794,000), Anne Lewis Strategies (about $689,000) and Grassroots Analytics (about $538,000), according to its disbursement records. Payments like these typically build and maintain a national donor and email list, the kind of asset a presidential campaign starts with. Politico reported this month that Buttigieg is going big to help 2026 Democrats, and his PAC organized a New Hampshire rally with Pappas and other nominees.

Newsom’s federal Campaign for Democracy PAC reported $4.4 million in receipts, $3.5 million of it transferred in from affiliated committees, and $3.5 million in spending. Its only federal contribution this cycle was $3,000. Its largest itemized payments were $1.5 million to Aisle 518 Strategies and $200,000 to Virginians for Fair Elections, according to FEC disbursement data. It ended September with $7.0 million in cash, the most of any committee in our review. A related federal super PAC, Campaign for Democracy Group, reported another $4.4 million on hand.

The givers: senators’ leadership PACs

Leadership PACs, which the FEC records as sponsored by a specific officeholder, exist largely to give money to other candidates, and the senators in our review use them that way. Kelly’s Liftoff PAC gave $926,000 of the $1.8 million it spent. In itemized data, its largest single recipient was the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, at $210,000, followed by $10,000 checks to Senate nominees such as Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Scott Colom in Mississippi and Mary Peltola in Alaska, and dozens of $2,000 to $2,500 checks to House candidates (FEC disbursements). It also ended September nearly empty, with about $92,000 left.

Murphy’s American Mobilization PAC raised $2.5 million and gave $570,000. Its itemized contributions include $50,000 to Indivisible Action, the political arm of the progressive group Indivisible, and $10,000 checks to Senate nominees including Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Annie Andrews in South Carolina, Chris Pappas in New Hampshire and Dan Osborn, the independent running in Nebraska (FEC disbursements).

Slotkin’s Mitten PAC raised $2.2 million and gave $532,800, including $135,000 to the DSCC and a cluster of $10,000 checks to Michigan House candidates. Gallego’s Juntos PAC gave $246,000, including $10,000 each to Cooper, Peltola, Sen. Ben Ray Luján and House candidates Bobby Pulido, Greg Landsman and Darren Soto. Ocasio-Cortez’s Courage to Change gave $120,000, a smaller sum but 42% of its spending, led by $25,000 to Analilia Mejia’s campaign in New Jersey’s 11th District and $20,000 to Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida.

Murphy, Slotkin and Gallego, along with Buttigieg and Warnock, are among those scheduled to speak at a post-election gathering of potential 2028 Democratic contenders in Denver in November, CNN reported. Warnock has no leadership PAC; FEC records list only his Senate campaign committee.

The governors: super PACs and spending at home

The governors’ committees are registered with the FEC as hybrid PACs, which can raise unlimited sums for independent spending, and they spend differently. Beshear’s In This Together PAC raised $3.8 million and gave $180,000 to federal committees. It also spends on state races that do not show up in that line: in August it gave $100,000 to Project Battleground Georgia, which supports Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor, and $25,000 to a committee backing Deb Haaland in New Mexico, the Kentucky Lantern reported. The Lantern describes the PAC as Beshear’s platform for exploring a 2028 run.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC raised $1.6 million, spent $1.9 million and gave $78,500, including $10,000 each to three Michigan House candidates. Its largest vendor was Authentic Campaigns, a digital firm, at about $508,000 (FEC disbursements). Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s allied Unity First PAC, which Maryland Matters has called Moore’s PAC, raised $1.2 million and gave $38,000, holding $849,555.

The Republicans: Vance gives, Rubio waits

Vance’s Working for Ohio is almost entirely funded by transfers: it reported $1.4 million from affiliated committees and $3.25 from individuals. It has given $290,000 to roughly 50 Republicans, according to the processed data, from Senate incumbents such as Cindy Hyde-Smith and Bernie Moreno ($10,000 each) to House members such as Mike Lawler and Rob Bresnahan ($5,000 each), and Senate candidates including Mike Rogers in Michigan and John E. Sununu in New Hampshire (FEC disbursements). Vance leads early Republican primary polling, as we reported Oct. 16.

Rubio’s Reclaim America PAC, by contrast, raised $117,770, spent $47,373 and has made no contributions this cycle.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s Stand For America PAC raised $1.9 million but spent $3.2 million, drawing down cash it had banked earlier. It gave $495,000, including $10,000 each to Rep. Ralph Norman and Wes Climer in her home state of South Carolina and $5,000 checks to Senate Republicans including Mike Rogers in Michigan and Michael Whatley in North Carolina. Its largest payees are consulting firms, led by Village Square LLC, Boyer Consulting Group and MKJ Inc. at roughly $270,000 to $290,000 each (FEC disbursements).

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who has said he is thinking about 2028, put his federal super PAC, Hardworking Americans Inc., into a single race. It reported $4.2 million in independent expenditures, backing Derek Dooley in Georgia’s Republican Senate primary, plus $53,672 against Sen. Jon Ossoff, according to FEC itemized data. It ended September with about $66,000.

Who in the early states is getting checks

South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire are scheduled to open the Democratic presidential calendar in 2028. These are the contributions to candidates in those states recorded in the FEC’s processed itemized data for the committees above. Party contributions, such as Win the Era’s $5,000 to each state party, are not included.

Two names stand out. Pappas, the New Hampshire Senate nominee, has taken $45,000 from five prospects’ committees, counting $2,500 from Gallego’s PAC to his House committee. Andrews, the South Carolina nominee, has $25,000 from three. In a state that votes first, that is a small, early down payment on a relationship.

How we did this

We started with committees the FEC lists as leadership PACs sponsored by a prospect: Murphy, Kelly, Slotkin, Gallego, Ocasio-Cortez, Vance and Rubio. We added the main federal PACs of other prospects where the connection is public: Buttigieg (Politico), Newsom (Campaign for Democracy), Beshear (Kentucky Lantern), Whitmer (Fight Like Hell), Moore (Maryland Matters), Haley (Stand For America) and Kemp (CNN). The list of prospects draws on recent reporting by CNN, The Post and Courier and The Washington Post and on our own earlier coverage. Josh Shapiro, JB Pritzker and others who raise mainly through state committees are not included, because their state accounts are not reported to the FEC.

Totals come from the FEC’s summary file, which reflects filed reports. Recipient-level details come from processed itemized records, which lag the filings and can miss the latest contributions. Several monthly filers, including Win the Era, In This Together and Juntos, owe reports covering September on Oct. 20. We will update this analysis when they and the Oct. 22 pre-general reports are processed. Nothing in these records suggests any committee broke the law; leadership PACs and super PACs routinely spend on staff, consultants and fundraising.

Photo: The New Hampshire State House in Concord. Farragutful, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.