A surprise Democratic donor is financing a late push to help the party win four Senate seats in traditionally red states, according to The New York Times.
Steve Pajcic, a noted Florida lawyer and philanthropist, and his children are spending "at least $7 million" on ads in Florida, Kansas, Mississippi and South Carolina, the Times reported. Pajcic, a co-founder of the personal-injury firm Pajcic & Pajcic, is behind a new group called New Deal for All, "formed at the beginning of October." It began airing ads Tuesday in Kansas and South Carolina and will soon expand to Florida, where it plans to spend most of its money, and Mississippi.
“Democrats have been way too timid and modest in their expectations in the past,” Pajcic, 80, told the Times. “There’s a real chance for something big happening with this election, and I’m kind of old. So why not see if you can if there’s anything you can do to help?”
The Times reported Pajcic has never given at this scale. He contributed $147,000 to a Democratic Senate super PAC in 2024 but said he did not want to simply hand $7 million to outside groups. “If I’m going to put this much into it, I want to make sure it’s effective and doing what I want it to do,” he told the paper.
He said he named the group because he wants Democrats to win as many as 56 Senate seats and usher in a movement “comparable to the changes we had with the New Deal.”
National Democrats have "recently begun shifting resources to red states," particularly Kansas, the Times reported, but are still spending relatively little in Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi.
One new South Carolina spot targets Republican Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed after her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died in July. The ad labels her “Data Center Darline” and features a line from her Aug. 18 runoff debate: “I’m not that informed on national security.” Asked at the debate whether Taiwan and the South China Sea are national security issues, Graham said she was not that informed, then added: “But I do support the military.”
Pajcic has been in politics for decades. He served in the Florida Legislature and was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1986, losing to Republican Bob Martinez, the Times reported.