Republican candidates around the country were hit with an unusual last-minute attack in the midterms questioning their commitment to conservatism, and the campaign was carried out by three shadowy groups that didn’t exist until this year.
A CNN investigation found that Our Heritage Matters, American Forge Coalition and Patriotic Duty Initiative flooded voters with robocalls, texts and mailers accusing GOP candidates of betraying conservative principles on guns, abortion and immigration and promoted little-known Libertarians as the “true conservatives.”
Our Heritage Matters, a super PAC, registered with federal regulators just 19 days before Election Day, and it went on to report more than $8.5 million in spending across 35 House and Senate races.
Several targeted Republicans lost, including Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Tom Barrett of Michigan.
In Turner’s district, the group’s texts warned voters to “STOP liberals and Fake Republicans from TAKING OUR GUNS” and urged them to back Libertarian Thomas McMasters, who got 8,906 votes, and Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker beat Turner by 4,938.
“I had no idea any of this was going on in the background,” McMasters told CNN. “If the real objective was to support Knickerbocker they should have to say they’re supporting Knickerbocker.”
The same thing happened in South Carolina’s 1st District. Libertarian William Reeside, promoted as the only candidate who would fight a “tidal wave of criminal illegals,” got 5,351 votes, and Democrat Nancy Lacore beat Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt by 3,352.
In Michigan, a robocall described Barrett as one of the “Spy State politicians” pushing to expand government surveillance.
Some of the attacks were especially harsh. An Arizona mailer showed a Mexican flag and labeled Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani a “Mexican-born RINO” who puts “Mexico first.” A Kansas robocall began, “If you’re a Christian, there’s something you should know,” before claiming Sen. Roger Marshall, a physician, had performed abortions. Marshall denied it.
The group also spent heavily against Marshall and Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, but in both races Democrats won by more than the Libertarian’s vote total.
On Election Day, Bucks County Republicans in Pennsylvania texted voters warning about the groups: “Do Not be fooled by them.”
The source of the funding remains a mystery. Corporate and federal election records link all three groups to Mike McCauley, a Salt Lake City accountant whose firm has worked with Republicans. The super PAC’s spending was attributed to two Delaware companies formed Oct. 6. It registered one day after the pre-election disclosure window closed, so its donors don’t have to be revealed until Dec. 3.
The other two groups are set up as nonprofits that generally don’t have to disclose donors, so their backers may never be known.
McCauley and the groups did not respond to CNN.