Just days before the primary decides the Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, the race is flush with PAC money and a rush of television ads.
A newly formed group, the American Priorities super PAC, has stepped in to back Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam. The group spent at least $792,475 on TV advertisements in the district between Feb. 9 and 26, according to Federal Communications Commission filings.
Three other groups, Leaders We Deserve, The Impact Fund, and Working Families also bought ads in support of Allam this month, spending $276,210, $50,000, and $93,980 respectively. The groups are hybrid PACs, a type of political committee that combines elements of a traditional PAC and a super PAC.
Stumping for the other side, a super PAC called Jobs and Democracy spent $654,360 on TV ads this month supporting incumbent U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee. Jobs and Democracy is the Democratic affiliate of a larger bipartisan super PAC, Public First. Public First was formed by former U.S. Reps. Chris Stewart (R-UT) and Brad Carson (D-OK) to “champion responsible tech policies that reduce harm and protect against AI’s worst risks.”
This spending has caused a stir online among Allam and her supporters who say Foushee is taking AI lobby money. Anthropic, a leading AI company, donated $20 million to Public First in mid-February. In congress, Rep. Foushee serves on the House Bipartisan AI Task Force.
Foushee is also under fire from Allam’s supporters for contributions from a group called Article One which spent $264,900 in ads for the incumbent in recent days. Article One, another hybrid PAC, is an affiliate of Article One Victory. One of Article One Victory’s leading donors, billionaire Robert Granieri, has previously donated to pro-Israel groups.
Rolling Sea Action Fund, a hybrid PAC that supports Black voices in politics, has also spent $14,020 on pro-Foushee TV ads this month.
The flood of outside money is reminiscent of Allam and Foushee’s first matchup in 2022, which became the most expensive Democratic congressional primary in the state’s history. Foushee was widely criticized at the time for accepting more than $2 million in bundled campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She vowed in August not to take AIPAC money this cycle.
Of those groups, the biggest TV ad buys are by American Priorities in support of Allam. The mysterious super PAC emerged only in the new year. Their website states that they “engage in issue advocacy and independent communications related to federal elections” and do “not coordinate with any candidate, campaign, or political party.”
American Priorities has provided little information on the type of candidate it backs, but according to reports by NBC news, the group was formed in part to counter the influence of pro-Israel spending. The super PAC supports “Congresspeople whose views on foreign policy are plainly reflective of where the Democratic base has moved.” The group is led by Hannah Fertig, a strategist who previously worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, according to the NBC report.
Allam, the first Muslim woman to be elected to office in North Carolina, is a staunch supporter of Palestine. Foushee, meanwhile, has received much criticism for taking AIPAC money in 2022 and for meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024.
The downpour of outside spending in the district reflects the intense competition between the two candidates for the Democratic nomination. The result is a flood of TV ads on local networks.
Above: Nida Allam and Valerie Foushee at the NAACP candidate forum in January. Photo by Tanya Wan — The 9th Street Journal
Paige Stevens
