Democrats launch PAC to counter Republican legal election challenges

WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic strategists is launching a super PAC focused on supporting the party’s legal efforts around election protection and battles that could come after Election Day.

The group anticipates that former President Donald Trump and his allies will repeat their large-scale attempt to undermine confidence in the election before Nov. 5 and then work to overturn election outcomes by challenging ballots and results in court in the days and weeks after voting.

The new group, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money, is called Democracy Defenders. It will be chaired by Jim Messina, who was campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s successful 2012 re-election campaign.

Norm Eisen, a longtime Democratic attorney who was a co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump's first impeachment, will be outside counsel.

TJ Ducklo, who worked for Joe Biden in 2020 and 2024, is stepping down from what is now the Harris campaign to be the PAC’s chief strategist.

Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, a close ally of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, will be the PAC’s chief legal adviser.

The group says it will work in coordination with state parties and other allied groups to confront what it called “an unprecedented assault from Donald Trump and his allies who seek to undermine the American people’s fundamental right to vote.”

“We are not messing around with this — too much is on the line and we’ve seen what Trump is capable of when he loses an election fair and square,” Messina said in a statement. “We’re going to be stepping up and providing resources directly to state parties and allies on the ground to make sure every American can cast their vote with confidence and without interference.”

The PAC’s work will begin with an initial $10 million budget for both legal work and public messaging efforts, with plans to raise additional funding through the fall. The goal is to allow the Harris campaign and other Democratic Party leaders and campaigns, especially in down-ballot races, to prioritize their resources to turn out and persuade voters, especially when it comes to paid media.

Democrats mounted an unprecedented voter protection effort in the 2020 campaign focused on ensuring that Americans could still have easy access to voting despite a public health crisis. That and other efforts taking shape now are motivated by fear that Republicans are far more prepared than they were four years ago to take legal action before, during and after voting to challenge results.

“The threat to American democracy has only grown more intense since Donald Trump encouraged a violent mob to stop the peaceful transfer of power nearly four years ago. Trump and his allies are already working to undermine the fundamental right we have as Americans to vote and to have our vote counted fairly,” Messina said.

PAC officials say they plan to help lead efforts after Election Day to counter “bad actors” who would try to cast doubt on the results and to continue after Inauguration Day with a mission of supporting small-D democratic initiatives.