The CPC-PAC is the campaign arm of the 98-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Mark Pocan (pictured) and Pramila Jayapal. | Lauren Victoria Burke, File/AP Photo 2020 Elections Progressive Caucus PAC ramps up 2020 push The group will recruit candidates to grow the House's liberal ranks, but it won't challenge moderate Democratic incumbents.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC is hiring its first-ever political director, part of a larger effort by the PAC to turn more attention to recruiting new candidates.

David Keith — whose last role was as campaign manager for Democrat Randy Bryce, who ran unsuccessfully to succeed former Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin — will take on the new role.


Bryce lost that race, but he captured the hearts and small-dollar donations of liberals across the country who hoped to elect a Democrat running as an unapologetic progressive to Ryan's seat, raising more than $8.6 million for the campaign. Before that, Keith managed now-Rep. Jimmy Gomez's successful campaign in a 2017 special election in California, and he served as deputy campaign manager for Chuy Garcia’s failed Chicago mayoral bid in 2015.

In his role for the PAC, Keith will oversee 2020 strategy, candidate recruitment and identify battleground seats.

“It’s a great time to be a progressive," Keith said in an interview. "People are proud to be progressives, and that amount of energy is not common — and it’s going to be incumbent upon us to use it to win races,” Keith said in an interview.

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The CPC-PAC is the campaign arm of the 98-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, which grew by nearly two dozen after the 2018 midterm elections. It helps progressive candidates with resources and funding — but unlike new progressive groups that popped up after the rise of President Donald Trump, it does not weigh in on challenges to incumbents, even those on the more moderate wing of the party.

The PAC will focus on recruiting in safe seats where incumbents retire and in swing districts, working alongside the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Keith said the key to convincing new candidates to run — especially younger or working-class hopefuls — is showing them that the “support is going to be there.”

“The biggest thing standing in the way of these authentic candidates running for office is that ... the idea of running for office has always been vague and above their pay grade,” he said, adding that the PAC would provide "assistance in shaping a campaign, in staffing a campaign, structuring and funding a campaign."

The decision to hire a full-time political director to dedicate more resources to recruitment comes after the CPC PAC raised nearly $2 million over the 2018 cycle compared to $298,000 in 2016, according to the PAC. An escalation could also provide a liberal counterweight to the House Freedom Fund, the political arm of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, which doled out more than $6 million last cycle to boost some of the House GOP's most conservative members and candidates.

“We are thrilled to welcome David Keith as political director for the CPC PAC,” said the Congressional Progressive Caucus' co-chairs, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), in a statement. “As we head into the 2020 election cycle, David’s experience, talent and passion will be instrumental in maintaining and expanding our bold, progressive majority in Congress.”