Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wisc. a recent retiree from Congress. The race to replace him is a major focus of the super PAC “With Honor Fund” (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

A super PAC backed by wealthy donors that spent over $10 million supporting veteran candidates in 2018 is now spending heavily in 2020 Republican primaries.

Most recently, it is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to target Tuesday’s special election in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and the race for Rep. Mark Meadows’ (R-N.C.) open seat in North Carolina.

With Honor Fund is a super PAC that promotes and supports veterans running for federal office. The cross-partisan organization supported both Republicans and Democrats in 2018. Decreasing polarization in Congress is another objective of the organization, and the group tends to support candidates who are more moderate.

In Wisconsin, With Honor Fund has spent about $528,000 in support of Republican candidate Jason Church, a retired Army captain, who lost both his legs in Afghanistan. Church has raised $653,000 so far but is being out-raised by Wisconsin Republican state Sen. Tom Tiffany, who has raised $719,000 so far. Tiffany is supported by $205,000 in outside spending from the Club for Growth, a conservative super PAC that supports candidates that align with its goals of limiting the size of government, decreasing taxes and cutting regulations.

Due to the resignation of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) in September, a special election will be held. The primaries for that special election will take place Tuesday. Church is also supported by Americans 4 Security PAC, which spent $345,000 supporting Church and opposing Tiffany. Americans 4 Security PAC is partially funded by With Honor Fund, which gave them $100,000. The rest of its funding comes from a nonprofit named Americans 4 Security Inc.

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

In the race for Meadows’ solidly Republican seat in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district, With Honor Fund is backing Dan Driscoll, a veteran who served in the Army as an officer and was deployed to Iraq in 2009. The group reported spending $361,000 Tuesday to support Driscoll.

Meadows,a strong supporter of President Donald Trump who had considered working for the Trump administration, announced in December that he will retire at the end of his term. Eleven candidates are running in the Republican primary to replace Meadows, despite the fact that Meadows’ announcement came 30 hours before the deadline to file for the primary. Meadows endorsed a friend, Lynda Bennett, to take his seat.

Another candidate supported by With Honor Fund is August Pfluger, a former fighter pilot and Air Force lieutenant colonel. Pfluger is running in Texas’s open 11th Congressional District, following the retirement of Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas). Pfluger was endorsed by President Trump, and has significantly outraised his opponents. So far he has raised over $1.2 million, and has roughly $900,000 more in cash on hand than any other candidate. With Honor Fund has spent about $214,000 supporting Pfluger.

Big donors to With Honor Fund include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who gave more than $10 million in 2018; members of the Walton family, who are heirs to the Walmart fortune; and Abigail Wexner, who is married to Les Wexner, the founder of fashion company L Brands. Billionaire Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg also contributed to the group in 2018.



With Honor Fund spent $10.3 million in 2018, with a 70 percent success rate. The candidate who received the most support in 2018 was Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), where With Honor Fund spent over $1.7 million supporting him. The group also supported Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) to the tune of about $627,000, helping him win election in 2018.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]





Support Accountability Journalism At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust.Please support our work and keep this resource free. Thank you. Support OpenSecrets ➜