A new PAC aims to combat groups that pumped tens of millions of dollars into the 2010 election. | Reuters | REUTERS Dems' new PAC aims at House races

Democrats are launching a new outside group designed to combat the independent conservative organizations that pumped tens of millions of dollars into the 2010 election and helped to sweep House Republicans into the majority.

House Majority PAC will focus exclusively on House races and will be headed by Ali Lapp, who served as campaign director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 election cycle under then-Chairman Rahm Emanuel.


“The House Majority PAC is committed to building a long-term organization that can take on the Republican outside groups in the battle for the House Majority,” Lapp said in a statement. “Our objective is to help the Democrats win back the House.”

The group will operate as a “super PAC” — which means the group must disclose its donors, under Federal Election Commission rules, but can accept unlimited contributions.

The organization did not specify how much it planned to spend on races, but said its goal was to keep pace with the well-funded GOP outside groups over an extended period of time.

House Majority PAC estimated that conservative outside groups spent around $73 million during the 2010 campaign and that two GOP-friendly organizations, American Crossroads and the Susan B. Anthony Fund, have already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars on House races in the 2012 cycle.

“We will hold Republican incumbents and candidates accountable for their policies that have taken and continue to take our country in the wrong direction,” the group said in a memo. “Winning the House in 2012 can be done.”

House Majority PAC will be staffed by two other DCCC veterans — Nicole Runge, who between 2003 and 2009 helped to lead the committee’s fundraising efforts, and Ryan Rudominer, who worked as a DCCC press secretary during the 2008 and 2010 cycles.

Several other Democratic-aligned outside players are also gearing up efforts. Former Democratic Senatorial Committee Executive Director J.B. Poersch is helping to lunch a super PAC, as is Rodell Mollineau, a former communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.