Smith is an incumbent in a predominately Republican district. Critics retreat in bid to unseat Smith

Political action committees and Internet activist groups that sought to unseat Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith over his sponsorship of the Stop Online Piracy Act are going back to the drawing board after failing to muster enough support from voters.

Representatives for anti-Smith PACs such as the Americans for Internet Freedom and Test PAC are regrouping and deciding where they want to focus their energy and fundraising dollars next, now that Smith has secured his party’s nomination for another House term.


“We set our goals really, really lofty this time and unfortunately, we were flying a little too close to the sun,” said Andy Posterick, treasurer for Test PAC, which was borne out of the anti-SOPA movement on the social news website Reddit.

Supporters of stronger online copyright legislation weren’t surprised that the anti-SOPA efforts fell flat at the voting booth. Many never believed that SOPA would be much of an election year issue. And the Texas GOP primary proved that.

Not only is Smith an incumbent in a predominately Republican district, opponents say the size of the Judiciary chairman’s campaign war chest — roughly $1.3 million — easily trumped the money the newly formed PACs raised. That included contributions from PACs for Comcast, the Recording Industry Association of America and Go Daddy, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. A spokesman for Smith’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Test PAC is debating whether to wait a couple months to reorganize or get involved in another primary campaign right away. It is weighing whether to throw its support behind Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) in his race against onetime SOPA co-sponsor Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.).

“It was a valiant effort, but Smith was in this position of carrying water for Hollywood precisely because he’s in such a strong position electorally,” said Fight for the Future Co-Founder Holmes Wilson, whose advocacy group raised about $15,000 to put two anti-Smith billboards in the Texas Republican’s district. “These long shots are worth taking, but you aren’t going to win them every day.”

Posterick said Test PAC couldn’t afford to spread its anti-Smith message widely. The group raised about $20,000 and spent roughly $10,000 on an anti-Smith TV ad, as well as $4,500 on a billboard in Smith’s district, which includes parts of San Antonio and Austin. Posterick said that the TV ad aired about two dozen times.

There is an effort under way to unite the technology-related PACs for the next electoral challenge. Michael Hendrix, the board chairman of the Americans for Internet Freedom PAC, said his group plans on bringing the PACS together for a roundtable in Austin within the next two months to decide which campaign to target next.

Last month, the Alliance for Internet Freedom, which includes several tech-related PACs, aimed to pool resources in an effort to raise as much as $500,000 to defeat Smith — but it came up with only $175,000. Hendrix said the group focused on identifying people who would vote against Smith and encouraging them to cast those votes in the primary.

One of Smith’s Republican challengers, Richard Morgan, has been approached to be the political director for the Alliance. Morgan is a software engineer and plans to make his decision about whether to head up the Alliance this week, according to Hendrix.