Conservative super PACs are spending freely in primaries. | REUTERS Conservative PACs flood primaries

Conservative super PACs in May spent millions of dollars to swing congressional races in states like Texas, Nebraska, Utah and Indiana, according to campaign finance reports released Wednesday.

And at least one mega-donor — PayPal founder Peter Thiel — ditched supporting a pro-Ron Paul super PAC to last month pour a cool $1 million into the congressional race-focused Club for Growth Action super PAC, new filings show.


Club for Growth Action raised nearly $2 million in May and ended the month with more than $3 million in reserve. That’s even after spending about $2.3 million last month primarily to support Senate candidates Ted Cruz in Texas and Richard Mourdock in Indiana, while opposing Senate candidates Jon Bruning in Nebraska, David Dewhurst in Texas and Sen. Dick Lugar in Indiana. Lugar lost the GOP primary race to Mourdock.

Other super PAC backers have invested heavily in congressional politics, such as Jackson Stephens, an executive at Exoxemis Inc., who donated $200,000 to Club for Growth Action.

FreedomWorks for America super PAC raised $447,262 last month while spending almost twice that. The group spent $445,000 on advertisements in May, including ads to back conservative primary candidates in Senate races in Indiana, Texas and Utah.

Chicago Cubs patriarch Joe Ricketts donated $510,000 to the Ending Spending Action Fund. The billionaire and TD Ameritrade founder took heat last month for considering backing an ad campaign linking President Barack Obama to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The group spent $255,000 last month on advertisements to support GOP Senate candidate Deb Fischer in Nebraska, a tea party favorite, and to attack Bruning, the establishment candidate and state attorney general. Fischer won an upset victory in the May primary.

Leo Linbeck III in May loaned $260,000 to his nonpartisan, anti-incumbent Campaign for Primary Accountability. That brings the total he has loaned the super PAC to $390,000. The group raised nearly $440,000 last month overall.

The anti-incumbent super PAC shelled out $545,000 in May to run ads against Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), Ralph Hall (R-Texas), Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and House candidate Susan Brooks (R-Ind.). The group also ran ads in Indiana supporting David McIntosh, who lost to Brooks in the primary.