BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A mystery super PAC backing Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama is controlled by a pair of groups closely aligned with the national Democratic Party, even as the candidate strives to dissociate himself from Washington interests.

Highway 31, which dropped more than $4.1 million in support of Jones and against Roy Moore ahead of Tuesday's Senate special election, is a joint project of two of the largest national Democratic super PACs — Senate Majority PAC and Priorities USA Action — along with a group of Alabama Democrats, multiple senior officials familiar with the arrangement told POLITICO.


Highway 31 was created in November, Federal Election Commission filings show. Though Birmingham lawyer Edward Still is listed as the group’s treasurer, it was, in fact, founded jointly with Senate Majority PAC, the outside group closely tied to Democratic leadership in the Senate. Highway 31 has been funded jointly by Senate Majority PAC and Priorities USA Action, the Democratic super PAC that backed Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, the Democrats briefed on the arrangement told POLITICO.

Still did not respond to a request for comment, and spokesmen for Senate Majority and Priorities declined to comment.

"Highway 31 continues to follow every appropriate rule and regulation. The PAC will file contributors per the FEC reporting schedule,” said Adam Muhlendorf, a spokesman for the group.

The group’s backing has remained secret until now because federal laws do not require it to disclose its donors until after the election. Jones' camp has kept its distance from the group, and no information has surfaced until now about its background.

The revelation of the Jones' campaign's benefactors comes after Jones for months has striven to distance himself from the national Democratic Party. In campaign ads, the former U.S. attorney has insisted that as a senator he would not answer to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Some of Schumer's former aides now help run Senate Majority PAC.

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President Donald Trump carried Alabama by 28 points last year, and the national Democratic brand is toxic there. Moore and his allies have tried tying Jones to Schumer and other Democratic figures, including Clinton.

“We can’t afford to have a liberal Democrat who is completely controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. His name is Jones and he’s a total puppet,” Trump said at a Friday night rally in Pensacola, Florida, miles from the Alabama border.

The pair of Washington-based super PACs are two of the largest in Democratic politics. Priorities spent at least $190 million to try and elect Clinton in 2016, while Senate Majority spent more than $90 million in that election cycle.

The groups have collected checks from a gamut of top Democratic donors, led by longtime party contributors like George Soros, Jim Simons, Haim Saban and Fred Eychaner. While both Jones and Moore have gotten support from other outside groups in recent weeks, Highway 31 is by far the biggest-spending.

The group, based in Birmingham and named for the road that cuts through the middle of Alabama, has spent more than $2.1 million in December alone, according to FEC reports. Its expenditures include direct mail, digital advertising and television ads.

While it has largely escaped scrutiny so far, the group is the largest outside spender in the race, outpacing the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. The Trump-affiliated group has spent more than $1 million on Moore's behalf this month.

Still, Highway 31 has not entirely flown under the radar as it has gone after Moore, the twice-removed Alabama supreme court chief justice who has been battling allegations of sexual assault and harassment against minors.

Moore’s campaign last week called for one of the group’s ads to be pulled, claiming its statement that “Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden Mall … for soliciting sex from young girls” is “patently false."

News of the group’s funding also comes as both campaigns tiptoe around allegations that they rely on outsiders to help push them over the line.

While Jones has tried putting distance between himself and the party apparatus, both New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick joined him in Alabama over the weekend to try and win more African-American votes. On Monday, the campaign also started circulating robocalls from former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden — the latter of whom appeared with Jones in Birmingham in October.

Moore, meanwhile, is resurfacing on the campaign trail after an absence on Monday to appear alongside former White House strategist Steve Bannon and a host of other national conservative figures. Trump also recorded a robocall urging voters to support Moore on Tuesday.

Correction: A previous version of this story said that a Highway 31 ad had been pulled from YouTube and television stations. It was never online, and was replaced on television as scheduled.