Abdul El-Sayed's Treasurer Behind Super PAC Pushing Third-Party Libertarian as 'True Conservative' in Michigan Senate Race

Abdul El-Sayed's campaign treasurer is also the treasurer of a shadowy super PAC spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to boost third-party candidates in the Michigan Senate race and other battleground contests, a Washington Free Beacon investigation has found. In Michigan, the PAC is presenting the libertarian candidate, Lydia Christensen, as the Senate race's true "conservative" in a scheme to siphon votes from Republican Mike Rogers.

Principled Patriots PAC, which formed last month, sent text messages touting Christensen as a "conservative" who "answers to you, not defense contractors," the Midwesterner reported. The texts also attack Republican nominee Mike Rogers as part of "the swamp" that "sends your money overseas … on orders from party bosses."

Outside of Michigan, the PAC has endorsed third-party candidates in Iowa, Texas, Alaska, and other battleground states. It's funded solely by a super PAC called Building America. The group gave $250,000 to Principled Patriots PAC on Sept. 23, according to campaign disclosures. Most of Building America's money comes from the left-wing activist group Rapid Resist Action, which recruits left-wing activists to run for local office against Republicans and sends controversial get-out-the-vote texts pressuring voters to show up to the polls.

But Building America and El-Sayed have more in common than ideology. They also have the same treasurer: the left-wing political operative Howie Stanger.

Stanger, a former organizer with the anti-Israel group IfNotNow, runs Pocketbook Strategies, a consulting firm that helps clients "navigate the written and unwritten rules of campaigns, elections, [and] disruptive action."

"When your tactics push the envelope, we help you understand your risks and reward, allowing you to make the right organizational decision," Pocketbook's website states.

El-Sayed's campaign has paid $141,837 to Pocketbook Strategies for "compliance services," according to campaign disclosures, the largest payment any campaign has made to Stanger's firm this cycle.

The findings raise questions about whether El-Sayed is involved in the scheme to prop up a third-party candidate that has no chance of winning in November but could tip the scales toward El-Sayed in a tight race.

Rogers lost to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D.) in the 2024 Senate race by one-third of a point, or 19,006 votes. Joseph Solis-Mullen, the Libertarian candidate, received 56,697 votes.

El-Sayed's campaign and Stanger did not respond to requests for comment. Christensen, the Libertarian candidate, thanked the Free Beacon for making her aware of the El-Sayed campaign's links to the text messages boosting her candidacy. Christensen said she had not heard of Principles Patriots PAC until a supporter alerted her to the text messages, but that she is "disgusted beyond measure" at what she called a "shadowy money-in-politics machination" to trick voters. A spokesman for Principled Patriots PAC said Stanger is not affiliated with the organization. "Building America is not involved in any of Principled Patriots' decision-making," the spokesman said.

Christensen supports gun rights and ending the federal income tax on earnings under $150,000. But she also backs left-wing causes championed by El-Sayed, such as Medicare for All and abolishing ICE.

Principles Patriots PAC's funding can be traced to a shadowy political outfit called Rapid Resist Action. Rapid Resist Action, which touts itself as "the immune system for the resistance," gave $1.6 million to Building America on Aug. 27, according to campaign filings.

Rapid Resist Action, the primary source of Building America's fundraising haul, is owned by former Obama administration official Yoni Landau. It has received millions of dollars in recent years from the Democratic dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund and the charities of Reid Hoffman, a Democratic megadonor who has been linked to Jeffrey Epstein. Future Forward, the juggernaut behind the Kamala Harris and Joe Biden campaigns, gave $9.4 million to Rapid Resist Action in 2024, tax filings show.

Stanger, who is also treasurer for an organization called "Independents for Abdul" and for the campaign of left-wing House candidate William Lawrence, has worked closely with Rapid Resist Action on other text message schemes, the Free Beacon reported.

In 2024, Stanger formed a network of groups with names like AllVote, VoteWin, and Did They Vote, which sent false information in text messages to voters in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and other states about their voting status. In some cases, the texts told voters who had already gone to the polls that they had yet to cast their ballots, making them believe their votes hadn't counted. Others provided false information about polling places or drop-box locations. Voters in New Mexico and other states filed complaints against the groups, and one New Mexico official said the mass texts were "something that the feds really need to look at and crack down on."

Stanger has formed PACs this cycle called VoteRise, VoteWin, The Lowdown, and Building Together Michigan. The latter has paid thousands of dollars for text messaging services to Movement Labs, a tech company owned by Landau, the Rapid Resist Action founder. Most of the PACs started by Stanger have paid Movement Labs for text messaging services.

It's not the first questionable ploy linked to El-Sayed's campaign. The campaign has paid $97,500 since last October to the nonprofit of Detroit pastor Horace Sheffield. El-Sayed has touted Sheffield's endorsement without disclosing that Sheffield is on the campaign payroll. Sheffield has conducted glowing radio interviews with El-Sayed, also without disclosing the payments.

Democrats have used similar tactics before. In 2024, an organization called Civic Truth Action—formed by Kamala Harris campaign attorney Marc Elias's law firm—spent millions of dollars on ads and mailers that promoted Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver and anti-abortion candidate Randall Terry, a ploy to pull votes from Donald Trump, the Free Beacon reported.

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