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  "path": "/post/210973/texas-democratic-candidate-shady-far-right-group",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-27T17:12:29.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "House of Representatives",
    "Texas",
    "primaries",
    "Democratic Party",
    "Midterm Elections",
    "Election 2026",
    "antisemitism",
    "Money in Politics",
    "Money",
    "super PACs",
    "campaign finance",
    "website",
    "Popular Information",
    "Nebraska Public Media",
    "accused"
  ],
  "textContent": "A Democratic House candidate running in Texas raised eyebrows when she promised to turn an ICE detention facility into a “prison for American Zionists.” It turns out she was bankrolled by a major GOP fundraiser.\n\nMaureen Galindo’s candidacy was anything but normal: the sex therapist faced national criticism for her antisemitic remarks, which involved pledging to turn ICE centers into “castration processing” facilities “for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists.”\n\nGalindo nonetheless shocked state Democrats when she placed first in the March 3 primary—although not by enough to avoid a runoff.\n\nShortly afterward, Galindo’s small campaign—which had just a few thousand dollars in the tank—was infused with nearly $1 million from a mysterious super PAC, Lead Left, which was formed on April 24. The enormous donation forced Democrats to contend with the possibility that Galindo could actually win the Democratic nomination in Texas’s 35th Congressional District, which was recently gerrymandered in order to heavily favor Republican candidates.\n\nLead Left went to great lengths to conceal the identities and political affiliations of its backers, though it proudly announced on its website that it “stands against MAGA extremists who will infect our country with Donald Trump’s agenda.” New reporting, however, reveals that’s not so likely.\n\nGalindo’s windfall came by way of Caleb Crosby, the treasurer of the Congressional Leadership Fund, which serves as the primary super PAC of the House Republicans, Judd Legum reported via his Popular Information substack Wednesday. Crosby also serves as the treasurer of the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC for Senate Republicans.\n\nSeveral details ultimately tie Crosby to the fundraising venture: some of his other entities, connected to his political compliance firm Crosby Ottenhoff Group, share the same address as Lead Left, according to Legum.\n\nNebraska Public Media also found that the original Lead Left website included a snippet of code that linked out to WinRed, the predominant Republican fundraising website.\n\nBut the race to fill the Texas House seat isn’t the only campaign where Lead Left has inserted itself. The secretive super PAC also intervened in Democratic primaries in critical races in Nebraska and Pennsylvania, and has spent more than $2.4 million to date on political ads targeting Democratic primary races across the country.\n\nEarlier this month, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) accused Lead Left PAC of violating federal reporting rules by funneling its money through two newly formed shell companies, Piruzi LLC and OTG Media LLC, in what the CLC claimed was an attempt to “conceal the actual vendors” and undermine “crucial electoral transparency for voters.”",
  "title": "Republican Operatives Behind Shady “Lead Left” Organization Exposed"
}