Jeffries allies have a new outside group

0:00Presented by AT&T, those who run toward danger must have a reliable way to connect. First net built with AT&T is built with and for first responders, expanding connectivity where public safety needs it and supporting public safety's response to emergencies in every state across America. Congress must reauthorize First Net without delay to sustain and safeguard America's public safety communications capabilities. Visit AT&TConnects.com, backslash public safety to learn more. Good morning, I'm Jake Sherman. And I'm Ali Mutnik. And welcome to the Daily Punch Brought to you by PunchBull News. It is Thursday, September 10th, 2026. Let's get into the mix here. You're watching tonight's headlines of the day. Number one, Jeffries allies get in the dark money game. Number two, Texas Republicans say the economy is Biden's fault. And number three, Republicans I Mitch McConnell's return to the Capitol next week.

1:06Let's get into it. Ali, it is great to have you and it is great to have you to talk about a top that we wrote together. 54 days into election day. How came Jeffries will fundraise tonight in New York with Barack Obama? He's on a fundraising blitz this week with Republicans conventioning in Dallas. And we'll talk about that in a second. Max is there for us. Jeffries was in Nevada over the weekend. Phoenix Tuesday, Denver Wednesday, and then on to New York for his event with Obama. Mike Smith, the House Majority Pack president will be our guest and can fly out day today. But we are going to talk about something that you and I have been talking about writing for a while, which is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who could be the speaker in a couple of months has a new C4. This is all for America. It was quietly launched by his allies and it aims to advance the House Democrats legislative agenda. This is a different strategy, Ali, than Mike Johnson takes. He does not have his own allied C4, but instead raises into AAN American Action Network,

2:09which is part of the constellation of Republican leadership groups alongside CLF, which is a super pack. Jeffries in our circle is bullish on all for America, fitting into the Democrats political orbit with the DEECCLC and HMP running elections. All for America will help theoretically boost the agenda and Jeffries. If he takes the speakers, Gavila, in 2027, most importantly, Ali, it gives people a chance to give money to Jeffries without being seen for doing so and not incurring the wrath of their Republican theoretically, their Republican allies of the hill. What do you think? I mean, I think the biggest thing to hit on here is that Jeffries does already have a C4. We get noticed. He does. House Majority Forward is the non-profit arm of House Majority Pack and donors can use that in the same way. You raise this point well. Can both these groups thrive together? Do donors know which ones to give in? Do they have unique roles? I think that's the big question now.

3:09What I mean, listen, there will be people who say there will be donor confusion here. We'll have to see. The Jeffries orbit says that they are going to direct people and have directed people to HMP slash HMF first. And then if they have extra money left over, they can give it to all for America. It was put to me by one person that, you know, okay, if a donor gives two million to some huge amount of money to HMF, HMP and says, well, actually, you know, we're not going to ask you for more money for this. Those groups we're going to ask you for another, you know, half a million for this Jeffries, you know, specific or House Democrat specific C4. That's how they will operate this. Well, you know, we'll see if that works. We'll see how effective they are. All for America was responsible for an online game called Taxivators, Ali, which I know you've spent all night playing to it basically as far as I could see, I did not play several levels of it. I played one level of it.

4:10It showed Mike Johnson, John Thune, Trump, Donald Trump and JD Vance firing at ambulances. I guess in a, in a, in a attempt to show that things are unaffordable. Jeffries group is run by Lauren Beerman, who, Jeffries, a line group is run by Lauren Beerman, who ran his race for State Assembly No 6 in 2012. But, you know, explain what C4s can do, Ali. I mean, they are significantly restricted in the kind of political activities they can conduct, right? Yeah, that's right. I mean, half of their spending has to be for their, you know, so-called primary purpose and non-political activity. And so they can transfer to Super PACs, but they also need to do things like issue advocacy and, you know, promote social welfare. So it's a gray area as many things are in campaign finance. So it's like, and that would mean, so give us an example. That would mean like call your congressman and say, call your congressman. Thank your congressman. Those are all C4 ads. So they're less direct. They're less on the nose. You can't say, you know, so-and-so voted this way and they're hurting, raising your taxes

5:14or taking away your healthcare. It's a little more vague. So it could be, yeah, it could be called Mike Lawler, tell him to vote for Democrats budget or something like that. Yeah. I mean, that is, and listen, I will say this is part of an explosion in recent years of C4s that are aligned with individual lawmakers. Steve Scalice has his own, Jim Jordan has his own, John Thune has his own, John Barasso, Tim Scott. So there's a lot of people who have a lot of organizations through which they could raise dark money. And Ali, I would say it's almost definite that the lawmakers who, who's aides and allies and friends are running these groups, they know who's giving them the money, right? I mean, this is like, they are aware if, you know, if they get a big check, don't you think so? For sure. Yeah. All right, when we get back from the break, Max Cohen at the Republican Convention in Dallas

6:15presented by AT&T. Those who run toward danger must have a reliable way to connect. First net built with AT&T is built with and for first responders, expanding connectivity where public safety needs it and supporting public safety's response to emergencies in every state across America. Congress must reauthorize first net without delay to sustain and safeguard America's public safety communications capabilities. Visit ATTconnects.com, backslash public safety to learn more. For two story of the morning, Texas Republicans keeps saying the economy is Biden's fault. That is the message out of the Republican convention in Dallas at which Donald Trump spoke last night. This is very interesting. Max focused this morning on the Republicans Latino messaging, which is complicated. He writes by a struggling economy and rising gas prices. What is going on with Latinos in Texas who are running for office, Ali? I think this could be the single biggest question of the election is how Latinos vote

7:16or don't in 2026. We've been writing about it at Nazia. They just like Trump. Is that why Latinos swung so heavily to the right in 2024? Are they actually Republicans now or Republicans renting or buying this vote? Max gets into it of how do they feel about the economy now that it's not the same level of economic success we've seen in 2024? Yes. Part of the overall culture war messaging is showing up in Texas with some of these lawmakers who are saying that Democrats are out of touch with traditional values, et cetera. So very interesting for Max. I will say Trump gave a speech last night in which he said he will hold about 35 large rallies nationwide for Republicans in competitive elections. You buy it Ali. You see, if you are a Republican in a swing district, are you welcoming Donald Trump into your district for a rally ahead of the midterm elections? Yes or no? I think they're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

8:16There's no good answer there. Probably not. Right. And on top of that, and we should mention this, Donald Trump said he will send a $5,000 dividend to every adult American if Republicans keep control of Congress. Trump has said things like this in the past and they never happened. I've never seen, I mean, it's a pretty blatant attempt to do this. To get Republicans to get people to vote for Republicans. Now it's not, you know, it's not illegal. This is just like promising a tax cut, but $5,000 to every adult American that would cost a lot of money. Number three story of the morning, Mitch McConnell could be back this week after three months gone. Senate Republicans are preparing for him to be back in the Capitol. The staff has provided very little clarity on his condition. Following speculation about what's going on, Andy Beshear, the Democratic governor Kentucky publicly pressed McConnell to provide some more clarity or resign. We have to see what it if McConnell does in fact come back, but his absence has complicated

9:17some Republican priorities. The farm bill did not get through Senate Act committee before the August recess and they are there in need of his vote. So with that, leave us a rating and review. You can subscribe to Punch Pull Doos at punch bull. Dot news. Have a great day. Stay safe.