The top aide to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been chosen to lead the House Majority PAC, the top political funding group that focuses on electing Democrats to the lower chamber.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries elevated former aide Mike Smith to the top position on Tuesday, pointing to Smith’s previous experience leading the PAC and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a way to ensure continuity with the party’s fundraising.
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“By bringing on Mike Smith as President, House Majority PAC will ensure a smooth transition so that Democratic candidates can maximize every opportunity and we can ensure Democrats take back the House in 2024,” Jeffries said in a statement. “House Democrats are fortunate to have him in this fight.”
The DCCC and the HMP have historically worked together to raise money for Democratic candidates as the campaign committee is restricted by finance limits whereas the PAC may operate under its own rules to bring in unlimited sums. Republicans utilize a similar strategy through a collaboration with the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Congressional Leadership Fund raising money for GOP candidates.
Smith is set to replace current President Alixandria Lapp, who plans to step down in the coming weeks. Lapp founded the group in 2011.
“We have provided an important and necessary counterbalance to Republican outside spending and helped elect a huge number of fantastic Democrats to Congress,” Lapp said in a statement. “Those Democrats have made their districts and America a better place.”
Smith has worked as the deputy executive director at the DCC since January 2019 as well as the political and financial director for Pelosi since July 2017. Pelosi praised the appointment of Smith to HMP president, noting his leadership will lead Democrats to “retake the House in 2024!”
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“Mike follows a strong tradition started by founding president Ali Lapp, to whom I extend my personal deep gratitude for her extraordinary leadership in achieving so many Democratic successes,” Pelosi said in a statement.
