David Brock’s Super PAC Lays Out Ambitious 2018 Plans

Just two months after the 2016 elections, a leading Democratic political group is already laying out ambitious plans for the 2018 midterms in an attempt to retake the Senate and win key gubernatorial and state legislative races.

American Bridge 21st Century, a super PAC focused on opposition research, expects to be active in 16 to 20 Senate races next year, the group told its donors at a conference in Florida this weekend.

The Washington Free Beacon obtained a general outline of American Bridge’s plans that was provided to current and prospective financial supporters at the conference organized by Democratic operative and American Bridge founder David Brock.

“American Bridge will make running as a Republican candidate in the next four years painful,” the documents boast. “We will not only damage Trump, but also the candidates who enable and support him.”

American Bridge’s super PAC arm expects to operate on a $6.9 million budget in 2017. That is a significant decline from its 2015 expenditures, which exceeded $10 million, but a slight increase above the $6.4 million it spent in 2013 leading up to that cycle’s midterm elections.

The group’s 501(c)(4) dark money arm, which will focus primarily on attacking President Donald Trump, hopes to bring in $7.8 million. Together, the sister organizations will have a staff of 146.

Democrats face a very difficult Senate election map in 2018. The party’s incumbent senators face reelection fights in nine states that Trump carried last year.

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