Political leanings: Republican
2024 total spending: $242.6 million
The Congressional Leadership Fund’s purpose is to maintain and expand the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives. The group was formed in October 2011 as the conservative counter to the liberal House Majority PAC and is endorsed by House Republican leadership.
CLF is what’s known as a hybrid PAC or Carey committee, meaning it “has the ability to operate both as a traditional PAC, contributing funds to a candidate’s committee, and as a super PAC, which makes independent expenditures,” according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money in politics. Such organizations must have separate bank accounts for those purposes.
Chris Winkelman is the CLF’s president, as well as the president of its sister 501(c)(4), the American Action Network. Winkelman is a lawyer who previously served as general counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee and was the NRCC’s executive director during the 2024 election cycle.
As of June 30, the CLF had raised more than $163 million in the 2026 election cycle and had almost $142 million in cash-on-hand, Federal Election Commission records show. “This is the highest cash-on-hand ever recorded at this point in the cycle for CLF,” the PAC said in a July 15 press release.
At least $44 million of the money it has received for 2026 came from the American Action Network. Meanwhile, major individual donors include Miriam Adelson, a physician and businesswoman; Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX; Kenneth Griffin, the CEO of the investment firm Citadel; Paul Singer, founder of the hedge fund Elliott Investment Management; and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
As of June 24, the CLF had announced $175 million in ad reservations for the fall. It said the campaign will span 41 local markets across the country and include ads airing on broadcast, cable, streaming and digital platforms.
The PAC already spent more than $219,000 on direct mail or text messages trying to ensure that Republican Rep. David Valadao keeps his seat in California’s 22nd Congressional District, which was redrawn to favor Democrats after California voters approved Proposition 50 in November. Valadao and Randy Villegas, a progressive Democrat, were the top two vote-getters in the June 2 primary and will face each other in the general election.
Democrats need to gain a net of at least three seats to win a majority in the House.
The CLF spent more than $7 million helping Valadao hold on to his seat in 2024, when he was facing Democrat Rudy Salas, who lost. In total, the PAC spent about $217 million that election cycle on independent expenditures advocating for or against congressional candidates.
Senior Writer D’Angelo Gore contributed to this article.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
