
Congressional Leadership Fund
Republican Super PAC dedicated to winning a House majority; FEC committee C00504530.
The Congressional Leadership Fund outspent its Democratic rival on House races in the last week of September 2026, filing $18.29m against House Majority PAC's $14.34m as Republican groups dominated outside spending.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Does the Supreme Court's coordination ruling erase CLF's $257M cash edge over House Democrats?
Timeline for Congressional Leadership Fund
Filed $18.29m of House independent expenditures
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US Midterms 2026Background
The Congressional Leadership Fund is the main Republican Super PAC for House races and describes itself as the only outside group endorsed by the whole House Republican leadership. It registered with the Federal Election Commission in October 2011 and operates as a hybrid PAC. Its Democratic counterpart is House Majority PAC, and its Senate partner is the Senate Leadership Fund.
As a Super PAC it can take unlimited donations but cannot coordinate with candidates or the party. Its spending runs alongside that of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party's own House campaign arm.
In 2026 it entered the final stretch with a larger war chest than its Democratic rival, but after the coordination ruling the party committees gained a cheaper route to the same airtime.
CLF holds the outside-money edge
CLF has carried a cash lead over its Democratic counterpart all cycle. In May it and the Senate Leadership Fund held $257m between them, nearly double the $139m in the two Democratic majority PACs.
That lead turned into spending in the autumn. In The Week to 30 September CLF filed $18.29m in House races, about $4m more than House Majority PAC. It did so on a field where the Senate dominates: across the 300 largest filings that week, Republican-side groups reported $164m of $259m, and no House race made the top nine. CLF is therefore the main Republican outside spender in a chamber the bigger money mostly bypasses.
The parties now buy cheaper airtime
the Supreme Court's 30 June ruling in NRSC v. FEC removed the caps on what parties can spend in coordination with their candidates. Within hours the Senate Republicans' campaign Arm closed its Independent-expenditure unit and moved that money into coordinated buys.
The reason matters for CLF. Coordinated adverts qualify for discounted broadcast rates, which an internal NRSC memo put at three to 13 times cheaper than the same advert bought independently. As a Super PAC, CLF must buy independently and pay the higher price, so the party committees on its own side can now stretch each dollar further than it can.