Everytown for Gun Safety and House Majority PAC are investing an initial $10 million in eight competitive congressional races, backing Democratic candidates with Moms Demand Action ties while expanding their advertising message to crime, border security, fentanyl and police funding.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
A major gun-control organization is joining forces with the leading super PAC supporting House Democrats for an initial $10 million advertising campaign aimed at eight competitive congressional districts, putting former Moms Demand Action volunteers at the center of the party’s push to regain control of the House.
Everytown for Gun Safety and House Majority PAC will direct television and digital advertising toward races in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to an Axios report Tuesday.
The effort represents more than a traditional campaign centered on firearms restrictions. Advertisements are being designed around a broader public-safety message encompassing violent crime, illegal immigration, fentanyl trafficking, border security and police funding as Democrats attempt to compete with Republicans on issues the GOP has historically emphasized.
The eight candidates receiving support are JoAnna Mendoza in Arizona; Pia Dandiya in Florida; Christina Bohannan, Sarah Trone Garriott and Lindsay James in Iowa; Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet and Christina Hines in Michigan; and Paige Cognetti in Pennsylvania.
Each has ties to Moms Demand Action, the grassroots gun-control organization that is part of Everytown’s network.
Everytown President John Feinblatt presented the investment as both an effort to change House control and an opportunity to move activists from advocacy organizations into Congress.
“For nearly two years, a MAGA House has rubber-stamped the Trump administration as it tore up federal gun safety laws, and flipping these eight seats is how we put a stop to it,” Feinblatt said.
“There’s a Moms Demand Action volunteer on the ballot in every one of these districts, and we’re partnering with House Majority PAC to turn them into majority makers,” he added.
The advertising strategy shows Everytown attempting to place gun restrictions within a wider argument over law enforcement and community safety rather than asking voters to consider firearms policy in isolation.
One advertisement supporting Bohannan, who is running in Iowa, emphasizes border enforcement and police alongside guns.
She is “running for Congress to put public safety first. That means working with both parties to secure our border, hire more police officers and keep illegal guns and fentanyl off our streets,” the advertisement says.
Another ad backs Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, by focusing heavily on her record in city government rather than leading with gun legislation.
The advertisement says “she got millions for police and cut violent crime by 80%.”
The approach reflects an effort by Democratic-aligned organizations to contest Republican messaging on crime and immigration in districts where candidates may need support from independents and voters who do not identify primarily with either party’s traditional base.
Rather than presenting the candidates principally as gun-control advocates, the campaign is portraying their firearms positions as one element of a larger public-safety platform.
House Majority PAC President Mike Smith said the eight contests also provide an opportunity to challenge the Trump administration through control of Congress.
“Every seat on this map is a chance to put a check on a Trump administration and a MAGA House that have spent two years putting the gun lobby ahead of American families,” Smith said.
The investment comes during the closing weeks of a midterm campaign in which control of the House remains highly contested and outside organizations are pouring substantial sums into a relatively small number of districts capable of determining the chamber’s majority.
Democrats have also voiced concern about being financially outmatched by Republican organizations in several competitive contests, increasing the importance of outside spending from groups such as Everytown.
Everytown’s participation gives House Democrats access not only to advertising money but to an established grassroots organization that has spent years recruiting and organizing volunteers around firearms policy.
Moms Demand Action has increasingly encouraged members to move from political activism into electoral politics, giving the organization a growing roster of candidates and elected officials who began as volunteers.
The eight-race investment represents a direct attempt to translate that organizing network into seats in Congress.
Republicans rejected Everytown’s effort to present its candidates as stronger advocates for public safety.
“House Democrats have fully embraced the radical socialist agenda of abolishing prisons, releasing criminals back on the streets, and defunding the police,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella told Axios.
“Voters won’t buy their lies about Republicans who have fought to protect our communities,” Marinella added.
The disagreement illustrates the larger messaging battle underlying the $10 million campaign.
Republicans have traditionally used crime, illegal immigration, border enforcement and support for police as arguments against Democratic candidates, frequently linking Democrats with progressive proposals to reduce police funding, change sentencing laws or limit immigration enforcement.
The Everytown-House Majority PAC campaign is attempting to turn some of those same subjects into arguments for Democratic candidates.
That strategy is particularly visible in the Bohannan advertisement, which combines support for border security and additional police officers with efforts to stop illegal firearms and fentanyl.
The messaging also allows candidates with established histories in the gun-control movement to campaign on issues that may have broader appeal than firearms regulation alone.
Everytown describes its policy agenda as “gun safety,” while opponents generally characterize many of the same proposals as gun control. The organization has supported measures including expanded background checks, restrictions on certain firearms and magazines, safe-storage laws and other regulations intended to reduce shootings and firearm deaths.
The new campaign, however, suggests its electoral strategy for the 2026 midterms will not rely exclusively on persuading voters to support those policies.
The targeted districts span several states central to the fight over House control.
Iowa alone accounts for three of the eight candidates receiving assistance, while Michigan has two. Arizona, Florida and Pennsylvania each have one candidate included in the initial campaign.
McDonald Rivet is the only sitting member of Congress among the eight. The remaining candidates are attempting to capture seats or enter the House through competitive contests.
The geographic concentration also allows the organizations to tailor advertising to local political conditions rather than rely on a single national gun-control message.
In some districts, crime and police staffing may be especially important. In others, illegal immigration, fentanyl or firearms trafficking can play a larger role.
The partnership comes as political organizations on both sides increasingly use outside spending to supplement candidate campaigns. Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts but are prohibited from coordinating certain expenditures directly with candidates.
House Majority PAC serves as one of the primary outside vehicles supporting Democratic House candidates, while Everytown has become one of the country’s most financially significant organizations advocating stricter gun laws.
Their $10 million commitment is described as an initial investment, leaving open the possibility of additional spending as Election Day approaches.
For Everytown, the campaign carries an additional organizational objective beyond the outcome of eight individual races.
The candidates represent years of work by Moms Demand Action to build a pipeline in which activists who once lobbied elected officials eventually become officeholders themselves.
Feinblatt’s reference to turning those volunteers into “majority makers” captures that goal: using the 2026 election not only to advance gun-control policy but to place members of the movement directly inside the institution that writes federal law.
The Republican response makes clear that the campaign will not go uncontested.
As Everytown and House Majority PAC attempt to redefine their candidates around a broader public-safety agenda, Republican organizations are working to tie those same Democrats to progressive positions on policing and criminal justice.
The result is a fight over more than gun laws. In eight closely watched House races, both parties are competing to persuade voters that their candidates offer the more credible approach to crime, law enforcement, border security and community safety — with at least $10 million from Everytown and House Majority PAC now entering that contest.
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