Voters in swing states are being inundated with text messages apparently designed to appear to come from supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris or even her own campaign. Some of the messages imply that Harris is misleading the public about her efforts to secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, while others say that she has “pledged to support Israel as it wages its war in Gaza.” Although the texts are written to look like standard campaign blast messages, they do not contain any call to action or URL to a campaign site. But the strangest thing is that the sender will reiterate and emphasize that Harris will “always support Israel” if the recipient responds by identifying themselves as pro-Palestinian.
“I want to make sure I set the record straight,” reads a message Michigan and Pennsylvania voters shared with The edge. “Kamala Harris' campaign has been running conflicting ads about her stance on Israel. It's just what you have to do to win. “I am reaching out to make sure you know that Kamala will always support Israel.”
The edge He spoke to two voters in Pennsylvania and three people in Michigan who received similar text messages.
According to internal communications seen by The edgethe texts date back to a company called Wonder Cave. The provider, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, work with Twenty Manor, a digital fundraising and promotion company founded by Adam Waldeck, a veteran Republican strategist. Twenty Manor and Wonder Cave did not respond to The edgeRequest for comments.
Between May and September, Twenty Manor received more than $12,000 from Defend Freedom, Tulsi Gabbard's leadership PAC, primarily for “digital consulting,” according to disclosures submitted to the Federal Electoral Commission. Last year, Twenty Manor received nearly $33,000 from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for text messages. The NRSC also paid Twenty Manor more than $13,000 in July for “list rental,” and the Republican National Committee paid the company more than $11,000 in April for the acquisition of the list. (The Trump National Committee PAC also paid Twenty Manor in disbursements marked “fundraising fees.”) The PACs did not immediately respond to The edgeRequests for comments.
Other groups have attempted a similar playbook during this election: text messages apparently from pro-Harris organizations, purporting to outline a Harris agenda but promoting divisive, misleading or even false messages. Those previous iterations, centered on a fake initiative called Progress 2028, were backed by Building America's Future, a pro-Trump dark money group that allegedly received funding from Elon Musk, according to OpenSecrets reports. The Progress 2028 texts appear to target moderate Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans and state that Harris supports mandatory gun buybacks and policies that would make it easier for undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Building America's Future did not respond to The edgeRequest for comments.
These Israel-Palestine texts sent to voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania are written in a similar format, but have instead been sent to left-leaning Democrats.
Harris' campaign declined to comment.
One person began receiving apparently pro-Harris text messages on Saturday and initially believed they were sent by the Harris campaign.
Kumars Salehi, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said The edge He began receiving apparently pro-Harris text messages on Saturday and initially believed they were sent by the Harris campaign. Salehi, a longtime pro-Palestinian activist, contacted senders and said Harris' support for Israel is the reason he didn't want to vote for her. In response, they sent him a link to to Israel Times history highlighting Harris' assertion that she is “unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to the defense of Israel and its ability to defend itself.”
“I encourage you to check this out to learn more about their positions, which you can share with your friends and family,” the sender told Salehi.
Salehi, who described himself as a “pragmatic” Harris voter who wants to avoid the further damage of a Trump presidency, said the fact that he had already decided to vote for Harris was part of the reason he pledged. with the messages in the first place.
“The first one honestly confused me. Like, 'Shit, there's no way she's using this tactic.'”
Another Pennsylvania voter who asked not to be identified shared eight text messages he received since Nov. 2. “The first one honestly confused me. Like, 'Holy shit, there's no way she's using this tactic,'” said the voter, a registered Democrat who lives in a Philadelphia suburb. The edge. “I realized I had to be opposition, pretending to be partisan, when I said 'It's just what you have to do to win.'”
Zach, a Michigan voter who declined to give his last name, said he has been receiving explicitly pro-Israel text messages from Harris “at least once a day” since October 24. “After a few of these, I started responding that I don't support Israel,” Zach said. The edge. “Follow-up responses from this campaign directed me to an NBC article about Kamala cracking down on pro-Palestinian protesters at an event, and asked me to share that link with my friends and family. I received this same link in response about 4 times.”
Unlike Pennsylvania voters, Zach is not registered with any political party, but typically votes in Democratic primaries. This year, he was one of more than 100,000 Michigan residents who selected “uncommitted” in state Democratic primarya protest option for voters who disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. Zach said he was suspicious of the texts because he had seen a Chris Hayes segment about anti-Harris dark money campaigns targeting very different ads at microtargeted segments of voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania, based on reporting from 404 Media.
