BOSTON — Dan Koh hasn’t been elected to Congress yet, but that hasn’t stopped the former Biden administration official from launching an effort to help Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections.
Koh, who handily won the Democratic Party’s nomination in the 6th Congressional District in the Sept. 1 primary, announced Monday a new political action committee, called “Do the Work,” to help his party take control of Congress for Republican President Donald Trump’s final two years in office.
“Democrats in Massachusetts and across the country need the resources to compete and win,” Koh, of Andover, said in a prepared statement. “We built something real here by doing the work, town by town. Now it’s time to bring that same energy to help retake the House majority, empower our local leaders, and fight back against the blatant corruption of this administration.”
Leadership PACs can accept donations of up to $5,000 from each individual donor a year. They also can accept money from other political action committees, but are subject to Federal Election Commission limits on campaign spending.
Koh, who ran unsuccessfully for 3rd Congressional District in the 2018 elections, must still face Republican Micah Jones in the Nov. 3 general election to fill the 6th Congressional District seat to be vacated by outgoing Rep. Seth Moulton.
Moulton lost a challenge to Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary.
In most cases, congressional candidates can’t make direct transfers of funds from their campaign committee to their leadership PAC, according to FEC rules.
But Koh’s sizable campaign haul — with $1.9 million available as of Aug. 12 — means he will likely have enough money to get his campaign through the general election, while also helping raise funds for the new PAC to help Democrats in congressional races elsewhere in the country.
To be sure, most leadership PACs are created by existing members of Congress, not candidates.
Moulton, the 6th District’s five-term representative who steps down in January, created a leadership PAC in December 2014 — about a month after he was first elected — to recruit veterans to run for elected office and support Democrats running for reelection in competitive districts.
In the 2023-24 election cycle, the Serve America PAC raised more than $1 million that it distributed largely to congressional incumbents and candidates in key races across the country, FEC filings indicate.
Ahead of the Democratic primary, Koh’s juggernaut fundraising apparatus drummed up nearly $4.7 million in contributions, dwarfing other candidates in the crowded race.
While the control of Congress will be up for grabs in the November elections, deep-blue Massachusetts isn’t among the competitive battleground states.
With every House seat and 35 Senate seats up for grabs on Nov. 3, Democrats need a net gain of only six House seats to win a majority and four seats in the Senate to win back the upper chamber.
Meanwhile, Republicans are vowing to defend their majority in the House and Senate and even expand it by flipping seats in states such as Georgia, North Carolina and New Hampshire, where competitive races give them a shot at picking up new seats.
Currently, Republicans hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, controlling the House with a razor-thin 218-212 edge, with one independent and four vacant seats, while the GOP has a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, which has two independents who caucus with Democrats.
Both parties are expected to pour tens of millions of dollars into a crush of TV and digital advertising to sway undecided voters ahead of the midterms.
Koh’s new leadership PAC is one of dozens that have been created ahead of the election to raise money for Democratic candidates.
Christian M. Wade covers Massachusetts state government and politics for CNHI News and North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.