HARRISBURG – Significant spending by political action committees (PACs) linked to billionaire Jeff Yass and national groups is being reported in key Pennsylvania legislative races. Campaign finance reports show that Yass-connected donations have flowed into multiple PACs, with Students First, a PAC funded by Yass, spending $23.5 million this year. Some of that money went directly to elected officials, including state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (Westmoreland), who received $2.5 million from Students First. The bulk of the cash was contributed to PACs not affiliated with specific candidates. The single biggest recipient was a newly formed PAC, PA Education Choice Fund, which received $13.5 million this year. Its sole donor is Students First. PA Education Choice Fund donated a combined $7.2 million to the campaigns of three vulnerable Republican state senators from August to mid-October: Frank Farry (Bucks), Tracy Pennycuick (Montgomery), and Rosemary Brown (Monroe). Those funds account for between 50% and 80% of their respective fundraising in that period. The second biggest recipient was Commonwealth Children’s Choice Fund, run by conservative operative Matt Brouillette, which received $5.5 million. The PAC funneled $1.45 million to Lancaster County Republican Tom Jones’ bid for state Senate; $1.3 million to Commonwealth Leaders Fund, another Yass-affiliated committee; and hundreds of thousands to other GOP committees. The final total of Yass-connected spending will likely be higher as reports for the final two weeks of the election come in. A spokesperson for Yass did not respond to a request for comment.
National money Pennsylvania Democrats got a big boost this year from a national group that supports state-level candidates. Since registering in Pennsylvania in 2020, the PAC for America’s Future has raised $58.5 million from a mix of mid- to big-dollar donors, particularly from wealthy individuals in blue states like New York and California, and funneled those dollars to swing state legislative races across the country. The group both raised and contributed money in Pennsylvania this year through two PACs, one labelled “PA” and the other “federal.” Those PACs raised $20.1 million this year (at least $220,000 of which came from Pennsylvania-based donors). Its most notable funders include Jonathan Soros, son of Democratic megadonor George Soros, and Oklahoma philanthropist Lynn Schusterman. The PACs have contributed nearly $7.8 million in 2026 to support legislative candidates in Pennsylvania, making the commonwealth a top recipient of cash from the group. Most of the money went to Democrats’ legislative campaign committees. More than a dozen individual Democratic candidates in close races also benefited, including Hadley Haas in Allegheny County, Sara Agerton in Cumberland County, and Elizabeth Moro in Chester County. But the candidate who received the most money is an independent facing a Republican state senator (ke
