A mysterious text banker has been targeting progressive voters in swing states with messages about Kamala Harris’s policies on Israel.
According to reporting by the Forward, Pennsylvania voters have been receiving anonymous text messages promising that Vice President Harris “will always stand with Israel.” The texts, which came from a number with a Virginia area code, appear to be targeting pro-Palestinian voters in the state.
“The Kamala Harris campaign has been running conflicting ads about where she stands on Israel,” one of the messages sent on Sunday read. “It is just what she has to do to be able to win.”
The text included a screenshot of a CNN article about how the Democrat would “amplify different parts of her message on Gaza and Israel in Michigan and Pennsylvania.” Another included a link to a Times of Israel article describing how Harris plans to keep arming Israel.
Voters in Michigan received similar texts last week. Former Axios reporter Sam Robinson obtained messages sent to Detroit voters encouraging them to “stand up against Hamas and all radical terrorists in Gaza.”
Though it is not entirely clear if the efforts are connected, as all the messages are anonymous and not tied to any particular organization, the Michigan and Pennsylvania texts included strikingly similar language.
Moreover, voters in both states reported receiving texts from someone named “Max,” and many messages shared a link to the same story: an NBC news article from August on Harris telling pro-Palestinian protesters “I am speaking now.”
As the Forward noted, the messages overall bear a resemblance to ads targeting Michigan and Pennsylvania voters put forth by the Future Coalition PAC funded by Elon Musk and Mitch McConnell. That super PAC is running digital ads portraying Harris as a hawk for Israel in areas in Michigan with large Arab and Muslim voters, while attacking Harris on her anti-Israel policies in ads to Jewish voters in Pennsylvania.
The Verge reported Tuesday that the texts most likely came from a company called Wonder Cave based in North Carolina, which works with digital advocacy and fundraising group Twenty Manor. Over the past year, Twenty Manor has received $33,000 from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for text messaging and more than $12,000 from former Representative Tulsi Gabbard’s leadership PAC, Defend Freedom, for “digital consulting.”
This story has been updated.
