Scoop: Dems quietly guide super PACs to boost spoiler House candidates

House Democrats' campaign arm is instructing allied super PACs to promote minor candidates in several key House races, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: This allows Democrats to steer outside groups toward siphoning votes from Republicans without violating laws against direct coordination.

An Axios review of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "redboxes" — publicly available webpages laying out what PACs should say in ads and which voters to target — found references to minor candidates in five races.

The DCCC included language on four of those pages promoting a third-party or independent candidate with language touting their conservative, pro-gun or anti-government bona fides.

"Registered Republicans under the age of 55 need to see ads," the redbox for Colorado's 5th District says, "showing that ...

Christopher Mitchell, a libertarian, is the true conservative running for Congress." The page for Virginia's 2nd District says white, college-educated men should see that independent J.

Matt Baker is "a staunch supporter of the 2nd amendment" who will "defend our constitution." In Virginia's 5th District , the DCCC wants the same group of voters to know that independent Cooke Harvey "will fight for Virginia's farmers against big government." Republican women in Nevada's 2nd District should be informed that American Independent Party candidate Lynn Chapman "has spent decades fighting for conservative values," the DCCC says.

Zoom in: In several cases, the redboxes urge super PACs to steer Democratic and left-leaning voters away from minor candidates who could siphon votes from the DCCC's recruit.

The redbox for Alaska's at-large district — where Democrats are backing independent Bill Hill — says voters need to know Eric Hafner is a "fake Democrat" despite being listed on the ballot as one, noting he is an inmate in New York with no clear ties to Alaska .

The page for Virginia's 2nd District urges PACs to ding the progressive credentials of another independent candidate, Geral D.

"Bishop" Staten , a self-identified "Democrat Socialist." Black voters should hear that Staten "said that he would vote for Donald Trump in 2024 and said that President Obama is a quote 'puppet and a clown,'" the DCCC redbox says — though he has denied supporting Trump.

Between the lines: In the post-Citizens United era, redboxes have emerged as a way for campaigns to give messaging guidance to cash-rich outside groups that often have less localized knowledge of their turf.

The practice is so named because the websites often put a red box around the instructions.

The NRCC has its own publicly available redboxes , though it shies away from encouraging PACs to boost spoiler candidates.