Misleading ‘pro-Harris’ texts are bombarding swing state voters

Swing state voters are being inundated with text messages seemingly designed to look like they're coming from supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris or even from her campaign itself. Some of the messages imply that Harris is misleading the public about her efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, while others say she has "pledged to support Israel as they wage their war in Gaza." Although the texts are written to sound like standard campaign mass messaging, they contain no call to action or URL to a campaign site. But most bizarrely, the sender will reiterate and emphasize that Harris "will always stand with Israel" if the recipient replies identifying themselves as pro-Palestinian.

"I want to make sure we set the record straight," reads one message that voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania shared with The Verge. "The Kamala Harris campaign has been running conflicting ads about where she stands on Israel. It is just what she has to do to be able to win. I am reaching out to make sure you know Kamala will always stand with Israel."

The Verge spoke to two Pennsylvania voters and three people in Michigan who all received similar text messages.

According to internal communications seen by The Verge, the texts traced back to a company called Wonder Cave. The vendor, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, works with Twenty Manor, a digital advocacy and fundraising company founded by Adam Waldeck, a longtime Republican strategist. Twenty Manor and Wonder Cave did not respond to The Verge's request for comment.

Between May and September, Twenty Manor was paid over $12,000 from Defend Freedom, Tulsi Gabbard's leadership PAC, primarily for "digital consulting," according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission. In the last year, Twenty Manor received nearly $33,000 from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for text messaging. The NRSC also paid Twenty Manor over $13,000 in July for "list rental," and the Republican National Committee paid the company over $11,000 in April for list acquisition. (The Trump National Committee PAC has also paid Twenty Manor in disbursements marked as "fundraising fees.") The PACs did not immediately respond to The Verge's requests for comment.

Other groups have attempted a similar playbook during this election: text messages seemingly from pro-Harris organizations, purporting to describe a Harris agenda but pushing divisive, misleading, or even false messaging. Those previous iterations - centered around a fake initiative called Progress 2028 - were backed by Building America's Future, a pro-Trump dark money group that has reportedly received funding from Elon Musk, according to reporting by OpenSecrets. The Progress 2028 texts appear to be targeted at moderate Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans and claim that Harris supports mandatory gun buybacks and policies that would make it easier for undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses. Building America's Future did not respond to The Verge's request for comment.

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.

The Harris campaign declined to comment.

Kumars Salehi, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, told The Verge he started receiving the ostensibly pro-Harris texts on Saturday and initially believed they were being sent by the Harris campaign. Salehi, a longtime pro-Palestinian activist, engaged with the senders, saying Harris' support for Israel is the reason he didn't want to vote for her. In response, he was sent a link to a Times of Israel story highlighting Harris' claim that she is "unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel's defense and its ability to defend itself."

"I encourage you to check this out to learn more about her 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 additional harms of a Trump presidency, said the fact that he'd already decided to vote for Harris was part of the reason he engaged with the messages in the first place.

Another Pennsylvania voter who declined to be named shared eight texts they've received since November 2nd. "The first one honestly confused me. Like, 'Holy shit, there's no way she's going with this tactic,'" the voter, a registered Democrat who lives in a Philadelphia suburb, told The Verge. "I realized it had to be opposition, faking as a supporter, when it said 'It's just what she has to do to win.'"

Zach, a Michigan voter who declined to give his last name, said he's been getting explicitly pro-Israel Harris texts "at least once a day" since October 24th. "After a few of these I started replying that I don't support Israel," Zach told The Verge. "This campaign's follow up responses directed me to an NBC article about Kamala shutting down pro-Palestinian protestors at an event, and asked me to share that link with my friends and family. I got this same link in response about 4 times."

Unlike the voters in Pennsylvania, Zach isn't registered with any political party but generally votes in Democratic primary elections. This year, he was one of more than 100,000 Michigan residents who selected "uncommitted" in the state's Democratic primary, a protest option for voters who disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Zach said he was suspicious of the texts because he had seen a Chris Hayes segment about anti-Harris dark money campaigns aiming vastly different ads at microtargeted voter segments in Michigan and Pennsylvania, based on reporting from 404 Media.

"A lot of time passed before I realized it was fake," said Salehi, whose X posts about the interactions went viral. "I didn't realize until it was way too late that they were trying to get the exact reaction out of me that I was giving them."