WASHINGTON, DC – Protecting Americans Action Fund (PAAF), a group dedicated to challenging leftist district attorney incumbents and candidates, is broadening its ambitions for the 2024 election after successes in 2022 and 2023.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, the honorary chairman of the PAAF advisory board, on Wednesday discussed the group’s quick success in taking the fight to soft-on-crime district attorneys and candidates who receive funding from progressive groups, including, in some cases, left-wing billionaire George Soros.
Speaking with a handful of reporters at a media roundtable in the nation’s capital, attended by Breitbart News, Miyares touted PAAF’s involvement in thirteen district attorney races in the 2022 midterm elections, with their Republican candidates winning nine contests, including in Maricopa County, Arizona. That success was followed up with wins in Louden County, Virginia, and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 2023.
This is despite a significant funding disadvantage in some of these races when compared to opposition resources behind a progressive candidate, Miyares said, signaling the effectiveness of the messaging that PAAF uses to connect with voters.
“We don’t have the resources of some of these big left-wing groups, so we are very, very targeted or wise,” Miyares explained. “This last cycle, we had two huge wins. There’s not as many District Attorney races in ’23. This is largely an off year. We’ll have more next year.”
“In Allegheny County, which is the largest suburb outside of Pittsburgh… left-wing groups dumped in $2 million bucks. We only get a five-figure investment; we won,” he noted of November’s election.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr., a lifelong Democrat who ran under the Republican nomination, staved off Democrat challenger Matt Duggan. In Loudoun County, Republican Bob Anderson beat out Democrat District Attorney Buta Biberaj by a margin of 68,068 to 67,768, WTOP reported.
“Loudoun County, it was over $700,000 from these left-wing special interest groups given to Buta. The Louden voters booted out Buta, and we made a five-figure investment,” Miyares pointed out.
“What that also tells you is that our message is effective,” he emphasized. “Once voters hear that this is a criminal-first victim-last prosecutor, once they hear this is a so-called ‘Social Justice Warrior,’ they are quickly recognizing we cannot trust them with power. And so it makes it a very, very effective communication model for us to communicate with voters.”
Asked what he feels serves as some of the most effective messaging in taking on a radical left-wing incumbent, Miyares said, “The most important validation you have for someone’s failure is the voice of somebody who has lost a loved one.”
“Get their voice, have them talk about it. That’s irrefutable for someone that can either talk on camera or in a radio ad — talk about the loss. I think that’s something we’ve done effectively,” he added.
Miyares also emphasized that district attorneys are unique in that they bear responsibility and accountability in a way that some other elected officials, specifically members of a congressional body, do not.
“They’re the person in charge,” he said. “They’re the ones who sign off on the plea deals, the ones that declined to prosecute categories of crime, and with crime explosion, so it’s much harder for them to pass the buck as, say, a legislative candidate, who, because of the legislative process, they can always find one or two votes to say, ‘See, I stood with law enforcement.’”
“District Attorney, the buck kind of stops with them, and it’s, it’s much different situation from an accountability standpoint,” Miyares added.
PAAF is eying involvement in 20-30 races in 2024, and perhaps even more, though it is early.
