Leftist Network of PACs, DSA, and Activist Groups Backed Candidates Like Abdul El-Sayed: Report

A leftist network involving the Democratic Socialists of America, Muslim nonprofits, and aligned PACs has promoted far-left Democrat candidates such as Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, according to a new report.

“Following the events of October 7, 2023, an influential far-left political network rapidly mobilized by leveraging established progressive, socialist, labor and Muslim organizations,” the report by the nonprofit watchdog Canary Mission states. Titled “The Machine Behind the Democratic Party’s Radical Transformation,” the report argues that Palestine-focused groups, super PACs, and nonprofit groups emerged following the Hamas attack and subsequently engaged in Democrat primaries.

The report, first obtained by the Daily Wire, quotes Linda Sarsour, a co-chair of the 2017 Women’s March, on Muslim influence behind Mamdani’s rise to prominence.

“The story is not just that it’s random that Zohran [Mamdani] ascended to this place, it is our Muslim-American community, and I will also say that it’s our Muslim money,” Sarsour said in a panel discussion at the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ September 2025 Leadership & Policy Conference, according to the report. “The PACs that have supported Zohran … is probably over 80% of Muslim-American donors in this country.”

The PAC structure allows “candidates to benefit from money they did not legally ‘accept,’” the report notes, because third parties spend it on their behalf. This means that candidates can benefit from independent expenditures while stating that they do not directly receive PAC money, a useful talking point to appear more grassroots.

“Each organization performs a different function, but the combined effect can make the same candidate appear simultaneously grassroots-backed, donor-supported, institutionally endorsed and movement-aligned,” the report claims.

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Canary Mission claims that different organizations play different roles in the network.

The leftist PAC Justice Democrats helps identify, develop, vet, and endorse candidates. The Democratic Socialists of America provides organizers, canvassers, volunteers, and activist infrastructure. Labor unions provide money and endorsements and organize turnout operations.

CAIR-linked entities and other Muslim political groups help mobilize voters and support candidates. Meanwhile, Palestine-focused advocacy organizations attack the Israel lobby and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The report identifies American Priorities PAC, a major outside-spending vehicle in Democrat primaries, as one of the most significant new players in the network.

“These organizations reinforce the same candidates without operating as a single entity, while working in coalition to cultivate donors, coordinate messaging, and create incentives for continued PAC spending and mutual endorsements,” the report states. “The network’s power comes from stacking different forms of support.”

Mamdani’s rise reflects a broader effort to build a durable political infrastructure capable of shaping Democrat primaries beyond any single race, the report claims.

Canary Mission does not argue that any single organization controls the network. Rather, the report claims that activist groups, PACs, labor unions, and nonprofits reinforce one another by backing many of the same candidates simultaneously.

The report includes El-Sayed, the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, in its network map. While El-Sayed has not publicly identified himself as a socialist or as a DSA member, critics have linked him with democratic socialist activists and causes.