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Pennsylvania\u2019s highly competitive Lehigh Valley-based seat in Congress<\/a> became the center of an all-out spending war by national political groups this week ahead of Tuesday\u2019s primary, when Democrats<\/a> will choose their challenger to one of the most vulnerable Republicans<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n The four-way Democratic contest in the 7th Congressional District<\/a> has seen an influx of more than $1.2 million in last-minute television ads from a new and mysterious group with connections to Republican operatives.<\/p>\n Democrats<\/a> both locally and nationally are raising alarms, calling the maneuver dishonest and aimed at boosting a potentially weaker candidate to go up against freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in November.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, they took an unusual step to counter the effort. <\/p>\n The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee \u2014 the official campaign arm of the party\u2019s leaders in the U.S. House \u2014 bought $102,000 in television air time to support its preferred candidate, union president and retired firefighter Bob Brooks<\/a>. Democratic leaders, including Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a>, have rallied around Brooks for months as they bet big on his ability to win over working-class voters in a swing district.<\/p>\n But the DCCC\u2019s six-digit spending effort in a contested primary is a rare move for the group. <\/p>\n And it\u2019s the first time this election cycle that it\u2019s done so with financial resources that it typically reserves for the general election.<\/p>\n DCCC spokesperson Eli Cousin said the organization \u201cis committed to flipping this must-win seat and taking back control of the House in November\u201d and that Brooks has the ability to \u201ccrush\u201d Mackenzie.<\/p>\n \u201cDC Republicans pumping in more than a million dollars to attack firefighter Bob Brooks through a super PAC tells you just how afraid they are to face him in November,\u201d Cousin said.<\/p>\n That super PAC, called Lead Left PAC, emerged only late last month and then unleashed a torrent of ads criticizing Brooks and another deep-pocketed candidate, former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell<\/a>. The ads support Lamont McClure, a former top elected official in Northampton County who has struggled to raise money and build momentum in the race.<\/p>\n While Lead Left appears to support Democratic causes \u2014 based on its registration with the Federal Election Commission, its television ads that criticize President Donald Trump<\/a> and its bare-bones website<\/a> that calls out \u201cMAGA extremists\u201d \u2014 no Democrats have claimed credit for its organization. Metadata from its website, however, originally indicated the group used the Republican fundraising platform WinRed, Punchbowl News reported.<\/p>\n Lead Left has also waded into Democratic congressional primaries in Nebraska and Texas, where it has supported a candidate accused of promoting antisemitism<\/a>. Its spending in the Pennsylvania district has far exceeded its involvement in the others, according to campaign finance records.<\/p>\n Due to the timing of its registration with the FEC, Lead Left will not be required to disclose its donors until after the primary.<\/p>\n Samuel Chen, a GOP strategist based in the district, said the group appears to be an increasingly common example of when one party intervenes in another party\u2019s primary to \u201cget the weakest or the most extreme\u201d candidate to the November election. <\/p>\n Even though McClure is the only candidate in the race with elected experience \u2014 winning twice countywide in an important part of the district \u2014 he was not generating the type of excitement that Brooks and McClure were before the spending began, Chen said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis race has heightened significantly,\u201d Chen said of the impact of the latest ads and other negative attacks in the race.<\/p>\n McClure did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n