SuperPAC targeting Cravaack opens office in Duluth

A new super PAC targeting Rep. Chip Cravaack has set up shop in Duluth.

"We are in eight different districts right now to build grassroots, people-powered campaigns to take down some of the worst tea party members in the U.S. House of Representatives," said Monique Teal, who is directing CREDO SuperPAC's office in the 8th congressional district, which opened this week with four staffers.

The fund was created by CREDO Mobile, a San Franciso-based cell phone company that has long-donated to liberal causes. Initially, it opposed the Supreme Court's 2012 decision to allow political funds to accept unlimited dollars from corporations and unions.

But the company has reversed itself and created a political action committee aimed at defeating 10 Republicans, including Cravaack.

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Teal said the CREDO SuperPAC is unusual in that it has no plans to spend money on ads in the 8th district. Rather, the group will focus on organizing voters.

"We're very much invested in having a ground game, so we will be doing public rallies, we will be confronting and questioning Cravaack at public events, and then finally, we'll be turning out thousands of voters," Teal said. "The biggest thing is making sure that people on the ground are more important than money coming in from all over the country."

Part of the work will be forming and supporting constituency groups, Teal said, including Women Against Cravaack, Labor Against Cravaack, and Seniors Against Cravaack, that will organize events around the district.

Teal said they are not working with other groups such as the DFL and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives. And the group has no plans to endorse or help the eventual DFL candidate, either.