Swing state voters are being inundated with text messages seemingly designed to look like they\u2019re 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 \u201cpledged to support Israel as they wage their war in Gaza.\u201d 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 \u201cwill always stand with Israel\u201d if the recipient replies identifying themselves as pro-Palestinian. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI want to make sure we set the record straight,\u201d reads one message that voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania shared with The Verge<\/em>. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Verge<\/em> spoke to two Pennsylvania voters and three people in Michigan who all received similar text messages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to internal communications seen by The Verge<\/em>, the texts traced back to a company called Wonder Cave. The vendor, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, works with<\/a> 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<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Between May and September, Twenty Manor was paid over $12,000 from Defend Freedom, Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s leadership PAC, primarily for \u201cdigital consulting,\u201d according to disclosures<\/a> 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 \u201clist rental,\u201d 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 \u201cfundraising fees.\u201d) The PACs did not immediately respond to The Verge<\/em>\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other groups have attempted a similar playbook<\/a> 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 \u2014 centered around a fake initiative called Progress 2028 \u2014 were backed by Building America\u2019s Future, a pro-Trump dark money group that has reportedly received funding from Elon Musk, according to reporting by OpenSecrets<\/a>. 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\u2019s licenses. Building America\u2019s Future did not respond to The Verge<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Harris campaign declined to comment. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n One person started receiving the ostensibly pro-Harris texts on Saturday and initially believed they were being sent by the Harris campaign<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Kumars Salehi, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, told The Verge<\/em> 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\u2019 support for Israel is the reason he didn\u2019t want to vote for her. In response, he was sent a link to a Times of Israel<\/em> story<\/a> highlighting Harris\u2019 claim that she is \u201cunequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel\u2019s defense and its ability to defend itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI encourage you to check this out to learn more about her positions, which you can share with your friends and family,\u201d the sender told Salehi. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Salehi, who described himself as a \u201cpragmatic\u201d Harris voter who wants to avoid the additional harms of a Trump presidency, said the fact that he\u2019d already decided to vote for Harris was part of the reason he engaged with the messages in the first place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe first one honestly confused me. Like, \u2018Holy shit, there\u2019s no way she\u2019s going with this tactic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Another Pennsylvania voter who declined to be named shared eight texts they\u2019ve received since November 2nd. \u201cThe first one honestly confused me. Like, \u2018Holy shit, there\u2019s no way she\u2019s going with this tactic,\u2019\u201d the voter, a registered Democrat who lives in a Philadelphia suburb, told The Verge<\/em>. \u201cI realized it had to be opposition, faking as a supporter, when it said \u2018It\u2019s just what she has to do to win.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Zach, a Michigan voter who declined to give his last name, said he\u2019s been getting explicitly pro-Israel Harris texts \u201cat least once a day\u201d since October 24th. \u201cAfter a few of these I started replying that I don\u2019t support Israel,\u201d Zach told The Verge<\/em>. \u201cThis campaign\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Unlike the voters in Pennsylvania, Zach isn\u2019t 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 \u201cuncommitted\u201d in the state\u2019s Democratic primary<\/a>, a protest option for voters who disapprove of President Joe Biden\u2019s 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<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cA lot of time passed before I realized it was fake,\u201d said Salehi, whose X posts<\/a> about the interactions went viral. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize until it was way too late that they were trying to get the exact reaction out of me that I was giving them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n