How Donald Trump’s Save America PAC is influencing the 2022 midterms – USA TODAY

Happy Monday, OnPolitics readers!

Without being a candidate for any federal office, former President Donald Trump is trying to reshape the Republican Party into a movement focused on devotion to him rather than to ideological principles.

At the top of the agenda for the former president is enlisting loyalists to help him settle his grievances over his loss in the 2020 presidential race.

Trumps vehicle for this is a fundraising machine called Save America. Started just after he lost the 2020 election and at the height of his efforts to overturn the results, the PACs surrogates routinely send out misinformation including conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the FBI's search of Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, to rake in donations from the public. It operates like a veritable slush fund, paying for personal expenses like luxurious hotels and even a fashion designer.

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The money given directly to the candidates by Save America usually $5,000 each is a lever that the former president can pull on to encourage loyalty and exert influence.

Save America has backed 28 candidates for state office in nine states. In three of those states, Save America has backed candidates for state legislature, a level virtually unheard of for a PAC of a former high-ranking federal official. At the federal level, Save America has backed candidates for 131 seats in the House and 18 seats in the Senate. The vast majority are election deniers.

And theyve been largely successful. Two-thirds of Save America candidates running at the state level won their primaries, including all of them in Arizona and Texas. All but a handful of the PACs federal candidates have advanced from their primaries and will be on the ballot Nov. 8.

For a breakdown of PAC-supported campaigns by state, check out this interactive map at the bottom of the story.

It's Amy with today's top stories out of Washington.

What's next On Politics: The next hearing for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitolresumes Wednesday. Check back at USATODAY.com tomorrow and Wednesday as the news develops. -- Amy

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How Donald Trump's Save America PAC is influencing the 2022 midterms - USA TODAY