Dem gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong has received another six figures in support from an organization that received all of its funding last month from an outfit that’s been accused of being a GOP front group.

Middle Class Priorities, which has now spent $970,827 to boost Hong in the Dem primary, reported receiving $750,000 from Progressive Prosperity Caucus Inc. 

Dem officials in Nebraska in June accused the Progressive Prosperity Caucus of being a GOP front group that meddled in primaries as part of an effort to elevate what were viewed as less electable candidates in the November election.

The practice has become more commonplace in recent cycles as political parties seek to promote candidates in the other side’s primaries that they believe are more beatable in the general election.

The new filings WisPolitics reviewed come as the Republican Governors Association has spent nearly $3.6 million targeting Hong. While those filings from the RGA’s Right Direction Wisconsin PAC say they’re in opposition to the Dem gubernatorial candidate, many have seen the buy as at least partly to boost Hong in the primary.

While the Right Direction Wisconsin’s first ad called Hong “dangerously liberal,” it also touted her opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and played a clip of her vowing to take the Dem Party back to its progressive roots. The group has since begun a new spot that contrasts Hong with expected GOP nominee Tom Tiffany, a Donald Trump-endorsed GOP congressman from Minocqua.

Ads from Middle Class Priorities reviewed by WisPolitics, meanwhile, have hewn more to traditional Dem campaign messages.

The group’s overall spending includes $671,275 on TV. While it hasn’t responded to several inquiries from WisPolitics, the Google Ads Transparency Center listed a new ad from the group that started Friday.

In the spot, the narrator says Hong will “stop the Republican war against public schools.”

The narrator says Republicans in Madison have underfunded public schools, leading to crowded classrooms, teachers leaving for better pay and “our kids paying the price.” The narrator adds Hong will fully fund schools, raising teacher pay and guaranteeing every child a quality education.

“Because in Wisconsin, a great school shouldn’t just be for the rich,” the narrator says.

The group did a mailer last week that included a similar message, according to a copy of the mail shared by a source shared with WisPolitics. And a past lit piece said she’d provide healthcare for all “paid for by the ultra-rich.” The mailers didn’t include a mark noting it had been printed by a union shop, something that is common with lit pieces produced for Dem campaigns and groups.

So far, there are few details about Middle Class Priorities or who’s behind the group.

It registered with the state Ethics Commission July 9, but the phone number listed for the organization with a 202 area code for the Washington, D.C., area was no longer working. The address listed on the registration form is shared by a UPS store in Milwaukee. 

The group’s treasurer is listed as Caleb Howard, and a search of the Ethics Commission database shows no donations from anyone of that name to state candidates going back to 2008.

Meanwhile, Middle Class Priorities has solely used Progressive Collective LLC as its vendor for mail and TV. The company lists a Milwaukee address but wasn’t registered with the state Department of Financial Institutions. Instead, it filed documents April 26 to incorporate in Wyoming. 

Middle Class Priorities is the only group to report to the Ethics Commission that it’s used Progressive Collective as a vendor.

And in a filing yesterday, Middle Class Priorities revealed its only donor as Progressive Prosperity Caucus Inc.

The filing lists an address in Omaha, Nebraska, for Progressive Prosperity Caucus Inc. that is shared with a FedEx store. The donation to Middle Class Priorities is the only one from Progressive Prosperity Caucus Inc. listed in the state’s campaign finance database.

Progressive Prosperity Caucus Inc. incorporated in Delaware May 1, according to that state’s Division of Corporations.

In June, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb accused Progressive Prosperity Caucus Inc. and another group of meddling in the primaries for a congressional seat and the state’s U.S. Senate seat to “trick Dem voters.”