By David Hood-Nuño
April 24 (Reuters) – House Republicans are facing a fresh challenge in the 2026 midterms: the Homeland Political Action Committee, a new conservative super PAC targeting Republican members of Congress who support immigration reform legislation.
The group’s initial goal is to unseat Republicans who support the bipartisan DIGNIDAD Act, a comprehensive immigration reform bill authored by Florida Republican Representative María Elvira Salazar, according to the PAC’s founder Ryan Girdusky.
He said the bill is a betrayal of the president and the party’s values. And while he’d like to target every Republican who supports it, that strategy isn’t feasible with the party’s razor-thin majority in the House.
“We’re not here to burn the party down,” he said. “It’s to challenge pro-amnesty Republicans in safe Republican seats and to defend Republicans in challenging seats or in swing districts that need support.”
The DIGNIDAD Act, which has 19 Republican co-sponsors, would allow immigrants without legal status to stay, work and live in the country unless they have a criminal record. It does impose an annual fine on people here illegally and does not provide a pathway to citizenship. The bill also provides the Department of Homeland Security with billions in funding for securing the border with advanced technology.
Girdusky founded the 1776 Project PAC, which has raised more than $5 million largely from small donors since early 2025 to back conservative local school board candidates across the country, according to federal filings.
He hosts a political podcast called “It’s a Numbers Game with Ryan Girdusky.” In 2024, he was banned from CNN for telling Muslim journalist Mehdi Hasan “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” a reference to fatal Israeli attacks on Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon in 2024 that Girdusky calls a joke.
Girdusky is looking to place House Republicans in a bind: defend Trump’s immigration policy or potentially face a primary contest from a Homeland PAC-endorsed candidate.
In addition to Salazar, Girdusky’s hit list includes Republicans in safe GOP districts who back the DIGNIDAD Act, including Representatives Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, Marlin Stutzman and Jim Baird of Indiana.
All four face primary opponents in their respective races. Girdusky hasn’t endorsed or supported any challenger in those races yet, but plans to if their values align.
Other Republicans who support the DIGNIDAD Act are either retiring, like Reps. Dan Newhouse of Washington and Neal Dunn of Florida, or running in tight races like Reps. Young Kim and David Valadao of California.
Representatives for each Republican did not respond to a request for comment.
Girdusky said he believes Homeland PAC will appeal to conservative voters who listed immigration enforcement or border security as their top issue.
The campaign against the bill highlights a strategic tension for the Republican Party, which is caught between Trump and his supporters who want an aggressive immigration policy and alienating Latino voters.
Homeland PAC has not received the blessing of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is facing a tough fight to retain control of the chamber in November, Girdusky said, in conversations with Johnson and his political team.
A spokesperson for Johnson’s political operations did not respond to a request for comment.
Latino voters swung heavily for Trump in 2024 on pocketbook issues like inflation and high cost of living. Trump won an estimated 48% of the Latino vote in 2024, up 12 percentage points from 36% in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.
But a majority of Latinos said it has become harder to afford everyday expenses than just a few years ago, according to a nationwide poll of 2,413 Latinos by the civic participation group Voto Latino in late March and early April this year.
And a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this week that Trump’s aggressive campaign to deport immigrants could weigh on Republicans in November’s elections. Some 52% of Americans said they were less likely to support a candidate who backs Trump’s approach to deportations.
Salazar isn’t worried about fractures in her alliance, which includes 20 Democrats, but she is worried about Republicans losing control of the House in November.
“There is a very important coalition of Hispanics, the largest and fastest growing minority in the country,” Salazar said. “These people feel targeted, and they feel that they are not welcome in the Republican Party and that concerns me.”
Latinos have never voted in one, uniform way in the U.S., said Daniel Alegre, CEO of the Spanish-language media company TelevisaUnivision. But in recent election cycles, Latinos have prioritized economic issues over party loyalty.
“Ignore the Hispanic vote at your own peril,” Alegre said. “It’s the Hispanic vote in so many of the key races that will determine the control of Congress.”
(Reporting by David Hood-Nuño; Editing by Michael Learmonth, Kat Stafford and Alistair Bell)
