Are the efforts by the American Conservative Fund (ACF) PAC backfiring?
The American Conservative Fund is a political action committee backed by out-of-state sports betting interests. It has been flooding parts of the state with campaign mailers, and TV and digital ads, supporting some legislative candidates and attacking others.
The Virginia-based entity registered with the State of Alabama in January 2025 after initially receiving a $500,000 donation from Win For America, a PAC funded entirely by a $2 million donation from DK Crown Holdings, Inc., the corporate entity for DraftKings.
In its most recent filing, Win For America has received $43 million from FanDuel, $19.5 million from DraftKings and $4 million from Fanatics, with ACF being a $26.6 million beneficiary.
SEE ALSO: 'Dark money' PAC spends big on Alabama campaign mailers, TV ads without filing financial reports
Among those ACF is apparently trying to promote is State Senate Pro-Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman), who, in a recent mailer, was portrayed as Mario Puzo's "The Godfather."
However, that depiction is not something Gudger views as favorable.
On Saturday, Gudger posted a video with his wife, Heather, on his Facebook account, calling into question the "Godfather" portrayal and attempting to distinguish his campaign-approved mailers from the ACF's.
Remarks as follows:
GARLAN GUDGER: Hey guys, it's Garlan Gudger and my wife Heather. We wanted to come talk to you about an issue that's been happening in all of our mailboxes, which are these mailouts that have been going out throughout our whole district. And they've been a little crazy, anyway. So if you've been getting these anyway, this is the last one that went out that looks like I'm the Godfather, which is totally not who we are or portrays what we believe in. But some of these mailouts are just a little crazy on the imaging and the pics that they're sending out and the messaging.
I just wanted you to know, we haven't seen these before you've seen them. So when they got in your mailbox, this is the first time that we've seen them in our mailbox. The question is, is how do you know what's coming from us and what is not coming from us? And so bring the camera closer, and I'll show you real quick. It says right here, not authorized by the candidate or a political committee. If it states that, then that is not from us. And so know that.
The ones that these are, I feel like are in a negative light, trying to hurt me more than anything else in this election. So the positive ones were the ones we've approved.
HEATHER GUDGER: Now, these are from us right here. And if you notice, Garlan is smiling, and we have our family in it, which is what we're about. We're about family,our community, and we're about family values.
So, and you can tell the difference if you bring the camera again, that's paid for by Gudger for Senate. This is paid for by the ProgressPAC, which is BCA, which we did approve before they sent out. So there's a difference here, and we just want you guys to know that these are not from us.
GARLAN GUDGER: This is from a super PAC from up north. We have nothing to do with them and just wanted everyone to know that because there are a lot of questions online. And so we're even making fun of ourselves on some of this because these are like playing cards we've never seen before.
Having said that, we just wanted you to know if you have any questions, call us, text us, let us know, email us so we can get back in touch with you. So thank y'all for listening.
Editor's note: The story has been updated to include April 15 Federal Elections Commission filings.
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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