Comment The text messages arrived Monday, a day before Kansans were to vote on an amendment that would remove abortion protections from their state constitution. The text he argued that passage of the measure, which could allow the Republican-controlled legislature to ban abortion, would ensure “choice.” If the amendment fails, the constitutional protections will remain in place, strengthening the current law that allows abortion in the first 22 weeks of pregnancy. “Women in KS are losing their reproductive rights,” the text warned. “Voting YES on the amendment will give women a choice. Vote YES to protect women’s health.” The unsigned The messages were described as misleading by many recipients, including former Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who also served as health and human services secretary in the Obama administration. She told the Washington Post that she was “surprised to receive the message, which made it clear that there was a very specific attempt to use carefully crafted language to confuse people before they go to vote.” The game was even more troubling to abortion rights advocates and watchdogs because its source was unknown. But the messages were created by a political action committee led by Tim Huelskamp, a former hard-line Republican congressman from Kansas, and allowed by a fast-growing Republican-aligned tech company, according to people with knowledge of the matter. spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ad blitz. The individuals and groups behind the campaign have not been previously disclosed. The messages were sent from phone numbers leased from Sparks, Nev.-based Alliance Forge. Founded in 2021, Alliance Forge describes itself as “the nation’s fastest growing political technology company, proudly serving federal, state and local campaigns across the nation.” The numbers were leased from Alliance Forge by Twilio, a San Francisco-based communications company. The numbers were disabled Monday afternoon, according to a Twilio spokesman, Cris Paden, who said the account that had hired them violated the company’s policies prohibiting the “spreading of misinformation.” In a statement, Alliance Forge CEO David Espinoza said “Alliance Forge was not consulted on the strategy or content of this message.” It said the company was notified Monday night of a “potential breach of content” and “immediately began working with the Twilio team to determine the source and nature of the content.” Alliance Forge’s messaging client was the Do Right PAC, chaired by Huelskamp, who served in Congress from 2011 to 2017. The PAC has raised more than $532,000 and spent more than $203,000 in support of the amendment, according to a filing last month. Huelskamp did not return calls and a text message seeking comment. The Kansas Commission on Governmental Ethics said Monday that “under current law, the defense of text messages on constitutional ballot initiatives does not require paid disclaimers.” This election cycle, Alliance Forge has been paid more than $60,000 by federal campaigns alone, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Her clients include Adam Laxalt, a Republican candidate for the US Senate in Nevada, and a committee associated with Kathy Barnett, a political commentator and unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the US Senate in Pennsylvania. Alliance Forge provided texting services for both, according to records. The texts sent Monday did not mention Alliance Forge or its client, leaving no clear way for people who received the messages to tell who was looking. to push them in favor of “yes”. The effort offered new evidence of the power of texting in political campaigning, as well as the stealthy style of communication made possible by the platform. Two days after the 2020 election, a Republican firm run by a top aide to then-President Donald Trump’s campaign helped send unsigned text messages urging supporters in Philadelphia to gather outside a building where local election officials were counting votes. He shouted: “INTRO: Radical Liberals and Democrats are trying to steal this election from Trump!” Reports filed with the Kansas ethics commission show intense interest in the outcome of Tuesday’s referendum, the first major vote on abortion since then. Roe v. Wade it was overturned in June. The opposing camps have spent $11.2 million this year, with the Catholic Church and its affiliates doling out $3.4 million to support the amendment that could give lawmakers the ability to impose new restrictions on abortion, and the U.S. The Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood spent $382,000 and $1.3 million, respectively, to oppose it. Espinosa, an information technology specialist, is among the co-founders of Alliance Forge. The others is Michael Clement, a Republican operative whose LinkedIn profile says he managed the 2020 campaign of Dem.
