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American Forge Coalition is mailing attacks on Mike Lawler into Hudson Valley homes missing a critical disclaimer. The organization was filed in May of this year, and no publicly available records online show who runs or funds it.

Pearl River, NY — October 27, 2026 —   Voters across the Hudson Valley have been receiving mailers from a shadowy group called American Forge Coalition in recent days. One says, “Mike Lawler Put Us at Risk,” across the top. The mailers also make false claims about the Congressman’s position on immigration.

As of Monday, the FEC has no filer by that name. Twenty-two outside groups have reported spending for or against Lawler this year, and American Forge Coalition still isn’t one of them. From October 15th through November 1st, any outside group that spends $1,000 or more on ads urging a vote against a federal candidate has 24 hours to report it. This also includes expenditures “not made in consultation or cooperation with, or at the request or suggestion of any candidate, or his or her authorized committees or agents, or a political party committee or its agents.”

The group’s own website ends with “Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee,” the line federal rules require on independent campaign ads. The mailers, however, leave that important disclaimer off, suggesting a candidate, candidate’s committee, or outside group likely authorized them.

American Forge Coalition’s web domain was registered at GoDaddy on May 27 with the owner’s name hidden. Its privacy policy is dated May 14, 13 days before the domain existed. However, the privacy policy has almost identical language to Senate Majority PAC’s website:

American Forge: “When you sign a petition, we treat your name, city, state, and any comments you make as public information. We may, for example, provide compilations of petitions, with your personal information including comments, to national leaders.”

Senate Majority PAC, in a policy last updated in March 2022: “We may treat your name, city, state, and any comments as public information. We may, for example, provide compilations of petitions, with your comments, to national leaders, without disclosing e-mail addresses.”

Beyond the potential ties to SMP, federal law bars foreign nationals from paying for independent expenditures in American elections, directly or indirectly. American Forge Coalition hasn’t named a single donor, so nobody can check whether any of its money came from overseas, which 501(c)(4) organizations are allowed to accept.

The Department of Justice has told the Lawler campaign it referred American Forge Coalition to the FBI. This is a logical step for a group engaging in, at best, illegal electioneering, and, at worst, using foreign donations to do it.

“Make no mistake, this is a federal crime, and someone will be held accountable. Nobody mails ‘Mike Lawler Put Us at Risk’ this close to an election because they want to talk about policy. That’s a campaign ad, and somebody’s working pretty hard to hide who paid for it and who authorized it, which makes it an electioneering expense without any FEC filings,” said Lawler for Congress Campaign Manager Ciro Riccardi. “All of this smacks of illegal electioneering expenses paid for by, well, it could be anyone, including foreign funders, paying for it. Cait Conley led election security at CISA for Joe Biden. She knows exactly what this is. Is she going to condemn it, or is she fine with it as long as it’s not aimed at her?”

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