This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. In early 2019, one of the Democrats’ white-shoe super PACs huddled with its deep-pocketed donors to talk strategy and dropped something of a bombshell. Priorities USA’s leaders had prepared a $100 million spending plan for must-win presidential states that included Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida.