Van Jones: Secret DSA network pushed ‘affordability’ message under Obama ally’s leadership

CNN political commentator and progressive activist Van Jones revealed a campaign in which Democrats flooded social media with negative messages about “affordability” to influence the midterm elections.

The messaging was carried out under the radar by a small group with connections to the Democratic Socialists of America, former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Jones, who served Obama as a special adviser on green jobs, said Democrats were “driving the kitchen table affordability message,” with a positive spin for liberals and a negative spin against Republicans.

Online mentions surged before Election Day

Commercial digital analysis platforms show that an affordability campaign ramped up in October, reaching its peak in both mainstream media and social media, according to an analysis by Heartlander News.

The analysis measured both mentions and reach as Election Day approached.

Importantly, after Election Day, the estimated potential reach of social media posts containing the term “affordability” collapsed from a peak of roughly 11.4 million people on Election Day to fewer than 37,000 within a week.

“The Republicans never figured out what we were doing,” Jones said of the online messaging effort. “There’s something called the American Accountability Network, tens of thousands of online humans, not bots, coordinated to make the affordability message a winning message online.”

Jones said the network had 32.5 million Instagram hits, 88.8 million hits on X and 185 million Facebook hits daily.

While a Heartlander News analysis of media content did not show that the keyword “affordability” had as much reach as Jones contends, it still showed the term was significant.

The keyword made up 0.76% of mainstream media content in July, then abruptly accelerated beginning Oct. 1, eventually reaching 3.37% of all content, according to a measurement made by the Media Cloud platform.

Media Cloud is a collaborative effort between the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Northeastern University and the Media Ecosystems Analysis Group.

The mainstream media collection measured by Heartlander consisted of the most-visited media sites online, combined with a comprehensive list of 246 U.S. media sites visited daily.

An analysis conducted by Brand24’s platform, which focuses more closely on social media, showed that the campaign’s acceleration was even more dramatic.

The data showed growth from practically no visibility at the beginning of October to 1,187 mentions by Oct. 11, with a total reach of 8,963,969.

The campaign peaked in mentions on Nov. 2 at 1,474, while its reach hit an all-time high on Election Day at 11,369,444.

The analysis demonstrates that a small number of strategically situated accounts can generate significant reach.

Heartlander News did not measure total impressions, which should be significantly higher.

An ‘under the radar’ network

“The Republicans could not understand it wasn’t bots,” Jones said. “It was actual human beings. The most effective online organizing campaign called the American Accountability Network flew under the radar screen, never been told before.”

The American Accountability Network (AAN) is led by Heather Booth, who was once called “the queen of socialist politics in Chicago” and is a close ally of Obama’s.

In 1987, she received the Norman Thomas-Eugene V. Debs Award from the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America.

A list of AAN’s partners includes the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (2016), former President Joe Biden, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, former Vice President Kamala Harris and nearly a dozen members of Congress, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A look at the group’s 2025 IRS Form 990 shows no reported contributors, a budget of just $270,000 and revenues of $280,000.

A search of Federal Election Commission data and OpenSecrets, the campaign finance tracking website, shows only one entry for AAN as an expenditure or donation involving any registered political campaign or committee.

In 2026, AAN received a donation of $4,250 from Hands Off PAC. The filing included the unusual qualification “Contribution of Permissable (sic) Federal Funds.”

From 2023-24, the network said it made 40,708,194 voter contacts, including 11,962,511 phone bank calls, 28,372,397 texts and 291,165 postcards.

“Our field operations have been deployed virtually, in person, and hybrid setups in competitive districts nationwide,” the website’s home page said. “Depending on the dynamics of each race, we can coordinate with the Democratic party directly or engage in an Independent Expenditure field operation.”

That’s unusual because the IRS Form 990 identifies the organization as a 501(c)(4), which is typically prohibited from having activities that advocate for the election or defeat of a particular candidate or party as its primary activity. That appears to be the case here.

That could explain why Hands Off PAC included the unusual disclaimer in its contribution, as the donation may have been intended to fund partisan activity.

Jones said as much in his CNN interview, seemingly inviting scrutiny of the network’s electioneering activity.

“Whoop them. Whoop them,” he told CNN host Kaitlan Collins about the Republican defeat in the 2026 midterms while bragging about AAN’s role.

(Image credit: Van Jones; Screenshot/X/CNN)