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China, Russia and Cuba are looking to sway voters in down-ballot races across the country, according to U.S. intelligence officials sharing their new assessment with reporters on Monday.
“The intelligence community assesses that some foreign actors, particularly Russia, China and Cuba, are supporting or denigrating candidates involved in congressional, state and local races,” an intelligence official said. “To determine which candidates to support or oppose, foreign actors evaluate how they think an individual candidate’s foreign policy positions affect their own national security interests.”
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, provided scant details on the scale of the attempted meddling but indicated that American officials observed that Russia’s targeting was broader than Cuba, which took a narrower approach.
Russia’s interest in congressional races is fixated on candidates’ perceived support or opposition to policies involving Ukraine’s government, while Beijing is focused on candidates’ stances on public policy about Taiwan.
“Russian influence actors have planned and likely created and disseminated content, particularly over social media, intended to encourage the election of congressional candidates Moscow assesses will oppose aid to Ukraine,” an intelligence official said. “Now China — Beijing is seeking to influence congressional races with candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, perceived by Beijing to threaten its core interests, especially in relation to Taiwan.”
Intelligence officials said they have not observed Iran attempting to influence congressional, state or local races during the 2024 cycle, in contrast to its preference for Vice President Kamala Harris to win the presidency. An intelligence official said Tehran prefers Ms. Harris, while Moscow favors former President Donald Trump.
Cuba, meanwhile, has demonstrated an interest in affecting voters’ minds about some down-ballot races.
“Cuba, for example, probably views this year’s election as consequential, and Havana almost certainly has considered influence operations targeting some candidates,” an intelligence official said. “Havana may be, as it has done in previous cycles, trying to curry favor from congressional and subnational politicians that it believes would support its preferred policies.”
After the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. intelligence community published a detailed assessment of the nations’ actions to influence voters.
Some of the activity included efforts to denigrate or promote various candidates online, particularly through social media.
They also have attempted to manipulate media outlets into carrying out their influence campaigns intended to dupe Americans.
For example, the intelligence community’s assessment published in December 2023 said Cuba “sought to identify and establish relationships with members of the U.S. media who held critical views of members of Congress.”
An intelligence official said Monday that some tactics used by foreign adversaries in 2024 include “seeding articles in the U.S. media” and illicitly funding campaigns, without providing specifics.
The intelligence officials didn’t explain which contests the foreign nations wanted to upend and would not say whether they thought China, Russia, Cuba, or others’ efforts were having any effect.
“We do not assess the impact of this activity,” an intelligence official said.
Intelligence officials refused to discuss whether they had seen influence operations conducted by any countries other than Russia, China, Iran and Cuba.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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