By Adam Pack. Media: Dailycaller
The woman at the center of an ad campaign targeting a vulnerable House Republican is a left-wing activist who publicly supported his former Democratic opponent, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Unrig Our Economy, a left-wing advocacy group, launched a $1 million ad buy on July 8 against Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan following his vote in favor of President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. The 30-second ad depicts a Bresnahan constituent hammering the freshman lawmaker for “gutting” Medicaid but does not disclose that she is a registered Democrat with a social media and public activism trail of supporting Democratic politicians.
“He stated to me that he would not make cuts to Medicaid,” a woman referred to as Krysten says in the ad, referring to an alleged meeting between the Democratic activist and the Republican congressman. “Afterwards, when the votes were done, when I found out how he voted, I was very upset to hear that Congressman Bresnahan voted for the largest Medicaid cut in history to give tax breaks to billionaires.”
Krysten Xanthis, the Bresnahan “constituent” seen in the ad is a registered Democrat, according to a DCNF review of Xanthis’ voter registration status. She was elected to a local seat on the governing body for the Pennsylvania Democratic party in 2022 and publicly supported Bresnahan’s predecessor, former Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright.
Xanthis’ Facebook page states that she began working for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in January 2025, but a DNC spokesperson told the DCNF that they have no record of her having worked there. Xanthis did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
Bresnahan narrowly defeated Cartwright in November, sending the Congressional Progressive Caucus member packing after a decade in the House. The freshman lawmaker represents a purple district and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates his reelection contest as “Lean Republican.” Cartwright stated in June that he will not run to reclaim his former seat.
Unrig Our Economy is fiscally sponsored by the dark money behemoth, the Sixteen Thirty (1630) Fund. The left-wing nonprofit serves as a clearinghouse for Democratic megadonors and a web of difficult-to-trace groups to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations advocating for liberal causes.
The 1630 Fund contributed nearly $8 million to Unrig Our Economy for “capacity building” between 2022 and 2023, according to a DCNF review of the organization’s tax filings. A nonprofit backed by the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, the Berger Action Fund, has doled out more than $200 million to the 1630 Fund. Neither organization is required to disclose its donors.
Unrig Our Economy’s ad blitz is an early salvo in a larger campaign that Democrats are deploying to make Republicans’ Medicaid reforms a focal point in the midterms, particularly in battleground districts where a significant part of the population is enrolled in Medicaid. More than a quarter of people living in Bresnahan’s district rely on the entitlement program, according to the nonpartisan health policy firm KFF.
House Republicans, including Bresnahan, have consistently rejected Democrats’ claims about alleged Medicaid cuts, arguing GOP lawmakers just slowed the rate of federal Medicaid spending while strengthening benefits for those in need.
Republicans also point to polling that suggests key reforms, including new work requirements on able-bodied adults and restrictions curtailing illegal immigrants’ access to Medicaid are popular with the average voter.
“Anyone who Medicaid was designed to serve will continue to receive those benefits,” Bresnahan told the Pennsylvania-based Times Leader following the bill’s passage. “If you can work, you should. And the requirement is 20 hours a week, and it can be fulfilled through school, volunteering, caregiving, apprenticeship programs, and traditional work.”
“It [Republicans’ Medicaid reforms] focuses support on the truly vulnerable, while making the system fair,” Bresnahan continued.
Republican strategists are also scrutinizing Americans like Xanthis who Democrats and affiliated left-wing advocacy groups appoint to deliver their attack lines.
“Democrats are lying about Rep. Rob Bresnahan and his vote to protect Medicaid, and they’re lying about their messenger,” NRCC Spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole told the DCNF. “This is fearmongering for political gain, and it’s a new low – even for Democrats.”
Xanthis spoke at a “Hands Off” rally in Scranton headlined by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi in April. In an interview with local media, she suggested the president and her district’s representative, Rob Bresnahan, were plotting to rip Medicaid benefits away from her client who is allegedly enrolled in the entitlement program.
“He’s in a wheelchair, but he deserves his independence at home,” Xanthis said. “He does need assistance, if he doesn’t have assistance … he will die.”
The registered Democrat has also posted about her support for Democratic politicians and disdain for their Republican counterparts, according to a DCNF review of Xanthis’ social media.
In February, she posted a graphic of Trump with the hashtag “NOTMYPRESIDENT.” A day prior to the president’s inauguration, she uploaded a picture of herself in a Harris-Walz ’24 hat.
Xanthis specifically criticized Bresnahan on social media following his vote in favor of the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Bresnahan posted praise from a constituent on July 5 thanking the congressman’s office for their assistance in helping process a disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“What about how you helped your constituents with Medicaid,” Xanthis commented under the post, including emojis expressing her disapproval.
In 2022, she ran for a seat on the governing body for Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party. Xanthis was elected as a Democratic committeewoman for Ward 13 in Scranton, according to Lackawanna County’s election results.
Xanthis also participated in events in support of Bresnahan’s Democratic predecessor and 2024 general election opponent, Matt Cartwright. She posted a picture with him and an unidentified woman in April 2023.
“We’re working hard to re-elect Congressman Cartwright and Attorney Josh Shapiro as Governor because they value and respect home care workers,” Xanthis is quoted saying in a March 2022 release from the Pennsylvania branch of the Service Employee International Union’s healthcare division.
Xanthis also joined Cartwright at an August 2021 event sponsored by the left-wing advocacy group, Protect Our Care, to help sell the healthcare aspects of former President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.
Unrig Our Economy did respond to the DCNF’s multiple requests for comment. The left-wing advocacy group has alleged that residents of Bresnahan’s district such as Xanthis would lose healthcare coverage due to Republicans’ Medicaid reforms. The ad campaign notes that Krysten is a Scranton, Pennsylvania-based home health worker who is enrolled in Medicaid and has dealt with a string of health issues.
“People like Krysten deserve health care and honesty, not cruel cuts and empty promises,” Unrig Our Economy spokesperson Kobie Christian said in a press release.
However, working adults would most likely not be in danger of losing Medicaid benefits as long as they adhere to reporting requirements confirming their employment or verifying that they are actively seeking work. The work requirement provision does not go into effect until 2027.
“What we’re seeing from the left and special interest groups are blanket fear-based arguments against the proposal,” Nina Owcharenko Schaefer, director of the Center for Health and Welfare Policy at the Heritage Foundation, previously told the DCNF. “These are just common-sense changes that tighten up the existing structure of the Medicaid program, weed out fraud, waste and abuse, and help the system function better.”
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