AIPAC super PAC funds big-spending Illinois groups, as Democratic battles spread over Israel
The PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee found two anonymous groups spent more than $14 million to influence the House Democratic primaries in Illinois on Tuesday – marking a new salvo in the policy battle on Israel within the Democratic Party.
The United Democracy Project, a high-profile PAC affiliated with AIPAC that receives tens of millions of dollars from the group, apparently used another $5 million to boost Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin in her unsuccessful campaign for the 7th Congressional District. But its involvement in two other groups – Choose Chicago Women and Chicago Affordable Now! – was not officially confirmed until Friday, when newly filed federal fundraising reports showed that the UDP contributed $5.3 million of the $14.1 million the groups raised.
Donors who had previously contributed to the UDP gave additional millions to the parties.
In total, the three largest PACs accounted for 60% of all outside spending in the Illinois House primaries this year. And while progressives have accused a pro-Israel group of being behind the spending, those exact ties weren’t confirmed until days after voters went to the polls.
“The UDP is happy to support these local committees, as well as sponsors in Chicago, to make sure that pro-Israel voices will be heard,” Patrick Dorton, a UDP spokesman, told NBC News on Friday. “Like many other teams, we use many different tools to participate in the races this cycle,”
“At the end of the day, AIPAC is focused on making sure we have the largest, bipartisan pro-Israel majority in Congress,” Dorton continued, later adding: “Either way the Chicago delegation is more pro-Israel today than before the first election.”
The spending spree and recent election results come amid a sea change in the way American voters — especially Democratic voters — view Israel. A recent NBC News poll found two-thirds of Democrats say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians than with Israelis, and most Democrats have a negative view of Israel in general.
A pro-Israel coalition effort won two races Tuesday, with former Rep. Melissa Bean and Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller winning two closely contested primaries. Both Democratic parties included progressives who had taken critical stances on US policy toward Israel.
The AIPAC-sponsored effort failed in two other districts, with state Rep. La Shawn Ford narrowly defeating Conyears-Ervin in one primary, and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss winning the most high-profile and highly contested races, exposing deep Democratic divisions on the issue.
Elect Chicago Women spent more than $5 million in that race, first supporting Sen. The country’s Laura Fine then attacked Biss, who is Jewish, has criticized the Israeli government and calls herself a “progressive Zionist.”
When Biss proved to be a formidable opponent, spending against him eventually stopped. A separate group, the Chicago Progressive Partnership, began trying to unseat a progressive candidate, Kat Abughazaleh, and promoted another low-polling progressive, Bushra Amiwala, in an apparent attempt to split the progressive vote. Both Abughazaleh and Amiwala have been highly critical of Israel and have called Israel’s behavior in Gaza “genocide.”
The Chicago Progressive Partnership had not filed its February campaign finance report as of late Friday.
Biss specifically raised the issue of Israel policy in his victory speech, saying his campaign understood the “nuance and complexity” of the complex issues surrounding Israel and deflected pressure from groups like AIPAC.
“AIPAC found out the hard way: The 9th District is not for sale,” Biss said.
Usamah Andrabi, director of communications for the progressive group Justice Democrats, joined a parade of progressives celebrating Biss and Ford’s victory and called it a repudiation of AIPAC’s tactics and ideas.
“If ‘being pro-Israel was good politics or policy,’ as AIPAC says, they wouldn’t have to completely avoid mentioning Israel in $21 million in ads and use PAC shells to hide their money,” Andrabi said in a statement.
Dorton, the UDP spokesperson, pushed back against the draft. He pointed out that “no candidate made AIPAC or Israel central to their campaign that won in Chicago, except for Biss,” which Dorton labeled as acceptable — despite AIPAC groups spending big to try to undermine him in recent weeks.
“Obviously we have our differences with Daniel Biss but at least he’s a Zionist – and he’s a lot better than Kat Abughazaleh,” Dorton said.
“We’re going to use every tool in the toolbox to try to get the best possible, pro-Israel results,” Dorton continued. “Sometimes it means we’re going to have someone who’s extremely pro-Israel, but in these multi-candidate fields, sometimes it’s going to be the best person to sit with.”
The decision to split has left both sides emboldened as the first season continues to develop. But new polls show that Israel’s standing among Democrats has fallen sharply in recent years, and criticism of AIPAC’s use is rife in primaries across the country — including those where pro-Israel groups are not playing.
Meanwhile, many prominent Democratic politicians have become more comfortable distancing themselves from AIPAC or questioning American aid to Israel.
During an appearance on the “Crooked Media” podcast earlier this month, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the reign of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is moving us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice” but to rethink US military support for the country. This week, Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who is Jewish, told the Associated Press that he sees AIPAC as “an organization that supported Donald Trump,” adding that “AIPAC is not really an organization that I think today I would want any part of.”
Jim Kessler, senior vice president of policy at Third Way, a think tank aligned with Democratic leaders, told NBC News that AIPAC’s participation in a special House election in New Jersey earlier this year “has been a “difficult moment” for centrist Democrats like himself who believe AIPAC’s use has led directly to the election of “the far left on the whole issue.”
In that race, the AIPAC super PAC attacked former Rep. Tom Malinowski for considering conditions on aid to Israel, which helped progressive activist Analilia Mejia, a vocal critic of Israel, win the Democratic primary.
“There is a division that has been growing for a long time, but what happens when there is one election in one day, instead of November when there are elections across the country, this race in New Jersey was a real, spectacular moment that their influence does not help,” said Kessler, adding that AIPAC is “extricating itself from the Democratic Party” given the government’s alignment with Trump.
“The existence of Israel, the security of the Jewish people, does not help if a major nationalist party is perceived as being against one party,” he said.
Asked about the criticism of AIPAC from Democrats of different stripes, Dorton said that although he would not respond to individual criticism: “We represent millions of pro-Israel Democrats, we are not discouraged,” he said. “We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the pro-Israel Democratic voice is represented.”
