The pro-Israel group’s absolutist stance has alienated even moderate Democrats who support the Jewish state.
Arthur Delaney and Kevin Robillard at HuffPost:
WASHINGTON — In 2024, a super PAC allied with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent $4 million to boost then-state Sen. Sarah Elfreth in a contested Democratic primary in Maryland. It’s not an exaggeration to say the money was decisive: It was more than twice as much as Elfreth’s campaign raised and spent. [...]
But last week, Elfreth was one of the 10 Democrats who voted “present” on a symbolic amendment to cut off aid to Israel, signaling an unwillingness to shoot down the effort completely. Another 21 Democrats who had received financial backing from AIPAC voted for the amendment. Altogether, 103 Democrats voted for the amendment in a rebuke of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has overseen a war in Gaza that has led to more than 70,000 deaths.
[...]
AIPAC appeared to cut off fundraising support to the Democrats who voted yes. One of them, Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), said he welcomed the consequences. “I expect groups like AIPAC will not support me in my future elections and frankly, I don’t want their support,” Ryan wrote on social media after the vote. “Hardline stances that refuse to stand up to a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime have no place in our politics.”
The vote showed how AIPAC’s grip on American politics is slipping, at least among Democrats. The group, which continues to pour tens of millions of dollars into contested primaries with mixed success at best, is fundamentally trying to convince members of Congress to ignore the clear moral judgment of their constituents, while also turning itself into the No. 1 example of political corruption in the country.
“If AIPAC cares about saving the US-Israel relationship, the best thing it could do right now is to disband,” former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who lost a Democratic primary this year thanks partly to more than $2 million in spending by an AIPAC affiliate, said in an interview. “It has only toxic influence.”
[...]
AIPAC’s reputation among rank-and-file Democrats is poisonous, party operatives say, referring to internal campaign surveys. AIPAC’s super PAC routinely tries to disguise its spending by funneling cash through pop-up or unrelated groups so voters don’t know where the cash is coming from. Potential presidential contenders, even moderate ones, are determined to keep the group at arm’s length. “If someone is receiving a lot of support from AIPAC, it makes it harder to campaign with them,” said an adviser to one 2028 presidential contender, who requested anonymity to speak frankly, pointing to the ultrawealthy conservatives whose $100 million fills the coffers of United Democracy Project, a PAC affiliated with AIPAC. “Base voters in New Hampshire are going to want to know why you helped out a candidate backed by Trump-supporting billionaires.” AIPAC, for now, remains determined to solve the problem with more campaign spending. It has spent nearly $20 million backing Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Senate race and more than $1.4 million backing Rep. Wesley Bell in Missouri’s 1st District, aiming to hold off progressives in both races. But its spending is only further alienating the Democratic voters it is allegedly trying to win over, who are largely skeptical of money in politics.
[...] Even Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor, Democratic lawmaker and White House chief of staff — and a possible 2028 presidential contender — warned Israel this month that its war in Gaza is making it a pariah nation.
“Your government has been complicit in the horrors now being inflicted on innocent families in the West Bank,” Emanuel, long an ardent defender of the country who volunteered in assisting the Israel Defense Forces during the Persian Gulf War, said in a speech at Tel Aviv University.
In a statement, AIPAC said last week’s aid vote “sends a dangerous signal to both our allies and our enemies around the world.” The amendment, by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), would have cut off the annual $3.3 billion allotment the U.S. has been providing Israel under the terms of a 2016 memorandum of understanding. The amendment failed thanks to every Republican but Massie and 98 Democrats voting against it, but Massie called it a resounding success.
AIPAC’s reputation among Democrats is tanking by the day, and as the recent Massie Amendment vote to cut aid to Israel shows, even some Democrats those that have been endorsed and funded by AIPAC in recent elections such as Reps. Nancy Pelosi (CA), Joe Neguse (CO), Robin Kelly (IL), Katherine Clark (MA), and Pat Ryan (NY) voted in favor of Massie’s amendment.
Adding more heaps of injury is former Chicago Mayor and potential 2028 candidate Rahm Emanuel-- one of the last Democrats you’d expect to make a statement of this kind-- come out swinging and criticize Israel.
