At a time of extreme polarization and partisanship, one super PAC is pouring resources into pivotal primary campaigns—with the tangential benefit of promoting moderation and tamping down extremes within both parties.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel advocacy group that has refocused much of its attention on electoral politics in the last few years, has emerged as a bulwark against radical candidates on both sides of the aisle. Their mission is to elect candidates that support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, at a time when that relationship has come under strain—mainly from an ascendant left-wing faction of the Democratic Party, but also from increasingly isolationist sentiments percolating among Republicans.
It’s a mission that overlaps with electing pragmatic candidates with legislative aptitude rather than nihilistic bomb throwers seeking clicks over competence.
AIPAC is planning to spend at least $100 million in both Democratic and Republican primaries to ensure that support for Israel remains a bipartisan endeavor. Their top targets this year are Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), the lawmaker who pled guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm at the Capitol and has embraced all varieties of antisemitic conspiracy theories, and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who led the charge to “defund the police” in the House and is now under investigation for potential misuse of security funds.
So far, AIPAC’s super PAC has spent about $8 million against Bowman—a huge sum requiring the group to spend money on pricey New York broadcast television—and just began their advertising blitz against Bush last week. Dislodging incumbents in primaries is no easy task and it remains to be seen if these two high-profile, left-wing targets will lose out to more moderate, pro-Israel challengers.
But the pro-Israel group is also, more quietly, spending millions in lesser-profile primaries where the difference between two candidates is often stark—and winning. Along with other GOP outside groups, they spent over $1 million to secure a victory for center-right Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) as he faced a serious challenge from a right-wing candidate with a history of antisemitic rhetoric. They helped prevent former Republican congressman John Hostettler, who wrote a book blaming Israel for U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, from returning to Congress. They helped a liberal Maryland state senator, Sarah Elfreth, with a record of support for Israel prevail in a crowded primary, including against a candidate backed by national liberal donors.
And they quietly steered pro-Israel donors to block the ascendance of Susheela Jayapal, the sister of House Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, stopping her from winning a Portland-based House seat. The more moderate candidate, state legislator Maxine Dexter, ended up winning comfortably.
AIPAC’s lone setback so far this election cycle has been in California, where state Sen. Dave Min emerged as the Democratic nominee despite facing a barrage of ads against him from AIPAC’s super PAC. (Min still faces a competitive general election in a battleground district.)
AIPAC is disciplined to a fault in choosing its battles. It didn’t go after Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), another anti-Israel member of the Squad, even as she faced a contested April primary, in part because the challenger didn’t raise enough money and demonstrate enough local support to prove she had what’s necessary to oust an incumbent. So far, AIPAC’s super PAC has also avoided going after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), even though she barely won a tough primary two years ago. She’s facing the same opponent this time around but despite her increasingly intemperate rhetoric over Israel and campus antisemitism, AIPAC hasn’t yet gotten behind her rival.
That reality also reflects the limitations of AIPAC—or any outside group’s— influence. AIPAC has been most effective when lawmakers already are out of step with the districts they represent. Bowman’s district, which includes Westchester County, N.Y. and parts of the Bronx, has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, making his frequent anti-Israel diatribes not just extreme but self-defeating. Bush represents a district that includes suburban St. Louis, where radical rhetoric doesn’t resonate.
Encouraging strong candidates with widespread appeal to run has also been a key element of AIPAC’s successful playbook this cycle. Westchester County executive George Latimer’s popularity and familiar profile in the district immediately made him a top contender against Bowman. St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell, a progressive African-American official who advocated for criminal justice reform, is the type of candidate who’s able to build a broad coalition of Democratic voters against a polarizing incumbent.
But in the deep-blue districts featuring progressive neighborhoods, college campuses, and sizable Muslim communities, recruitment has been more difficult. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), for instance, isn’t facing any credible opposition, in part because of an Arab-American constituency in Dearborn that isn’t bothered by her virulent anti-Israel attacks.
One of the great ironies about the progressive activists’ rhetoric against AIPAC is that it caricatures the group as a handmaiden of right-wing Republicans—even as the group has been mainly engaged on behalf of moderate Democrats and, overall, been a force against extremism on all sides. It’s a sign of the abuse of language—and overall bias in coverage—that a sinister narrative of AIPAC’s deep resources has overwhelmed the reality that they’re the biggest outside force for moderation in politics right now.
In that sense, AIPAC’s involvement in congressional elections is doing as much to improve the health of America’s democracy as it is to ensure the future of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.
Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) is the Editor in Chief of Jewish Insider and a Fox News Radio political analyst.
Any group opposed by both John “Putin won’t invade” Mearsheimer and the Squad is doing right in the world.