GOP-funded AIPAC spends record-breaking numbers in assault on our democracy
In a race that AIPAC’s Super PAC spending made the most expensive House primary election ever, Congressman Jamaal Bowman came shy of fending off their $15 million Republican-funded challenge to elect the House’s newest Joe Manchin. Bowman’s Republican-backed opponent welcomed over $15 million from AIPAC’s Super PAC and more than $2 million from a Crypto Super PAC – greenlighting what was widely seen as a historic assault on our democracy at the expense of New York voters.
Alexandra Rojas, Executive Director of Justice Democrats, released the following statement:
“Jamaal Bowman is one of the most transformational leaders of our generation. He has become a force in American politics who, alongside the rest of the Squad, has changed the trajectory of the Democratic Party and the urgency we expect from our elected leaders. We recruited Jamaal to run for Congress in 2020 because his life’s work has been deeply rooted in serving his community – as a loving father, husband and community leader serving children and working families as a principal and leading advocate for public education in NYC for over 15 years. Now, he is one of the only members of Congress with the courage to fight for all people, stand up to right-wing, corporate interests like AIPAC, and not back down even in the face of historic spending against him. We could not be more proud of his courage, his commitment to justice, and the sacrifice he has made for all of us in our progressive movement to better understand what it’s going to take to overcome this corporate takeover of our democracy.
“Let us be clear: Jamaal Bowman and the movement behind him are such a threat to right-wing power, to Republican megadonors, and to AIPAC’s influence in Congress that they had to spend over $17 million to defeat us. This race for AIPAC – the single largest outside group spending in Democratic primaries – is so much bigger than re-electing a Congressman. It is part of their final attempts to stop a rising tide of a new generation of voters and leaders who refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice at home or abroad. They know they are losing the war of public opinion, as Democratic voters nationwide stand up for Palestinians rights and lives and call out AIPAC’s right-wing funding, and so they have no choice but to overwhelm, confuse, and depress voters with $15 million to buy a seat in Congress. It is up to us as a progressive movement and Democratic Party to stand up and change this system that sacrifices voters for megadonors.”
Justice Democrats recruited Jamaal Bowman ahead of his first successful primary election against AIPAC’s biggest champion and 20+ year career politician and former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel in 2020. Since then, AIPAC’s lobby has put a target on Bowman’s back, desperate to defeat a member of Congress that not only stands up for Palestinians rights and lives, but threatens the bottom lines of AIPAC’s billionaire donors by leading on policies from Medicare for All and a Green New Deal to raising taxes on billionaires—positions Bowman’s opponent refused to advocate for.
This race was not a referendum on Israel-Palestine policies nor was it an intra-party debate between the so-called left and center. This race was wholly about diverse, working-class, progressive power against Republican megadonors and the right-wing interests that are threatened from having a Congressman Jamaal Bowman in Washington DC. In fact, Congressman Bowman’s policies on Israel-Palestine are overwhelmingly popular with Democratic voters, including support for a permanent ceasefire, support for conditioning military funding to the Israeli government, and believing Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to a genocide. AIPAC is aware that their policy positions on their “single issue” are deeply out of step with Republican voters, which is exactly why they avoid running television ads about it despite their unlimited warchest.
In total, AIPAC spent over $17 million in this race and bundled over $2.4 million for George Latimer—a substantial amount of which came from Republican donors. In fact, through AIPAC’s historic spending this election cycle, they have become the single largest source of Republican donations in Democratic primaries. AIPAC raised more money for George Latimer than any other candidate this cycle, becoming Latimer’s largest source of donations, and spending more in NY-16 than they have ever spent in an election.
This level of spending does not come from a position of power, but from a position of great weakness and desperation. AIPAC knows it has already lost the war of public opinion and support, being exposed as a right-wing lobby funded by Republican interests. Now, it is desperate to put all its resources into individual battles like these to silence other members of Congress who would otherwise stand with the majority of Democratic voters in supporting a permanent ceasefire, conditioning military funding to Israel and supporting Palestinian and Israeli human rights alike . But their path forward is set, AIPAC will soon become our generation’s NRA—moving further and further from a veneer of bipartisanship to unconditionally support right-wing extremism until they become a right-wing pariah rejected by the whole of the Democratic Party.
Next is Cori Bush’s election, where their Super PAC has already spent $1.8TK million using the exact same strategy – disinformation, lies, and avoiding talking about Israel. It’s time for the Democratic Party to make clear that no Super PAC that is spending $15 million in a single race is welcome in our democracy—let alone funded by anti-abortion, pro-insurrection Republican interests.
