Is AIPAC Okay?

AIPAC spent big on establishment Democratic candidates like Haley Stevens—and lost. Finn Gomez/Getty Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. After every election in recent memory, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has spent a day or two congratulating its endorsed candidates on their wins. The massive pro-Israel lobby group spent over $80 million on this election cycle, so you might assume this year would be no different. But since 2:28 PM on election day, AIPAC’s official channels have gone entirely silent. In the two days running up to the election, AIPAC posted twice about Haley Stevens in Michigan, once in response to Trump’s surprise announcement that he’d be cancelling $4 billion in aid to Israel, and once just an “I Voted” sticker. But AIPAC hasn’t published anything including the phrase “AIPAC congratulates” since August, when it lauded “more than 215 AIPAC-backed candidates” for winning their primaries. But in that same primary cycle, incumbents like New York’s Dan Goldman and Colorado’s Diana DeGette lost their seats—in part because they failed to condemn AIPAC. Perhaps sensing a shift in public opinion, AIPAC in October announced it would no longer directly back campaigns or make endorsements. Then, candidates like Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed promptly sailed to midterm victory by directly criticizing AIPAC—and by pushing back on its core policy positions, like unyielding support for Trump’s war of choice in Iran. In response, the 75-year-old lobby group seems to have gone silent entirely. AIPAC is still funding candidates—but, the Intercept reported last week, they’re now doing so through affiliated groups like United Democracy Project rather than working under their own brand, which has become “a kiss of death to candidates they support,” as Justice Democrats communications director Usamah Andrabi told me in June. AIPAC and UDP spent on 333 of the 473 seats up for election this year—dumping about $84 million into advertisements attacking candidates who vowed to cut off aid to Israel. Nearly two-thirds of that spending, or $55 million, was channeled toward supporting candidates who lost, as Eli Clifton reported today for Responsible Statecraft. (Compare that to 2024, when nearly all of AIPAC’s 361 endorsed candidates won their elections.) Much of AIPAC’s spending this cycle targeted candidates who opposed the Iran war, like Daniel Biss, a Democratic candidate for Illinois’ 9th Congressional district. But given that the Iran war is wildly unpopular, those attacks didn’t stick. Biss won with 75% of the vote. “Because of AIPAC’s involvement, the $7 million and more they spent, it was a core issue in this race,” Biss told ABC 7 Chicago. AIPAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The candidates who defeated AIPAC money, however, aren’t being quiet about it. “To AIPAC, who spent $42 million against us: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to beat you twice,” Abdul El-Sayed said in his victory speech after defeating Republican Mike Rogers and winning a Michigan Senate seat.