As recently as 2021, the pro-Israel group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) eschewed spending money on elections so it could maintain an image of political neutrality. But now the group has set a new money-in-politics record, spending more than any other outside group ever has on a single House of Representatives election race.
AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), has spent more than $14.5 million on the New York Sixteenth Congressional District Democratic primary contest between incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman and challenger George Latimer, the group’s hand-picked candidate who is currently the Westchester county executive.
AIPAC is opposing the re-election of Bowman, a member of the progressive “squad,” who voted in April against providing Israel with $17 billion in supplemental foreign aid and was one of 9 Democrats who voted against a non-binding Republican resolution stating, among other things, that the U.S. “stands ready to assist Israel with emergency resupply and other security, diplomatic, and intelligence support.”
Sludge analyzed independent expenditures data from the Federal Election Commission since 2001 and found that the $14.5 million UDP has spent is more than any other group besides those affiliated with a political party has ever spent on a House election.
