By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - A growing number of Democratic primary challengers are making opposition to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee a campaign issue as they seek to unseat party incumbents backed by the influential pro-Israel advocacy group.
The trend reflects divisions over U.S. policy toward Israel as the wars in Gaza and Iran deepen intraparty tensions ahead of November’s midterm election. It could also complicate Democrats’ efforts to capitalize on vulnerabilities
among Republicans, the party of President Donald Trump, over high prices and a backlash against the U.S.-Israeli‑launched Iran war.
Founded in the 1950s, AIPAC has been one of Washington’s most influential foreign-policy lobbying organizations, contributing millions of dollars for candidates to promote a strong U.S.‑Israel relationship and advocating for military aid to Israel, sanctions on Iran and U.S. legislation it views as supportive of Israeli security.
Two anti-AIPAC groups have endorsed more than 100 Democratic candidates: Track AIPAC, an organization that monitors AIPAC's political spending, and Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee. The candidates have pledged to reject donations from pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, and to oppose U.S. military aid to Israel.
"There's a lot of AIPAC money that will now go to Republican candidates as a result of this," said Frank Lowenstein, a former special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Democratic President Barack Obama's administration. He is also a policy fellow at J Street, a pro-Israel lobbying group and an AIPAC rival that is critical of the current Israeli government.
AIPAC’S ROLE DRAWS SCRUTINY IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
Of the 102 candidates endorsed by the anti-AIPAC groups, 73 have challenged or are challenging sitting Democratic members of Congress who have received support from AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobby groups, according to a Reuters review of candidate questionnaire responses.
AIPAC spokeswoman Deryn Sousa said the organization is "proud to help the mainstream of the Democratic Party by helping keep far-left, anti-Israel fringe candidates out of Congress."
"AIPAC and our millions of Democratic members will be active throughout this cycle and future cycles to help elect candidates who support a strong U.S.-Israel partnership," she said.
Sousa said responsibility for Democratic intraparty tensions lay not with AIPAC but with “people trying to drive millions of pro‑Israel Democrats out of the party.”
Mainstream Democratic supporters of Israel cite U.S. national security interests tied to Israel’s security, a bipartisan tradition and electoral realities in backing AIPAC in congressional seats that can swing towards either party.
Progressives and moderate Democrats are divided over how far the United States should go in supporting Israel's security. Roughly 80% of Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents have an unfavorable view of Israel, according to a March survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.
ELECTORAL IMPACT OF ANTI-AIPAC FERVOR UNCLEAR
Hundreds of Democratic candidates are running in party primaries this year - contests that will determine nominees for the November election. With most races yet to take place, the electoral impact of the fight over AIPAC remains unclear.
Two of the candidates are running competitive U.S. Senate campaigns, one in Maine and the other in Michigan, races that will help determine control of the upper chamber. Both are endorsed by Track AIPAC and are critics of Israel and AIPAC.
AIPAC and its supporters gave almost $25 million to Democratic congressional candidates ahead of the 2024 election and more than $16 million to Republicans, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission finance filings by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics.
But Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has reshaped Democratic politics, triggering a backlash among largely younger voters and intensifying a generational divide within the party.
While there is no definitive tally for the number of Democratic candidates who made opposition to AIPAC part of their campaigns in the 2024 election, Track AIPAC says the number of candidates it is endorsing this year represents roughly an eightfold increase from two years ago.
Track AIPAC endorsed 12 Democratic candidates ahead of the 2024 election. Two years ago Justice Democrats did not endorse any new primary challengers but this cycle they have endorsed 15 new challengers - nine against Democratic incumbents and six in open congressional seats.
GAZA, IRAN CONFLICTS AT ROOT OF TENSIONS
In interviews with Reuters, six of the Democratic candidates opposing AIPAC accused the group of supporting what they called a genocide in Gaza and an illegal war against Iran.
Israel denies committing genocide, saying it seeks to minimize civilian harm and that Hamas fighters operate among civilians, while Israel and the United States dispute claims their war against Iran is illegal, citing goals that include regime change and stopping Tehran from building a nuclear bomb.
Sousa, AIPAC's spokeswoman, called the accusations of genocide against Israel "a legally baseless blood libel."
One of the anti-AIPAC candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier, is challenging U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat. Espaillat has received over $133,000 from AIPAC and its supporters this election cycle and took $181,000 in the 2024 election, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of FEC filings.
Chevalier accused AIPAC of "pushing our representatives to be complicit in genocide, and pushing us towards this war with Iran."
Reginald Johnson, an Espaillat campaign spokesman, said the congressman supports Israel's right to exist and a Palestinian state and opposes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military expansion in the region and the Iran war.
TENSIONS SURFACE AT PARTY EVENT
Tensions among Democrats over AIPAC and Israel surfaced at a Michigan Democrats' April 19 convention. A closely fought Democratic primary there involves a multi-candidate race to become the party's nominee for a U.S. Senate seat.
When Democratic U.S. Representative Haley Stevens, one of the Senate candidates, walked on stage, party activists in the audience booed and heckled her. She has received over $220,000 from AIPAC and its supporters in this election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.
As she walked offstage, some in the audience stood up and chanted, "Shame on you," according to a video of the event reviewed by Reuters.
Arik Wolk, a Stevens campaign spokesperson, said the congresswoman welcomed the ceasefire in Gaza that began last October. "She believes that we must have peace in the region," Wolk said. The ceasefire has been fragile, with intermittent outbreaks of violence.
Steve Israel, a Jewish former Democratic congressman and former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said these tensions were a symptom of a larger and more troubling dynamic inside the party.
"As younger activists move into the Democratic Party infrastructure and elected office, the party energizes more towards the left. That creates proxy battles, such as whether or not a candidate accepts support from AIPAC."
He called such fights "self-defeating litmus tests."
The Democratic National Committee, the governing body of the Democratic Party, did not directly address questions about tensions over AIPAC when contacted by Reuters.
Some Democratic strategists worry the friction could be exploited in election campaigns by Republicans, who have broadly backed Israel and criticized Democrats who oppose U.S. support.
Kiersten Pels, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, accused Democrats of allowing "a dangerous strain of pro-terrorist, anti-American extremism to take root in their party, which will turn off swing voters in the midterms."
(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington, editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)
