AIPAC a wedge issue facing Democrats in midterm races

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has become a wedge issue in Democratic midterm primaries, with progressive candidates, even beyond the far-left flank, seeing it as a point of pride to refuse support from the pro-Israel group.

“For the first time, people are saying openly that being pro-Israel doesn’t necessarily mean support for the government of Israel,” Lauren Strauss, professor of modern Jewish history at American University in Washington, told JNS.

“What AIPAC has always stood for is that they support whoever is the current government of the State of Israel,” Strauss, who directs the university’s undergraduate Jewish studies program, said. “That has become increasingly problematic for many American Jews and for many candidates running for office.”

A new NBC poll of registered voters suggests that 67% of Democrats sympathized with the Palestinians in 2026, up from 18% in 2013, and just 17% had sympathy for Israelis in 2026, compared to 34% a dozen years prior.

The numbers were nearly mirrored for Republicans, with 69% sympathizing with Israelis and 13% with Palestinians in 2026, compared to 67% with Israelis and 8% with Palestinians in 2013.

Overall, 40% registered voters sympathized with Israelis and 39% with Palestinians in 2016, compared to 45% with Israelis and 13% with Palestinians in 2013.

“What has clearly happened is increased hostility to Israel, and saying you’re against AIPAC is saying that,” Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, told JNS.

As a one-issue organization, AIPAC has always been resolutely bipartisan, which is increasingly challenging in these politically divided times. (JNS sought comment from AIPAC.)

“Unfortunately, bipartisanship has become an illusion,” Klein told JNS. “It’s a deep concern for those of us who love Israel.”

‘Very different than it’s ever been’

Hadar Susskind, president and CEO of the progressive group New Jewish Narrative, which states that “peace and justice are the birthright of Israelis, of Palestinians and of all people,” told JNS that AIPAC “is absolutely a giant and arguably the number one issue in midterms across the country.”

“For people I talk to from everywhere, regardless of their political affiliation and personal background and district, AIPAC is a major issue in a way that is very different than it’s ever been before,” Susskind said.

In a campaign video released in late February, Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City and a harsh critic of the Jewish state, the former city comptroller says, “I’m Brad Lander, a lifelong progressive, and I’m running for Congress.”

“A lifelong progressive?” says Mamdani, who has said that he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York City. “You mean you haven’t sold out to special interests?”

“Or AIPAC either,” Lander says, with a shrug, as the two walk through a subway station.

“That’s impressive,” Mamdani says, shaking his head.

Lander is running against incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) in a hotly contested race in New York’s 10th District, which represents lower Manhattan and western edges of Brooklyn.

Goldman is seen as the more moderate candidate and has extensive government experience, including as lead counsel in the first impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump.

But in a district that voted heavily for Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, Goldman’s stances may prove to be a liability in the primary on June 23.

AIPAC is pouring tens of millions of dollars into fighting candidates it considers insufficiently pro-Israel, often doing so through PACs with innocuous names, in a shift over the past election cycle into tactics that are often referred to as “dark money.”

The issue of limiting U.S. military aid to Israel is turning out to be the sledgehammer driving the wedge deeper.

In the recent special primary to fill the vacant congressional seat in NJ’s 11th District, former congressman Tom Malinowski lost by 1.7 percentage points to Analilia Mejia, who has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Malinowski, a Democrat who long supported Israel, raised AIPAC’s ire, according to the New York Times, when he said that he “would not deny anything Israel needs to defend itself” but left open the possibility of placing limits on aid.

In response, the United Democracy Project, an AIPAC Super PAC, spent at least $2.3 million to oppose Malinowski in ads sponsored by one group called “Elect Women,” for instance.

None of the ads mentioned Israel. The Super PAC began 2026 with $96 million in its coffers, nearly triple the $35 million it reportedly spent in the 2024 primaries.

In Illinois’ primary races on March 17, those who lost were candidates whom AIPAC targeted. AIPAC’s “Elect Illinois Women” and other Super PACs funded by the Israel advocacy group were active in the race.

In a campaign email sent out the next day, Lander wrote, of the Illinois races, “though AIPAC spent over $20 million, they never even talked about Israel. We’re next.”

“My opponent accepts crypto and AIPAC support and winks at millions of dollars of outside spending on his behalf,” the former city comptroller said. “We don’t.”

Running ads behind shadow organizations is adding to Democratic sour feelings about AIPAC, according to Susskind, who leads the progressive group.

“People across the Democratic party are feeling that they have become the primary example of some of the abuses of dark money in politics,” he told JNS, of AIPAC.

AIPAC is “fighting a losing rear guard battle within Democratic politics,” Susskind said. “Both the constituency and the elected officials are not with them.”

Strauss, of American University, said that the moment “is an existential issue for AIPAC as an organization.”

© JNS