The involvement of American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization, became a central tension in four Democratic House races in and around Chicago before Tuesday’s primary election.
Several super PACs with ties to AIPAC spent at least $20 million in the four primaries, in an apparent attempt to help elect candidates they deem pro-Israel and defeat those who they believe will hurt their cause in Washington.
J Street, a liberal Jewish organization that is critical of Israeli leadership under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and several progressive candidates have called the PACs front groups for AIPAC. They say the organization has now become such a boogeyman for some Democrats that it went out of its way to hide its involvement in primary elections. None of the advertisements from the outside groups mention Israel.
Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for the United Democracy Project, a super PAC officially aligned with AIPAC, declined to comment on the organization’s involvement in the Illinois races but said that it would continue to “seize opportunities to defeat anti-Israel candidates.”
Much of the super PACs’ firepower was focused in the Ninth District, which includes several heavily Jewish communities of Chicago. The groups spent at least $5.8 million to support Laura Fine, a state senator, and defeat Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston. AIPAC has rarely been involved in a race with two Jewish candidates, making the Ninth District primary an attention-getting exception. The differences between the candidates mirror some of the divides in the larger Jewish community.
Officially, AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, is not involved in the district. Instead, two groups with ties to AIPAC — Elect Chicago Women and Affordable Chicago Now — appeared suddenly, spending millions in the Ninth District primary and two other Illinois districts with competitive Democratic primaries. A third super PAC, Chicago Progressive Partnership, appeared in the final days of the campaign, spending $1.2 million to attack Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive influencer who is deeply critical of Israel. But in a twist, the same group released an advertisement praising Bushra Amiwala, another progressive challenger in the race.
Elect Chicago Women spent at least $3.9 million to support Melissa Bean, a former congresswoman running in the Eighth Congressional District. Affordable Chicago Now spent at least $4.3 million to support Donna Miller, a Cook County commissioner running in Illinois’s Second District. United Democracy Project, the super PAC that is officially aligned with AIPAC, spent more than $5 million in the Seventh Congressional District to support Melissa Conyears-Ervin, the Chicago city treasurer.
AIPAC created United Democracy Project in 2022 to bolster congressional support for Israel and has since intervened in the three Democratic House primary cycles. Since the war in Gaza, some Democrats have been increasingly hostile toward the group. Polls show that both Democrats and independents are now more likely to be sympathetic toward Palestinians than toward Israelis. Many Democrats have also publicly pledged not to take money tied to AIPAC.
The United Democracy Project began this year with $96 million, making it one of the best funded super PACs in the country.
Earlier this year, AIPAC put more than $2 million into campaign ads attacking Tom Malinowski, a moderate New Jersey Democrat who supports Israel but has said that aid from the United States should not be unconditional. The move appeared to backfire — voters elected Analilia Mejia, a progressive political organizer who has said she believes that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
Jennifer Medina is a Los Angeles-based political reporter for The Times, focused on political attitudes and demographic change.
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