The attack ad began running just a few weeks before a rare February primary teeming with Democratic candidates hoping to replace New Jersey’s new governor, Mikie Sherrill, in Congress.
It was notable for both its sponsor, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and its target, Tom Malinowski, a longtime supporter of Israel.
Mr. Malinowski, a former House member running for Ms. Sherrill’s seat, was being criticized for his vote in favor of legislation that had authorized funding for federal immigration enforcement and passed with broad bipartisan support. In the ad, a woman’s voice warns ominously that the vote funded “Trump’s deportation force,” suggesting that Mr. Malinowski, who emigrated from Communist Poland as a child and strongly opposes the president’s immigration policies, can’t be trusted.
But its sponsors have made clear that their objective has little to do with immigration. Their true aim is winning a pro-Israel majority in Congress and electing representatives who will not place conditions on U.S. aid to the Jewish state. “Tom Malinowski is talking about conditioning aid to Israel,” said Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for the super PAC, United Democracy Project. “That’s not a pro-Israel position.”
The super PAC’s investment in print mailers and television and digital ads already stands at more than $800,000 and is likely to represent a large portion of the total amount spent in the unusual Feb. 5 primary, which includes 11 candidates.
As a result, the ads have turned an under-the-radar special election in New Jersey into an early test of AIPAC’s tactics in 2026, as it targets a candidate once considered an ally.
The super PAC is relatively new. It was formed in early 2022 and began spending money for and against candidates ahead of the midterm races that year. In 2024, United Democracy invested roughly $35 million in House primaries, including $24 million to help oust two left-leaning members, Jamaal Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri, according to Ad Impact, a group that tracks political spending.
Yet in New Jersey, the negative advertising could serve to boost a candidate for Ms. Sherrill’s seat in the mold of Mr. Bowman and Ms. Bush — Analilia Mejia, a former director of the state’s Working Families alliance who is running from the left and has been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“If their definition of pro-Israel now excludes mainstream Democrats like me, the number of pro-Israel people in America will become so small it will be nonexistent,” Mr. Malinowski said.
Mr. Dorton said the group’s goal was to “build the largest bipartisan pro-Israel majority in Congress,” and that there were “several candidates in the race far more supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship.” He declined to name them.
Many Jewish leaders have criticized the attack against Mr. Malinowski.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal, pro-Israel advocacy group, wrote that the tactic could lead to backlash and anger “toward Israel, toward Israel’s friends and, more dangerously, toward the Jewish community broadly.” Daniel B. Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, called the attack “dishonest and wrong” in a video supportive of Mr. Malinowski.
Clifford Kulwin, a rabbi who for two decades led one of New Jersey’s oldest and most prominent temples, B’nai Abraham, said he feared AIPAC might be using the race to try to “make an example” of Mr. Malinowski, whom he supports.
“But to attempt to castigate him for what is hardly a fringe position — it’s illogical,” Rabbi Kulwin said.
Mr. Malinowski has in the past benefited from AIPAC support and traveled to Israel with a group tied to the organization.
Mr. Ben-Ami, in an interview, called Mr. Malinowski a “reliable supporter of the state of Israel and of American aid to Israel,” and said that the ad appeared designed to have a “chilling effect” on political criticism of the Jewish state.
Since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the start of the war in Gaza, Mr. Malinowski has been critical of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He has maintained that the United States should continue to support Israel’s security and “would not deny anything Israel needs to defend itself.” He has, however, refused to rule out placing conditions on that aid.
“I wouldn’t promise a blank check in advance for anything a prime minister would ask for,” said Mr. Malinowski, who until 2013 worked for Human Rights Watch, a watchdog organization that has been increasingly critical of Israel. “That’s not how American foreign aid works — for anyone — whether it’s Israel, Ukraine or Taiwan.”
The sheer size of the field of candidates running to represent New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District makes the race unusual, and its outcome is unpredictable. But as the first House contest of 2026, months ahead of midterm elections this fall that will determine party control of Congress, its results could offer early indicators of voter preferences.
Whoever wins the Democratic primary will compete in a special general election on April 16 against the only Republican in the race, Joe Hathaway, the mayor of Randolph, N.J. The district was redrawn after the 2020 census, making what was once a Republican-leaning seat far safer for Democrats.
All of the Democrats in the race are trying to establish themselves as the best foil to President Trump. But several have won endorsements from distinct factions within the party, which has struggled to find its footing since Mr. Trump was elected to a second term.
Senator Andy Kim, a first-term Democrat who has made fighting political corruption core to his legislative mission, endorsed Mr. Malinowski. On Saturday, Ms. Mejia was joined at a town-hall-style rally by Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Ras J. Baraka, the mayor of Newark. Former Gov. Philip D. Murphy is supporting Brendan Gill, a county commissioner in Essex County, which includes Newark. Mr. Gill has amassed an array of endorsements from established Democratic Party leaders who once held a strong grip on politics in New Jersey and still hold significant sway.
“In a moment of rising authoritarianism, of economic insecurity, of state-sanctioned violence, any old blue just won’t do,” Ms. Mejia said last week during a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally with Mr. Sanders, whose campaign for president she helped to run. “If you send weak sauce to Congress, we will get weak sauce back. I refuse to comply with that madness.”
The state’s former lieutenant governor, Tahesha Way, is also a candidate and has stressed her success fighting the Trump administration while serving as secretary of state, a role in which she was responsible for running elections. A national organization representing Democratic lieutenant governors has said it intends to spend at least $1.3 million to help her win.
With such a large field of candidates, the winner is likely to need only a small share of the vote to become the Democratic nominee, heightening the potency of spending by outside groups like United Democracy and the lieutenant governors association.
Early, in-person voting starts Thursday, and seven other Democrats are also campaigning hard, adding to the race’s volatility. They are: John Bartlett, a Passaic County commissioner who first ran for the seat in 2018; Zach Beecher, an Army veteran who works as a venture capitalist; J-L Cauvin, a lawyer and stand-up comedian; Cammie Croft, a nonprofit executive who worked in the Obama White House; Jeff Grayzel, deputy mayor of Morris; Justin Strickland, an Army veteran and councilman in Chatham; and Anna Lee Williams, a former immigrant rights advocate who manages corporate social responsibility programs.
Mr. Malinowski, who represented New Jersey’s Seventh Congressional District from 2019 to 2023, lost re-election to Representative Thomas Kean Jr. after the district’s boundaries were redrawn to include towns with more registered Republicans. House members do not need to live in the district they represent, but Mr. Malinowski recently moved to South Orange, which is in the 11th Congressional District.
He said he considered the attack ads a badge of honor.
“I’m proud to be the only candidate in the race to be attacked by Trump’s dark-money allies,” he said.
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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