AIPAC-backed candidates win big in US elections, strengthening pro-Israel presence in Congress

At least 318 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) backed politicians won their seats in the US elections on Tuesday, AIPAC posted on their X/Twitter. AIPAC is a pro-Israel lobbying group that vowed to spend over 100 million dollars this year in the US elections, according to The Guardian.

One recipient, Jewish Democrat Adam Schiff, won his senate position in California. His previous position as a representative from the house from the 30th district of California has been replaced by another AIPAC-backed democrat, Laura Friedman. AIPAC congratulated both of the winners.

AIPAC endorsed Wesley Bush, who won his position as House representative in Missouri District 1. He replaced ‘squad member’ Cori Bush, who had previously been critical of Israel in the Democratic party primaries. AIPAC spent $8.5 million on Bush’s campaign, according to The Guardian. 

Bush let out a statement thanking donors, specifically AIPAC, stating, “I want to thank our partners at AIPAC.” Bush continued saying that he was “not getting across the finish line without you.” 

Josh Gottheimer was re-elected in his New Jersey house representative position from the 5th district. This is his 5th term, and he has been serving since 2017. He has received 1 million dollars of funding from Jewish agencies, according to OpenSecrets, a Nation’s premier research group tracking money in US politics. The top contribution is from AIPAC, with 679,448 in the past year, according to OpenSecrets reports.

Other PACs involvement

While AIPAC is the most relevant political action committee for pro-Israel democracy, other Zionist political action committees also played a role, such as J Street and the Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs (JAC). 

Jstreet is a zionist liberal advocacy group. The PAC contributed nearly $300,000 to primarily Democratic candidates, Opensecrets reports. 

JAC is a national PAC that contributes to candidates for the US Congress who support a strong US-Israel. The PAC contributed $300,518 to federal candidates in this past election, Opensecrets reports. These contributions exclusively went to Democratic candidates. 

The aforementioned PACS, JStreet, and JAC have almost exclusively contributed to Democratic candidates in the past election. In contrast, AIPAC has donated to both parties solely in the interest of promoting Israel and ensuring there are more pro-Israel members of Congress. 

Private donors involvement

Apart from the PAC contributions in the US elections, private Jewish donors also have made significant contributions. Most notably, Dr. Miriam Adelson is an Israeli-American conservative mega-donor. She distributed $100 million into Adelson’s super PAC in support of Donald Trump’s candidacy for the presidency. She is a major funder in pro-Israel politics within the US and has been for the past decade.

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