AIPAC Is Expanding Its Assault. Will Bernie and the Squad Fight Back?

This article was originally published as a newsletter from Ryan Grim. Sign up to get the next one in your inbox.

Correction: May 23, 2024, 9:30 a.m. ET
An earlier version of this newsletter referred to a source who claimed to work for 314 Action Fund. After publication, the source revealed that they had faked evidence of their employment to discredit The Intercept’s reporting, citing our critical coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza. Reference to this source has been removed.

About a week and a half ago, two candidates in an Oregon congressional race held a rare joint press conference. What brought them together was a sudden deluge of undisclosed spending to benefit one of their opponents, state Rep. Maxine Dexter, who by that point had been trailing in both fundraising and name recognition. But now millions of dollars were coming seemingly out of nowhere to lift her up, and the two candidates — Susheela Jayapal and Eddy Morales — were urging the press corps to find out who was cutting the checks. 

At a candidate debate not long after, Dexter professed total ignorance. She had no earthly idea where all the money was coming from, she said. But when pressed if it was Big Pharma money, she said it was “absolutely not.” The swiftness and the certainty of the answer raised eyebrows. If you don’t know where it’s coming from, how do you know where it’s not coming from?

Most Read

University Professors Are Losing Their Jobs Over “New McCarthyism” on Gaza

Natasha Lennard

The VA Is Quietly Fast-Tracking MDMA Therapy for Veterans

Mattha Busby

The State Department Says Israel Isn’t Blocking Aid. Videos Show the Opposite.

Prem Thakker

I had already been poking around about the source of the money by the time of that press conference, because it looked like something unusual was going on. Random state representatives don’t generally find themselves on the winning end of multimillion-dollar super PAC spending for no reason. 

And Susheela Jayapal is the older sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., one of AIPAC’s most concerted adversaries on Capitol Hill and the powerful chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. AIPAC had been unsuccessfully recruiting a challenger to her in Seattle. In early December, Jewish Insider, which closely covers congressional primaries with an Israel–Palestine lens, flagged Susheela Jayapal’s candidacy as “alarming” to Israel advocates, elevating the potential candidacy of Dexter as a strong opponent. 

After a few days of reporting, I found two sources who had knowledge of how specifically AIPAC had begun playing in the race without disclosing its role: It was routing money through a “pro-science” super PAC called 314 Action Fund. I published that story last Friday.

Jayapal is now staring down the barrel of millions in spending against her, yet progressive groups and aligned politicians haven’t come to the rescue, as they have in some previous races. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Squad members without competitive primaries are sitting on millions of dollars in cash on hand. Sanders, who is a lock for reelection and is holding onto nearly $10 million, previously declared a “war” with AIPAC. He has endorsed Jayapal and sent a fundraising email on her behalf, but that’s nothing compared to AIPAC’s millions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is the only Squad member who has yet to endorse in the race. The election is just over a week away, on May 21. 

The Portland Mercury did some strong follow-up reporting on the race this past week, but Dexter continued to profess ignorance. But then undeniable pieces of evidence began to emerge. On Thursday, Dexter was required to disclose donors from a May 7 fundraiser. We analyzed those donors’ giving history and found that nearly 90 percent of them had also given directly to AIPAC or its super PAC. I got one of the donors on the phone, and she didn’t even know about the fundraiser and didn’t remember donating $3,300 to Dexter just days earlier. When I noted it was reported in Federal Election Commission filings, she told me: “I give all my contributions through AIPAC. Whenever I am asked to give to their endorsed candidates I give.”

The next day Dexter disclosed having raised nearly $600,000 in the month of April, after raising just north of $300,000 during her entire campaign before that. Doubling or tripling your fundraising in the last few weeks of the race is not typical. And inside that $600,000 were scores of additional AIPAC donors.

314 Action Fund didn’t respond to a request for comment last week, and also didn’t respond yesterday. Instead, four minutes before we posted our story, 314 took to Twitter (you can call it X if you want; I’m not) to say I am “once again making up stories out of thin air.” Not responding to a request for comment and instead tweeting through it is not the typical behavior of article subjects. In any event, you can read the full story here.

My colleague Akela Lacy, who helped me report that story, also has a good one out today on the very weird Maryland congressional race, where AIPAC is backing local legislator Sarah Elfreth in a race whose most high-profile candidate is Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, a Democratic hero for his defense of the Capitol on January 6 and subsequent public testimony against Donald Trump.

314 Action is playing an odd role in this race too. After I published my first story on the Jayapal race, 314 endorsed Dunn over Elfreth, putting the PAC on the opposite side of AIPAC. Yet, as the American Prospect noticed, several of the major AIPAC donors to Dexter are also major donors to Elfreth, while 314 is not spending any money to support Dunn. It’s all a big game. 

Meanwhile, it’s been nearly a week since food or water has been able to get into Rafah, and people there are facing the very real risk of dying of thirst, if they aren’t already.