The American Israel Public Affairs Committee saw mixed results in the first major test of its political strength in the midterms, drawing new accusations from its enemies and some allies for interference in four competitive Illinois House primaries.
Two AIPAC-endorsed candidates won their races Tuesday night, with Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller defeating former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in the 2nd District and former Rep. Melissa Bean defeating multiple progressive challengers in the 8th District.
But the group faced criticism from within the pro-Israel Democratic community and harsh words from its opponents as it failed to secure its preferred outcome in the two races where it had spent the most money.
In the 9th District, the group spent $7 million, some of it aimed at attacking Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, whose mother is Israeli, in order to antagonize the soon-to-be U.S. representative who has been critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza but who were willing to join earlier With the group. Biss won a crowded primary on Tuesday night after AIPAC focused its negative ads on progressive social media influencer and Palestinian American Kat Abughazaleh instead of attacking her. And in the 7th District, an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC spent nearly $5 million in support of Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyers-Ervin, who lost to state Rep. LaShawn Ford.
The divided scorecard comes a month after AIPAC angered its own centrist allies by going after another heavily pro-Israel candidate, former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) — a move that handed the primary to progressive Annalia Mejia, a strong critic of Israel.
“Once again huge amounts of money were spent and wasted trying to dust off a candidate who, according to almost anyone’s reasonable analysis, should be happy supporting Israel in Congress,” one longtime AIPAC member, granting anonymity to speak candidly, said of the group’s spending against Bis.
AIPAC should look at the results in (the 9th District) and New Jersey and rethink its strategy, the person said.
AIPAC-aligned super PACs spent nearly $22 million in the Illinois primary, more than a fifth of the $100 million total on hand so far for the 2026 midterms, winning two of the four open-seat races while losing the race garnering the most national attention.
At his victory party Tuesday night, Bis criticized the group for spending heavily to buy this seat “to support the idea that we can’t accept nuance” on U.S.-Israel relations.
“AIPAC found out the hard way – the 9th District is not for sale,” Biss told supporters.
AIPAC refuted the notion that the group struggled in Tuesday night’s election.
“Illinois voters rejected a half-dozen anti-Israel candidates in several heavily Democratic open-seat races,” AIPAC spokesperson Darin Sousa said in a statement Tuesday night. “These results further demonstrate that campaigns defined largely by opposition to AIPAC, our members, and the values we represent are falling short on election night.”
The controversial organization, already a hotbed of trouble for Democrats grappling with rising anti-Israel sentiment in their party, is facing new hostility and renewed scrutiny over its campaign spending as the US and Israel wage a joint war on Iran that has further angered Americans toward their longtime ally.
Recent polling shows that Americans – and especially Democrats – are moving away from Israel. A nbc news poll The version released this week shows that 57 percent of Democrats view Israel negatively, a dramatic change from when only 35 percent had a negative view of the country following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Quinnipiac University Survey showed that 44 percent of voters think the US is too supportive of Israel – the highest percentage since pollsters began asking the question in 2017. Among Democrats, 62 percent believe the U.S. supports Israel too much, while only 22 percent believe the support is appropriate and 8 percent believe it is not supportive enough.
It’s clear the organization is aware of its position in the Democratic primaries — its ads focus on everything except Israel, and accuse the candidates of not being progressive enough on other issues. But AIPAC’s involvement became a major talking point for those he was attacking, especially in the 9th District.
The results of the Illinois Democratic delegation race are unlikely to result in any significant ideological shifts on Israel. Bean will replace Representative Raja Krishnamurthy, another pro-Israel candidate, who lost his Senate primary contest to Illinois Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton. Biss’s views on Israel are not far from those of outgoing Representative Jan Schakowsky, who had supported him and sharply criticized AIPAC in the past. Representative Danny Davis has supported Israel but condemned its Gaza intervention; Ford has refused to give unconditional assistanceTo Israel.
The biggest potential change is Miller replacing Representative Robin Kelly, who has called the war in Gaza “genocide.” She also did not advance in the Illinois Senate primary.
“We consider this a pro-Israel victory. We are in a better position in the Chicago delegation than we were yesterday,” said Patrick Dorton, spokesman for the AIPAC super PAC United Democracy Project, pointing to the new incumbents in the Kelly, Schakowsky and Davis seats.
Dorton also argued that if the group’s pop-up super PAC “hadn’t gone negative by spending over a million dollars to defeat Abughzaleh, she could have defeated Biss.”
And AIPAC affiliates reflected more generously on their group’s performance.
“You win some, you lose some,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), an AIPAC affiliate who endorsed Fine, Miller and Bean in their races. Schneider said that if a group wins every race they are involved in, “you probably haven’t pushed the limits as far as you could.”
Brian Romick, chairman of the Democratic Majority for Israel, which often overlaps with AIPAC in its preferred candidates, said Tuesday’s results showed that “Israel was not a determining factor in these primaries” and “none of the extremist anti-Israel candidates won.”
AIPAC’s opponents said voters rejected the groups’ radical tactics, including AIPAC’s use of shell PACs to obscure the source of outside spending. And he held up Biss’s victory specifically as reassurance for candidates who were worried that AIPAC might be defeated heading into its primaries. Democratic candidates and strategists are preparing for the group to intervene in the upcoming House primaries as well as the Michigan and Minnesota Senate primaries.
Tuesday’s results “should send a clear message to candidates across the country: You do not need to be intimidated by AIPAC’s spending or intimidation,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a rival organization that spent $350,000 in support of Biss and has worked to counter AIPAC in other Illinois House races, said in a statement.
Yet AIPAC is poised to remain formidable into the midterms. A pro-Israel Democratic donor consultant, granting anonymity to speak candidly, said that even with AIPAC’s failures, the money is likely to continue to flow.
“Their donor talking point won’t be, ‘We’ve only got half.’ They’ll say, ‘We took out the two worst guys,'” said the donor advisor of Tuesday’s results. “They know how to sell it, and there is no shortage of money.”
Shea Kappos contributed to this report.
Clarification: This article has been updated to include Ford’s views on aid to Israel.
