Congress
AIPAC’s dwindling allies in Congress
With help from Jason Beeferman
Pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is set to enter the 120th Congress with fewer allies in Washington after a bruising election night for Republicans.
More than 30 of the bipartisan group’s preferred candidates fell this week — marking defeat for AIPAC in over three-fourths of the competitive races that have been called so far where it backed an incumbent. That includes ousted GOP Reps. Mike Lawler in New York, Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania and Max Miller in Ohio.
The pro-Israel group also lost one of its most influential allies in the Senate when Maine Democrat Troy Jackson trounced incumbent Republican Susan Collins, the powerful appropriations chair. AIPAC bundled over $3.3 million in contributions for Collins this cycle, more than it gathered for any other candidate. And it suffered a major setback in Michigan when progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers after a contentious primary battle earlier this year.
“To the super PACs and special interests who tried to beat us, we are coming for your system of politics,” El-Sayed told a jubilant crowd at his election night party in Detroit on Tuesday night. “To AIPAC who spent $42 million against us, thank you for giving me the opportunity to beat you twice.”
The pro-Israel group, long a formidable force in electoral politics, has faced a reckoning in recent months amid significant voter unease over the U.S.-Israel relationship. In the latest POLITICO Poll, 34% of U.S. adults said the U.S. is too closely aligned with Israel’s government.
AIPAC has privately acknowledged it faces significant “challenges” ahead, telling allies in a memo obtained by POLITICO that it would no longer directly endorse candidates or contribute or earmark funds for their campaigns. But AIPAC will continue supporting candidates through its affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC.
AIPAC released a statement Wednesday afternoon congratulating the “hundreds of pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans who won their elections.”
“Our community will work with returning and newly elected members of both parties to advance America’s interests by strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa told Blue Light News.
Liberal pro-Israel advocacy group J Street jumped on Tuesday night’s results as evidence of AIPAC’s waning influence. J Street spent $3 million via its action fund to help defeat GOP Reps. Miller, Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin, Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania and Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa, as well as GOP Senate nominee Mike Collins in Georgia. All five candidates lost.
“This is an earthquake for the influence of AIPAC, the influence of J Street, and where we stand inside the Democratic Party,” said Ilan Goldenberg, J Street’s senior vice president and chief policy officer. “Democrats want to have a relationship with Israel. They want to have a constructive relationship with Israel. They don’t want to give Israel a blank check.”
Many of AIPAC’s losses across the country this cycle weren’t driven solely by policy debates about Israel. The shellacking came after several progressive Israel critics beat out AIPAC-backed candidates in Democratic primaries earlier this year.
“There’s plenty of pro-Israel candidates who won tough races too,” said Democratic Majority for Israel President Brian Romick. “You had a D by your name, you won.”
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a longtime lawmaker and former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, lost his bid for reelection to Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker, The Associated Press projected Thursday afternoon, the latest Republican in red territory to be overwhelmed by this week’s blue wave.
That result, alongside National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson’s (R-N.C.) defeat to Richard Ojeda in North Carolina, has vaulted Democrats over 250 seats in the House for the first time since the 2008 election.
Hudson — who had already conceded defeat Wednesday — is the second party committee chair to go down in recent years. Then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Sean Patrick Maloney lost in 2022 to Republican Mike Lawler.
(Lawler also lost Tuesday.)
The AP also projected that two more Republican incumbents — Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Crank (R-Colo.) — also lost amid a massive blue wave, as voters vent their frustrations with President Donald Trump, inflation and the ongoing war in Iran.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) did, however, manage to hang onto her seat — just barely. Trump cruised in her district by more than 13 points in 2024. She won by fewer than 3,000 votes.
Congress
Democrats continue midterm blowout, picking up seats in North Carolina, Virginia and Arizona
Democrats have extended their midterm dominance in North Carolina, notching four more victories — including three flips — in districts affected by Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting push last year.
Democrats Cyril Jefferson, Paul Barringer and Lakesha Womack upset incumbent Republican Reps. Addison McDowell, Brad Knott and Tim Moore, respectively. Elsewhere in the state, two-term Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.) defeated Republican Laurie Buckhout in the state’s redrawn 1st District. Democrats have now won eight House seats in North Carolina and could still win two more, despite an October 2025 map redraw that favored Republicans in 11 of the state’s 14 seats.
The wins reinforce Democrats’ yawning House majority, which the party secured relatively early Tuesday, as voters punish President Donald Trump and the GOP for sky-high prices and the continued war in Iran.
Davis’ redrawn district favored Trump by more than 11 points in 2024, and he currently leads it by 10,000 votes with 1% of the vote left to count.
The party flipped several more high-profile seats in other states, The Associated Press projected Thursday, with physician Amish Shah besting former NFL kicker Jay Feely in Arizona’s open 1st District. Democrats have long coveted the suburban Phoenix seat, held in recent years by GOP Rep. David Schweikert.
In Virginia, Democratic prosecutor Shannon Taylor flipped a district represented by GOP Rep. Rob Wittman since 2007.
Sam Forstag, a former smokejumper, became the first Democrat to win a House seat in Montana in decades, claiming victory in a district the president won by nearly 12 points two years ago.
Republicans were still able to hold a handful of seats in longtime ruby-red territory, albeit by significantly smaller margins than expected. New York GOP Reps. Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota scraped victories in their Long Island districts. So too did Reps. French Hill (R-Ark.), Matt Van Epps (R-Tenn.), John McGuire (R-Va.) and Blake Moore (R-Utah).
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told GOP committee chairs Thursday to steel themselves for upcoming Democratic investigations into President Donald Trump’s administration and other targets.
“Although they ran on affordability, it is clear the main focus of their new majority will be retribution and unleashing countless witch hunts under the guise of ‘oversight,’” he said of Democrats in the letter obtained by POLITICO.
Scalise told the chairs to take “inventory” of the investigations they believe Democrats could launch under their committees’ jurisdiction and identify administration officials who could be targets.
He also warned Democrats have “signaled they intend to impeach President Trump, but they will not stop there.” He also noted that Democrats are expected to target Trump’s family, cabinet officials and key allies.
“You all will be a key line of defense in this fight, and we must maximize our remaining days in power to prepare for what is coming,” Scalise said in the letter.
The Louisiana Republican is currently in a battle with Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan — known for his oversight and investigations experience — to take over as top GOP leader next Congress. Jordan is arguing to members he is best prepared to counter Democrats, calling himself “battle-tested on the oversight front” in his letter to colleagues.
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