{"id":18699,"date":"2026-02-06T20:31:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/its-pissing-people-off-centrist-democrats-are-livid-with-aipac-after-primary-fiasco\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:31:51","slug":"its-pissing-people-off-centrist-democrats-are-livid-with-aipac-after-primary-fiasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/its-pissing-people-off-centrist-democrats-are-livid-with-aipac-after-primary-fiasco\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s pissing people off\u2019: Centrist Democrats are livid with AIPAC after primary fiasco"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee uncorked $2 million to try to sink a mainstream Democrat in a multi-candidate special House election primary in New Jersey \u2014 and it\u2019s infuriating mainstream Democrats and some of the pro-Israel\u2019s lobby\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pissing people off,\u201d said Steve Schale, a longtime Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign adviser, who described it as \u201cmaddening.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization spent heavily through its super PAC, Unite Democracy Project, to attack former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a pro-Israel moderate who would not support unconditional aid to Israel. In doing so, it provided an opening to Analilia Mejia, a progressive organizer backed by Bernie Sanders who has said Israel committed genocide in Gaza<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Malinowski, who has not conceded the race, now trails Mejia by around 500 votes, with some outstanding votes left to be counted for the affluent, suburban seat.<\/p>\n

AIPAC\u2019s interventions in the New Jersey special election for Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill\u2019s House seat was the first test of the group\u2019s muscle ahead of the 2026 primary season, when they are expected to spend millions on Democratic primaries across the country. AIPAC\u2019s super PAC is expected to weigh in on House primaries, starting in Illinois\u2019 April primaries. Democratic candidates and strategists are also bracing for them to potentially wade into contentious Senate primaries in Michigan and Minnesota.<\/p>\n

And their first foray of 2026 backfired spectacularly.<\/p>\n

Matt Bennett, the co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way, called their efforts \u201cone of the greatest own-goals in American political history,\u201d and warned that \u201cIt hurt everybody in the moderate movement\u201d as they head into a competitive primary season.<\/p>\n

Even steadfast allies are frustrated. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), a longtime AIPAC supporter, said its moves in the New Jersey primary, held Thursday, \u201craised eyebrows this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a chance that it\u2019s not going to be a New Dem that\u2019s in that seat,\u201d Schneider said, referring to the New Democrat Coalition, the centrist caucus he leads in the House. \u201cAs we do the analysis, a lot of factors play into that, but certainly any group spending against a candidate that would\u2019ve been a New Dem and instead electing a far-left candidate \u2026 Come on, guys, this is not what we were hoping for here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), another AIPAC supporter who led House Democrats\u2019 campaign efforts in 2012 and 2014, said he \u201cwasn\u2019t privy to AIPAC\u2019s strategy and I certainly wouldn\u2019t have advised it,\u201d but \u201cthey are not the first group to make a bet that didn\u2019t pan out on election day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malinowski said AIPAC\u2019s attacks on him sent a clear message to \u201cother mainstream Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are now demanding 100 percent fealty,\u201d Malinowski said. \u201cOn some level, they may have preferred to elect an anti-Israel progressive versus a mainstream Democrat, who departs from their hard line in a small way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for UDP said in a statement shared with Blue Light News: \u201cThe outcome in NJ-11 was an anticipated possibility, and our focus remains on who will serve the next full term in Congress.\u201d The spokesperson added that UDP will \u201cbe closely monitoring dozens of primary races, including the June NJ-11 primary,\u201d which will be held ahead of the November 2026 general election, \u201cto help ensure pro-Israel candidates are elected to Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Progressives, meanwhile, took a victory lap. Justice Democrats communications director Usamah Andrabi said AIPAC\u2019s spending in primaries \u201cis becoming a kiss of death\u201d because \u201cof the work our movement has done to expose them.\u201d Mejia told reporters on Friday that she\u2019s \u201cglad that New Jersey 11 voters got to see the terrible tactics so that we could reject it in the future\u201d and denounced AIPAC\u2019s heavy spending.<\/p>\n

Much of UDP\u2019s playbook in the New Jersey primary has been deployed by them before \u2014 attacking candidates on issues unrelated to Israel.<\/u><\/a> The group hit Malinowski in TV ads for a 2019 vote he took, along with most House Democrats at the time, that, in part, provided funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE funding is a particularly hot-button issue, after President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown in Minnesota led to two fatal shootings of protesters by federal agents.<\/p>\n

There are signs that AIPAC is already getting involved in Illinois. Two super PACs, Elect Chicago Women Now and Affordable Chicago Now, are now supporting three Democrats in House races with six-figure TV ad buys \u2014 which some of their primary opponents have publicly accused the groups of shell groups.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

The super PACs were formed last month, so they have not yet been required to disclose any information yet with the Federal Elections Commission. UDP\u2019s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on these super PACs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re bracing [for AIPAC’s spending], yes, and it is alarming in a cycle where five seats are open, which almost never happens in Illinois,\u201d said a Democratic strategist working on Illinois races, granted anonymity to speak candidly. \u201cAIPAC is actively trying to buy three or possibly four seats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winner of Thursday\u2019s special primary election in New Jersey will face Joe Hathaway, a Republican councilmember from Randolph, N.J., on April 16, to fill the remainder of Sherrill\u2019s term. Then, Democrats will hold another primary on June 2.<\/p>\n

Though some centrist Democrats fretted that Mejia\u2019s potential victory could hurt their chances to hold on to the seat, pollster Patrick Murray said a Republican victory is highly unlikely, both in the special general election in April or in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so anti-Trump now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe saw in the 2025 general election that there was more motivation among Democrats than Republicans. And that mood still holds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the upcoming primary season, where dark money from an array of outside groups is expected to saturate Democratic primaries, Malinowski called it \u201ca significant challenge to the Democratic Party that needs to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy election was the beta test,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Madison Fernandez and Matt Friedman contributed reporting.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee uncorked $2 million to try to sink a mainstream Democrat in a multi-candidate special House election primary in New Jersey \u2014 and it\u2019s infuriating mainstream Democrats and some of the pro-Israel\u2019s lobby\u2019s supporters. \u201cIt\u2019s pissing people off,\u201d said Steve Schale, a longtime Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign adviser, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}