{"id":20464,"date":"2026-03-24T09:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/2028-dems-reject-aipac\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:02:30","slug":"2028-dems-reject-aipac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/2028-dems-reject-aipac\/","title":{"rendered":"2028 Dems reject AIPAC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Democrats eyeing White House runs in 2028 are preemptively breaking up with AIPAC.<\/p>\n

Sen. Cory Booker, who received donations bundled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as late as December<\/u><\/a>, told Blue Light News that he\u2019s sworn off the group\u2019s funds (and other PAC money). California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he never has<\/u><\/a> and \u201cnever will\u201d<\/u><\/a> take donations from the group. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) vowed<\/u><\/a> last week that he \u201cwouldn\u2019t take AIPAC money\u201d anymore<\/u><\/a>. A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he has \u201cnever taken money or solicited support from AIPAC,” while a spokesperson for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said “AIPAC has never contributed to Gov. Beshear and they\u2019re never going to. Ever.\u201d <\/p>\n

Their retreat underscores how rapidly AIPAC has become a bogeyman for Democrats seeking to criticize the Israeli government, particularly with the Netanyahu administration\u2019s involvement with President Donald Trump\u2019s operation in Iran. Many former AIPAC-friendly Democrats see the historically bipartisan group as becoming more and more aligned with Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing government in recent years. Its emergence as an early touchstone in the shadow 2028 presidential primary reflects a calculation among leading Democrats that liberal voters\u2019 hard shift away from the longtime U.S. ally will stick.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be a huge flashpoint in the primary throughout 2027 and into 2028,\u201d said veteran Democratic strategist Mark Longabaugh, who advised Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 2016 presidential bid. \u201cThe constitution of the party just in the makeup of the voters has changed dramatically. The politics of Israel has changed dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent AIPAC critics also include some Jewish Democrats who had previously supported the organization or received its backing.<\/p>\n

After AIPAC poured $22 million into Illinois primaries<\/u><\/a> last week to mixed results, Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire who does not accept outside funds, accused the group of becoming pro-Trump and said he wants no part of the group he once donated to<\/u><\/a>. A spokesperson for Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) pointed to a podcast in which she said she swore off AIPAC\u2019s support in 2022.<\/p>\n

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel \u2014 a supporter of Israel whose father is Israeli and who previously held dual citizenship with the country, but who has also been a longtime critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2014 told Blue Light News<\/u><\/a> he \u201cneed not worry about AIPAC\u2019s support. It will not be forthcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats cited a variety of reasons for rejecting AIPAC\u2019s cash. Booker said it was part of a broader pledge he made at the start of the year to swear off all PAC money going forward. \u201cI don\u2019t believe we should be accepting any PAC money at all from anybody,\u201d he told Blue Light News on Friday. <\/p>\n

Gallego likened taking the group\u2019s backing to \u201cendorsing what\u2019s happening right now\u201d in Iran and Gaza while appearing on Blue Light News\u2019s \u201cThe Conversation.\u201d<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

And progressives like Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who have been highly critical of the Israeli government and have repeatedly sparred with AIPAC, have accused the group of targeting their campaigns and long rejected its financial aid<\/u><\/a>. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) bluntly told Blue Light News: \u201cI don\u2019t take their money, they\u2019re running ads against me<\/u><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other potential White House aspirants attempted to dodge the question. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), for instance, said he has \u201cindividuals who support me\u201d when asked if he would reject AIPAC\u2019s backing. Several more did not respond when reached through spokespeople, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), and Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.<\/p>\n

That so many Democrats declined to comment on the organization suggests that AIPAC still has some influence in Democratic politics. And the big-spending group can still help its preferred candidates to victory even as its name has become mud in Democratic primaries, as evidenced by its wins last week in two of the four Illinois House races where it spent big<\/u><\/a>. But it\u2019s also telling that no potential 2028 candidate openly embraced the group.<\/p>\n

AIPAC and its allies hit back, accusing Democrats who are giving the group the cold shoulder of trying to silence pro-Israel voices within the party. They vowed to continue intervening in Democratic primaries to promote their interests. Deryn Sousa, a spokesperson for AIPAC, said \u201cefforts to push pro-Israel Democrats out of the political process are alarming and fundamentally undemocratic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for AIPAC\u2019s super PAC, United Democracy Project, acknowledged the \u201cdifficult environment\u201d the lobby is navigating after Gaza and with the war in Iran. But, he said, \u201cwe aren\u2019t going to be deterred in ensuring that pro-Israel voices are heard in federal elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to work with mainstream Democrats across the party to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship, and that includes presidential contenders,\u201d Dorton said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to remind everybody about the millions of pro-Israel Democratic voters who are part of the political process in federal elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Democrats\u2019 rush to rebuff AIPAC comes amid a party-wide grappling over how to handle Israel, after the Biden administration\u2019s approach to the war in Gaza was found to have cost Harris votes<\/u><\/a> in 2024 and as polls show Democratic voters continuing to sour on Israel as it aids the U.S. intervention in Iran. An NBC News poll<\/u><\/a> this month showed 57 percent of Democrats view Israel negatively, a dramatic shift from when just 35 percent held a negative view of the country after Hamas attacked it on Oct. 7, 2023. A Quinnipiac University survey<\/u><\/a> earlier this month showed 62 percent of Democrats felt America is too supportive of Israel.<\/p>\n

Democrats eyeing 2028 have been publicly repositioning on Israel for months<\/u><\/a> as Gaza reemerges as a flashpoint in midterm primaries. And their criticisms of Israel and its allies in the U.S. are growing sharper as the war in Iran escalates with no clear off-ramp from Trump.<\/p>\n

Newsom earlier this month likened Israel to an \u201capartheid state\u201d<\/u><\/a> and said the U.S. should reconsider military support for Israel. Pritzker has long been a supporter of Israel and has advocated for a two-state solution, but recently told the New York Times<\/u><\/a> that he\u2019s \u201cchallenged\u201d by current geopolitics because the U.S. is supporting Israeli policies \u201cthat I don\u2019t think the majority of Americans believe in and I don\u2019t think a majority even of Israelis believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro, who\u2019s similarly been a longtime supporter of Israel and a two-state solution, has also criticized Netanyahu and Trump\u2019s enabling of his agenda in recent podcast appearances<\/u><\/a>. But he cautioned that denying Israel\u2019s right to exist could lead to \u201cpermanent war.\u201d A spokesperson for Shapiro said the Pennsylvania governor \u201chas been clear that Donald Trump is failing to hold Netanyahu accountable\u201d while also positing that \u201cIsrael has a right to exist in security as a Jewish state, and we must find a path to peace in the Middle East that includes a safe homeland for the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading progressives, including Ocasio-Cortez and Khanna, have gone further \u2014 accusing the Netanyahu administration of perpetuating genocide in Gaza and pushing to stop U.S. arms sales to the country.<\/p>\n

But Democrats on both ends of the ideological spectrum have argued there are bigger issues around Israel than AIPAC. Shapiro, on a podcast last year,<\/u><\/a> said putting Democrats on record over AIPAC was a \u201cshortcut\u201d for asking their views on Israel and a two-state solution. \u201cDemanding answers on those questions is more important than \u2018hey, what about this lobbying group or that lobbying group,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Khanna, in a message to Blue Light News on Monday, said, \u201cWhat matters more is the clarity of calling what happened a genocide and stopping military sales to Israel used to kill civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, progressive groups such as MoveOn and Justice Democrats are plotting how to make taking AIPAC money a red line for those vying to be the party\u2019s next standard bearer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be demanding that anyone who deserves to get the Democratic nomination not only doesn\u2019t take AIPAC support or donations, but actively speaks out against this lobby,\u201d said Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi.<\/p>\n

In a sign of the volatile and complex politics surrounding Israel, some Democrats who are shutting the door to AIPAC donations are declining to call on their would-be rivals to do the same. <\/p>\n

Pritzker, asked by Blue Light News last week whether Democratic presidential candidates should accept AIPAC funding, criticized the flood of special-interest money in campaigns in general but cast taking PAC cash as \u201ca matter of values\u201d for each candidate. Murphy said \u201ceverybody will make their own decision about it.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

And Booker went so far as to call the AIPAC pile-on \u201cproblematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are Iranian Americans that bundle money. There are Turkish Americans that bundle money. There are a lot of ethnic groups that bundle money, and often for things that I don\u2019t agree with. But somehow AIPAC seems to be drawing a lot of attention, and that\u2019s problematic to me,\u201d Booker said. \u201c[AIPAC] is not the problem in America. The problem in America is money in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats eyeing White House runs in 2028 are preemptively breaking up with AIPAC. Sen. Cory Booker, who received donations bundled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as late as December, told Blue Light News that he\u2019s sworn off the group\u2019s funds (and other PAC money). California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he never has and […]<\/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-20464","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\/20464","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=20464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}