{"id":29340,"date":"2026-08-06T03:34:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T22:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29340"},"modified":"2026-08-06T03:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T22:34:28","slug":"abdul-el-sayeds-win-in-michigan-is-a-defeat-for-pro-israel-group-aipac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29340","title":{"rendered":"Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s Win in Michigan Is a Defeat for Pro-Israel Group AIPAC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"has-dropcap body dropcap\">Once upon a time, the money cannon meant something. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2016\/04\/supreme-court-citizens-united-case-decision\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Citizens United<\/a> era, outside groups have carpetbagged around the country, flooding their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/story\/midterm-elections-guide-2026\" class=\"text link\">preferred candidates<\/a> with millions of dollars and blanketing the airwaves with ads, often enough ensuring victory.<\/p>\n<p>But in the bloody battle between two Democrats vying for a Senate seat in Michigan, big-dollar politics met defeat. Outside groups <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/adimpact.com\/blogs\/michigan-senate-primary-ad-analysis-the-95m-contest\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/adimpact.com\/blogs\/michigan-senate-primary-ad-analysis-the-95m-contest&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/adimpact.com\/blogs\/michigan-senate-primary-ad-analysis-the-95m-contest\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">spent more than<\/a> $63 million supporting <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/05\/el-sayed-unity-michigan-senate-democrats-01025618\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/05\/el-sayed-unity-michigan-senate-democrats-01025618&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/05\/el-sayed-unity-michigan-senate-democrats-01025618\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Haley Stevens<\/a>, a candidate backed by the establishment, dwarfing the amount spent on her opponent, a brash progressive named Abdul El-Sayed with a war chest some nine times smaller.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">In this primary, outside spending became a campaign issue. El-Sayed, a former public health official and a Rhodes scholar, told voters he would take on big money in politics and regularly singled out the involvement of the <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/08\/04\/us\/politics\/aipac-israel-funds-spending.html\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/08\/04\/us\/politics\/aipac-israel-funds-spending.html&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/08\/04\/us\/politics\/aipac-israel-funds-spending.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">American Israel Public Affairs Committee<\/a>. The advocacy group\u2019s main super PAC spent a record $31.7 million to help elect Stevens, who calls herself a \u201cproud pro-Israel Democrat,\u201d and defeat El-Sayed, who counts among Israel\u2019s most vocal critics and calls the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/story\/the-sorrow-of-gaza-one-year-after-the-october-7-attacks\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">war in Gaza<\/a> a genocide. It was the most expensive Democratic primary ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">This progressive victory in a purple state, as narrow as it was, proved that major spending doesn\u2019t ensure victory. But it also raises the question of how toxic AIPAC has become among Democratic-primary voters. On Election Day, if you flipped on cable news, you were greeted by a steady stream of voters telling campaign reporters that AIPAC was the reason they were supporting El-Sayed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cOne could argue that AIPAC\u2019s $32 million didn\u2019t just fail to help Stevens,\u201d said <em>Pod Save America<\/em> host and former Obama speechwriter <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jonfavs\/status\/2084799596166070331\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/x.com\/jonfavs\/status\/2084799596166070331&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jonfavs\/status\/2084799596166070331\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jon Favreau<\/a>, \u201cbut served as the most effective line of attack for her opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The group, which has grown increasingly active in primary campaigns over the years, embodies two issues that have motivated Democratic-primary voters: a growing distaste for money in politics and a turn against Israel. El-Sayed hammered both of those themes, rarely missing an opportunity to connect them. At his rallies, the faithful often recited a pecuniary incantation: \u201cMoney out of politics! Money in your pockets!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">AIPAC was first launched in the 1950s as a bipartisan lobbying organization seeking stronger ties between the United States and Israel. It organized trips for American politicians to visit Israel and endorsed candidates who supported the country. It <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/apr\/22\/aipac-pro-israel-lobby-group-us-elections\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/apr\/22\/aipac-pro-israel-lobby-group-us-elections&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/apr\/22\/aipac-pro-israel-lobby-group-us-elections\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">didn\u2019t offer direct financial support for candidates until 2021<\/a>, when it launched a super PAC that backed candidates supportive of Israel and targeted its critics, particularly in Democratic primaries. As Americans have soured on the Israeli government, much of that anger has been directed at AIPAC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cAIPAC\u2019s numbers have dropped like a rock among Democrats in just the last two years,\u201d CNN data analyst Harry Enten tells <em>Vanity Fair<\/em>. \u201cThe percentage of Democrats who say AIPAC backing a candidate makes them less likely to vote for them has gone from just about a third a few years ago to more than half now.\u201d Israel, Enten adds, is \u201ca four-letter word in Democratic primaries right now.\u201d Approval for the country among Americans, he points out, \u201chas dropped 50-plus points from where it once was (depending on when you compare the current moment to).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once upon a time, the money cannon meant something. In the Citizens United era, outside groups have carpetbagged around the country, flooding their preferred candidates with millions of dollars and blanketing the airwaves with ads, often enough ensuring victory. But in the bloody battle between two Democrats vying for a Senate seat in Michigan, big-dollar&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a737ef419a5c16947860e0f\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/VF0826_Party-Animals-8-5_Tout.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}