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"value": "Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty \nThe presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014out of Congress. And now, thanks to the\u00a0most recent round\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.\n\nSurprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.\n\nLet\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.\n Share this article on Twitter Facebook Mail\nThe presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014out of Congress. And now, thanks to the\u00a0most recent round\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.\n\nSurprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.\n\nLet\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.\n\nAIPAC\u2019s most successful sally in 2022 was kicking Andy Levin\u2014not only one of the most prominent Jewish members of the House, but also a former synagogue president\u2014out of his House seat in Michigan, in favor of a more conservative, non-Jewish representative in Haley Stevens. (Levin had dared to indicate support for a two-state solution, introducing\u00a0a bill\u00a0that would have prevented U.S. aid from being used to fund Israeli settlements in the West Bank and that recognized East Jerusalem as \u201coccupied territory,\u201d among other provisions.)\n\nAnd all of that was before Israel\u2019s devastating war in Gaza began.\n\nNow, AIPAC has made it a clear goal to defeat every progressive Democrat it can in 2024. At the end of January, Federal Election Commission filings revealed that the United Democracy Project super PAC already had\u00a0$40 million on hand\u00a0by the end of 2023, nearly double the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms. Those numbers will likely skyrocket further.\n\n\n\nIf you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.\nEmail\n(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)\n Leave this field blank\nMassive though it is, the dollar figure is actually less notable than who donated it. Of the top 10 biggest donors to the Democrats-only super PAC during the past six months, boosters of Donald Trump abound. GOP megadonor Bernie Marcus, former CEO of the Home Depot, kicked in $1 million. An LLC affiliated with Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots (who gave $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration) chipped in $500,000. Paul Singer, another billionaire financier\u2014and Nikki Haley megadonor,\u00a0and\u00a0Rudy Giuliani fundraiser\u2014also kicked in $1 million. (Singer is perhaps best known as\u00a0the luxury vacation sponsor\u00a0of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.)\n\nSinger and Marcus also sponsored AIPAC\u2019s guerrilla campaign to overrun the Democratic primary process\u00a0back in 2022; some of the even more generous donors in this cycle are new to the project. The top individual United Democracy Project donor during the past six months was Jan Koum, billionaire founder of WhatsApp. He donated $5 million to UDP over the final half of 2023; during that very same period, he also gave $5 million to the super PAC of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.\n\nBehind Koum was financier Jonathon Jacobson, who contributed $2.5 million. Jacobson has a\u00a0long history\u00a0of political giving; since 2008, the top beneficiaries of his largesse, other than the $1 million he gave UDP Project in 2022, have been Republican super PACs, Republican candidates including Scott Brown and Lindsey Graham, and Republican fundraising committees, including Mitch McConnell\u2019s National Republican Senatorial Committee. David Zalik, who gave $2 million, is a Haley, Giuliani, and Mitt Romney\u00a0donor\u00a0as well.\n\nAmazing that all these Republican megadonors are now so keen to put money behind Democrats in 2024!\n\nTo be fair, they\u2019re not all pure saboteurs. A few of the top 10 contributors to the United Democracy Project super PAC have given small amounts to Democrats before. One donor of the top 10 can even plausibly be called a regular Democratic booster, and that\u2019s Haim Saban, a prominent\u00a0Hillary Clinton backer. But in no world could you even call this a bipartisan group of benefactors. It\u2019s Republicans who know what they\u2019re doing.\n\nThe presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014out of Congress. And now, thanks to the\u00a0most recent round\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.\n\nSurprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.\n\nLet\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s PAC\u2019s most successful sally in 2022 was kicking Andy Levin\u2014not only one of the most prominent Jewish members of the House, but also a former synagogue president\u2014out of his House seat in Michigan, in favor of a more conservative, non-Jewish representative in Haley Stevens. (Levin had dared to indicate support for a two-state solution, introducing\u00a0a bill\u00a0that would have prevented U.S. aid from being used to fund Israeli settlements in the West Bank and that recognized East Jerusalem as \u201coccupied territory,\u201d among other provisions.)\n\nAnd all of that was before Israel\u2019s devastating war in Gaza began.\n\nNow, AIPAC has made it a clear goal to defeat every progressive Democrat it can in 2024. At the end of January, Federal Election Commission filings revealed that the United Democracy Project super PAC already had\u00a0$40 million on hand\u00a0by the end of 2023, nearly double the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms. Those numbers will likely skyrocket further.\n\nMassive though it is, the dollar figure is actually less notable than who donated it. Of the top 10 biggest donors to the Democrats-only super PAC during the past six months, boosters of Donald Trump abound. GOP megadonor Bernie Marcus, former CEO of the Home Depot, kicked in $1 million. An LLC affiliated with Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots (who gave $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration) chipped in $500,000. Paul Singer, another billionaire financier\u2014and Nikki Haley megadonor,\u00a0and\u00a0Rudy Giuliani fundraiser\u2014also kicked in $1 million. (Singer is perhaps best known as\u00a0the luxury vacation sponsor\u00a0of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.)\n\nSinger and Marcus also sponsored AIPAC\u2019s guerrilla campaign to overrun the Democratic primary process\u00a0back in 2022; some of the even more generous donors in this cycle are new to the project. The top individual United Democracy Project donor during the past six months was Jan Koum, billionaire founder of WhatsApp. He donated $5 million to UDP over the final half of 2023; during that very same period, he also gave $5 million to the super PAC of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.\n\nBehind Koum was financier Jonathon Jacobson, who contributed $2.5 million. Jacobson has a\u00a0long history\u00a0of political giving; since 2008, the top beneficiaries of his largesse, other than the $1 million he gave UDP Project in 2022, have been Republican super PACs, Republican candidates including Scott Brown and Lindsey Graham, and Republican fundraising committees, including Mitch McConnell\u2019s National Republican Senatorial Committee. David Zalik, who gave $2 million, is a Haley, Giuliani, and Mitt Romney\u00a0donor\u00a0as well.\n\nAmazing that all these Republican megadonors are now so keen to put money behind Democrats in 2024!\n\nTo be fair, they\u2019re not all pure saboteurs. A few of the top 10 contributors to the United Democracy Project super PAC have given small amounts to Democrats before. One donor of the top 10 can even plausibly be called a regular Democratic booster, and that\u2019s Haim Saban, a prominent\u00a0Hillary Clinton backer. But in no world could you even call this a bipartisan group of benefactors. It\u2019s Republicans who know what they\u2019re doing.\n\nIt's going to make House and Senate races really tough for progressives\u2014even the ones who have survived AIPAC-backed primary challengers before. Most of these races are happening in deep-blue districts not in play for Republicans. But Republicans see a way to make them competitive, by seeking out conservative Democrats and propping them up with TV advertising budgets befitting major statewide candidates. The candidates, too, know this is the deal\u2014Squad member Summer Lee\u2019s primary opponent Bhavini Patel\u00a0said\u00a0on a recent fundraising call that her campaign was instructing Republicans to re-register as Democrats to vote against Lee in their Democratic primary showdown. (Lee was a top AIPAC target in 2022, as well.)\n\nThat\u2019s bad news for Democrats of all political persuasions. As they do with any incumbent member, Democratic leadership has endorsed and pledged money to the progressive members who are facing challengers. Not for nothing, many of them are among the most popular and prominent Democratic politicians in the country. But that doesn\u2019t mean they are immune to being outspent. If AIPAC is spending millions of dollars, House Democratic leadership will also need to spend precious resources to counteract some of these attacks\u2014which will then drain money and attention away from red-to-blue House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip to secure a majority in Congress.\n\nSo you can see why Republicans would delight in this strategy. In a difficult fundraising environment, siphoning limited resources away from frontline races means Democrats will be less competitive in toss-up contests. Meanwhile, if UDP succeeds in knocking out, say, Jamaal Bowman in New York\u2019s 16th\u00a0District, they will make the Democratic caucus whiter and more conservative\u2014more like the Republican Party\u2014all while weakening the Dems elsewhere.\n\nEven if those AIPAC-funded campaigns fail, it could still jeopardize the path to a House majority for Democrats. Millions of dollars of attack ads are certain to weaken the standing of any candidate, and if these progressives survive their primaries, they will be wounded in the general, where AIPAC then could (and will) help their Republican opponents. In 2022, after spending millions to oppose Summer Lee in her Democratic primary in Pennsylvania\u2019s 12th\u00a0District, UDP then continued to spend on attack ads in the general, boosting her Republican opponent in what became a fairly competitive race. If it wasn\u2019t clear already, UPD has no loyalty to the Democratic Party broadly, or to its greater ambitions.\n\nThere are other reasons for concern, too. Progressives\u2014the Squad in particular\u2014are standout small-dollar fundraisers and excellent grassroots campaigners. In an election where enthusiasm for Joe Biden is at\u00a0a perilous low, the support of those politicians, who have a record of speaking to young people and voters of color, will be crucial to bringing those constituencies back into the fold. They are almost certain to play a role in a winning Democratic presidential campaign. In fact, despite recent criticism of Biden\u2019s Israel policy, progressives have been his closest allies when it has come to passing the president\u2019s signature ... donations from Republican megadonors filed with the FEC are\u00a0only part of the AIPAC war chest. So the biggest issue is that, beyond UPD, there could be a lot more money coming to prevent Democrats from getting the majority they need.\n\nOf course, it\u2019s not the most novel strategy to fund the friend of your enemy. Democrats even tried their hand at it in 2022, putting money into\u00a0elevating Trumpian loons\u00a0who were running for Congress and gubernatorial elections in blue-state primaries so that they would be easier for Democrats to beat. And it worked! In other words, there\u2019s no rule against fighting dirty. But the real problem is that Democratic leaders in Congress haven\u2019t fought back.\n\nMinority Leader Hakeem Jeffries\u2014who\u00a0took\u00a0more money\u00a0from the Israel lobby in 2022 than from any other group and is featured prominently on AIPAC\u2019s website (alongside House Republican leadership)\u2014has so far refused to condemn this tsunami of Republican money being brought into Democratic primaries via AIPAC\u2019s super PAC. A public disavowal of this financial support, or a declaration than any political consultancies aiding these campaigns are unwelcome in Democratic politics, would hardly be unprecedented; in 2019, House Democrats\u00a0made it an official policy\u00a0to blacklist any pollster, consultant, or strategist who aided a progressive challenger against a sitting Democratic incumbent ahead of the 2020 elections.\n\nJeffries has so far, in this cycle,\u00a0endorsed incumbent progressives\u00a0Lee and Ilhan Omar, and even donated small amounts of money\u00a0to their campaigns\u2014and Bowman\u2019s too.* But he has not rung any alarm bells, saying late last year: \u201cOutside groups are gonna do what outside groups are gonna do.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s weird. Getting (and keeping) Democrats in power is key to Jeffries\u2019 own success. And if Democrats are willing to let Republicans openly sabotage them in their own primary races in the spring and summer, it\u2019s hard to believe they\u2019ll be able to defeat Republicans in an open fight in the\u00a0fall.\n\nAlexander Sammon\u00a0is a Slate politics writer.\n\nSlate is a daily magazine on the web and podcast network. Founded in 1996, we are a general-interest publication offering analysis and commentary about politics, news, business, technology, and culture. Slate\u2019s strong editorial voice and witty take on current events have been recognized with\u00a0numerous awards, including the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. The site, which is owned by Graham Holdings Company, is supported by advertising and subscription revenues.\n AIPAC Democratic primary Big Money Progressive Caucus Subscribe to Portside",
"lang": "en",
"html": "<div class=\"expanded-article-image-wrapper\">\n<img alt=\"\" class=\"expanded-article-image u-photo img-responsive\" height=\"346\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://portside.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/The_Squad_2_19_24.jpg\" width=\"615\"/>\n<div class=\"article-image-credit\">\n Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"full-article-text-wrapper\">\n<p>The presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/squad-primary-battle-israel-gaza-pacs.html\">out of Congress</a>. And now, thanks to the\u00a0<a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4442815-what-we-learned-from-2024-candidates-year-end-fundraising-reports/\">most recent round</a>\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.</p>\n<p>Surprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.</p>\n<p>Let\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.</p>\n<div class=\"links inline social-buttons-links tokens\" id=\"block-socialsimpleblock\">\n<div class=\"social-buttons\">\n<div class=\"social-buttons-title\">Share this article on</div>\n<ul class=\"links\">\n<li class=\"twitter\"><a data-placement=\"top\" data-popup-height=\"300\" data-popup-width=\"600\" data-toggle=\"tooltip\" href=\"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?url=https%3A//portside.org/2024-02-19/there-sure-are-lot-republican-billionaires-funding-democratic-primaries&amp;text=There%20Sure%20Are%20a%20Lot%20of%20Republican%20Billionaires%20Funding%20the%20Democratic%20Primaries\" title=\"Twitter\"><i class=\"fa fa-twitter\"></i><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Twitter</span></a></li>\n<li class=\"facebook\"><a data-placement=\"top\" data-popup-height=\"300\" data-popup-width=\"600\" data-toggle=\"tooltip\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A//portside.org/2024-02-19/there-sure-are-lot-republican-billionaires-funding-democratic-primaries\" title=\"Facebook\"><i class=\"fa fa-facebook\"></i><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Facebook</span></a></li>\n<li class=\"mail\"><a data-popup-open=\"false\" href=\"mailto:?body=%0AThere%20Sure%20Are%20a%20Lot%20of%20Republican%20Billionaires%20Funding%20the%20Democratic%20Primaries%0Ahttps%3A//portside.org/2024-02-19/there-sure-are-lot-republican-billionaires-funding-democratic-primaries&amp;subject=There%20Sure%20Are%20a%20Lot%20of%20Republican%20Billionaires%20Funding%20the%20Democratic%20Primaries\" title=\"Mail\"><i class=\"fa fa-envelope\"></i><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Mail</span></a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n</div>\n<p>The presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/squad-primary-battle-israel-gaza-pacs.html\">out of Congress</a>. And now, thanks to the\u00a0<a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4442815-what-we-learned-from-2024-candidates-year-end-fundraising-reports/\">most recent round</a>\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.</p>\n<p>Surprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.</p>\n<p>Let\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.</p>\n<p>AIPAC\u2019s most successful sally in 2022 was kicking Andy Levin\u2014not only one of the most prominent Jewish members of the House, but also a former synagogue president\u2014out of his House seat in Michigan, in favor of a more conservative, non-Jewish representative in Haley Stevens. (Levin had dared to indicate support for a two-state solution, introducing\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/29/pro-israel-lobby-aipac-andy-levin-democratic-races#:~:text=Aipac%20turned%20its%20guns%20on,to%20block%20expansion%20of%20Jewish\">a bill</a>\u00a0that would have prevented U.S. aid from being used to fund Israeli settlements in the West Bank and that recognized East Jerusalem as \u201coccupied territory,\u201d among other provisions.)</p>\n<p>And all of that was before Israel\u2019s devastating war in Gaza began.</p>\n<p>Now, AIPAC has made it a clear goal to defeat every progressive Democrat it can in 2024. At the end of January, Federal Election Commission filings revealed that the United Democracy Project super PAC already had\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-02-01/ty-article/.premium/aipac-readies-for-primaries-with-40-million-war-chest-following-oct-7-attack/0000018d-647e-d897-a3ef-e7fff8690000\">$40 million on hand</a>\u00a0by the end of 2023, nearly double the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms. Those numbers will likely skyrocket further.</p>\n<p></p><div class=\"snapshot-mini-form tokens\" data-drupal-selector=\"snapshot-mini-form\" id=\"block-portsidelistservnewslettersubscribeminiform\">\n<form accept-charset=\"UTF-8\" action=\"#snapshot-mini-form\" class=\"form-horizontal\" id=\"snapshot-mini-form\" method=\"post\">\n<p class=\"helper-text\">If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.</p><div class=\"subscribe-oneline\"><div class=\"row form-group js-form-item form-item js-form-type-email form-type-email js-form-item-email-address form-item-email-address\">\n<label class=\"col-sm-2 control-label js-form-required form-required\" for=\"edit-email-address\">Email</label>\n<div class=\"form--email col-sm-10 col-lg-8\">\n<input aria-required=\"true\" class=\"form-email required form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-email-address\" id=\"edit-email-address\" maxlength=\"64\" name=\"email_address\" required=\"required\" size=\"64\" type=\"email\" value=\"\"/>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"form-group\">\n<input class=\"btn-wide button js-form-submit form-submit btn-portside\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-submit\" id=\"edit-submit\" name=\"op\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Subscribe\"/>\n</div>\n</div><input class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-list-name\" name=\"list_name\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"PORTSIDE-SNAPSHOT\"/>\n<p class=\"helper-text\">(One summary e-mail a day, you can <a href=\"https://portside.org/subscribe\">change anytime</a>, and Portside is always free.)</p><input class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-honeypot-time\" name=\"honeypot_time\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"RPpakOIZ1095e0JiNiEZyAVsUkVqF2BeZdZv8ScDiTw\"/>\n<input autocomplete=\"off\" class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"form-y2j3jnovcc5nvxktquqdgerscvwk-acca91xu4qhbs4\" name=\"form_build_id\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"form-y2j3JnovCC5nvXKtQuQDGeRScvwK-aCCa91xU4QhBS4\"/>\n<input class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-snapshot-mini-form\" name=\"form_id\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"snapshot_mini_form\"/>\n<div class=\"zip-textfield js-form-wrapper form-wrapper\" style=\"display: none !important;\"><div class=\"row form-group js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textfield form-type-textfield js-form-item-zip form-item-zip\">\n<label class=\"col-sm-2 control-label\" for=\"edit-zip\">Leave this field blank</label>\n<div class=\"form--textfield col-sm-10 col-lg-8\">\n<input autocomplete=\"off\" class=\"form-text form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-zip\" id=\"edit-zip\" maxlength=\"128\" name=\"zip\" size=\"20\" type=\"text\" value=\"\"/>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n</form>\n</div>\n<p>Massive though it is, the dollar figure is actually less notable than who donated it. Of the top 10 biggest donors to the Democrats-only super PAC during the past six months, boosters of Donald Trump abound. GOP megadonor Bernie Marcus, former CEO of the Home Depot, kicked in $1 million. An LLC affiliated with Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots (who gave $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration) chipped in $500,000. Paul Singer, another billionaire financier\u2014and Nikki Haley megadonor,\u00a0<em>and</em>\u00a0<a href=\"https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/1751051262626287660\">Rudy Giuliani fundraiser</a>\u2014also kicked in $1 million. (Singer is perhaps best known as\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court\">the luxury vacation sponsor</a>\u00a0of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.)</p>\n<p>Singer and Marcus also sponsored AIPAC\u2019s guerrilla campaign to overrun the Democratic primary process\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-06-27/ty-article/.premium/gop-megadonors-gave-millions-to-aipacs-super-pac-ahead-of-democratic-primaries/00000181-a438-d084-a3bf-ae7e221d0000\">back in 2022</a>; some of the even more generous donors in this cycle are new to the project. The top individual United Democracy Project donor during the past six months was Jan Koum, billionaire founder of WhatsApp. He donated $5 million to UDP over the final half of 2023; during that very same period, he also gave $5 million to the super PAC of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.</p>\n<p>Behind Koum was financier Jonathon Jacobson, who contributed $2.5 million. Jacobson has a\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=jonathon+jacobson&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2010&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2012&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2014&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2016&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2018&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2020&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2022\">long history</a>\u00a0of political giving; since 2008, the top beneficiaries of his largesse, other than the $1 million he gave UDP Project in 2022, have been Republican super PACs, Republican candidates including Scott Brown and Lindsey Graham, and Republican fundraising committees, including Mitch McConnell\u2019s National Republican Senatorial Committee. David Zalik, who gave $2 million, is a Haley, Giuliani, and Mitt Romney\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=david+zalik\">donor</a>\u00a0as well.</p>\n<p>Amazing that all these Republican megadonors are now so keen to put money behind Democrats in 2024!</p>\n<p>To be fair, they\u2019re not all pure saboteurs. A few of the top 10 contributors to the United Democracy Project super PAC have given small amounts to Democrats before. One donor of the top 10 can even plausibly be called a regular Democratic booster, and that\u2019s Haim Saban, a prominent\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/haim-saban-power-rangers-hillary-clinton-top-donor/\">Hillary Clinton backer</a>. But in no world could you even call this a bipartisan group of benefactors. It\u2019s Republicans who know what they\u2019re doing.</p>\n<p>The presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/squad-primary-battle-israel-gaza-pacs.html\">out of Congress</a>. And now, thanks to the\u00a0<a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4442815-what-we-learned-from-2024-candidates-year-end-fundraising-reports/\">most recent round</a>\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.</p>\n<p>Surprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.</p>\n<p>Let\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s PAC\u2019s most successful sally in 2022 was kicking Andy Levin\u2014not only one of the most prominent Jewish members of the House, but also a former synagogue president\u2014out of his House seat in Michigan, in favor of a more conservative, non-Jewish representative in Haley Stevens. (Levin had dared to indicate support for a two-state solution, introducing\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/29/pro-israel-lobby-aipac-andy-levin-democratic-races#:~:text=Aipac%20turned%20its%20guns%20on,to%20block%20expansion%20of%20Jewish\">a bill</a>\u00a0that would have prevented U.S. aid from being used to fund Israeli settlements in the West Bank and that recognized East Jerusalem as \u201coccupied territory,\u201d among other provisions.)</p>\n<p>And all of that was before Israel\u2019s devastating war in Gaza began.</p>\n<p>Now, AIPAC has made it a clear goal to defeat every progressive Democrat it can in 2024. At the end of January, Federal Election Commission filings revealed that the United Democracy Project super PAC already had\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-02-01/ty-article/.premium/aipac-readies-for-primaries-with-40-million-war-chest-following-oct-7-attack/0000018d-647e-d897-a3ef-e7fff8690000\">$40 million on hand</a>\u00a0by the end of 2023, nearly double the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms. Those numbers will likely skyrocket further.</p>\n<p>Massive though it is, the dollar figure is actually less notable than who donated it. Of the top 10 biggest donors to the Democrats-only super PAC during the past six months, boosters of Donald Trump abound. GOP megadonor Bernie Marcus, former CEO of the Home Depot, kicked in $1 million. An LLC affiliated with Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots (who gave $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration) chipped in $500,000. Paul Singer, another billionaire financier\u2014and Nikki Haley megadonor,\u00a0<em>and</em>\u00a0<a href=\"https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/1751051262626287660\">Rudy Giuliani fundraiser</a>\u2014also kicked in $1 million. (Singer is perhaps best known as\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court\">the luxury vacation sponsor</a>\u00a0of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.)</p>\n<p>Singer and Marcus also sponsored AIPAC\u2019s guerrilla campaign to overrun the Democratic primary process\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-06-27/ty-article/.premium/gop-megadonors-gave-millions-to-aipacs-super-pac-ahead-of-democratic-primaries/00000181-a438-d084-a3bf-ae7e221d0000\">back in 2022</a>; some of the even more generous donors in this cycle are new to the project. The top individual United Democracy Project donor during the past six months was Jan Koum, billionaire founder of WhatsApp. He donated $5 million to UDP over the final half of 2023; during that very same period, he also gave $5 million to the super PAC of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.</p>\n<p>Behind Koum was financier Jonathon Jacobson, who contributed $2.5 million. Jacobson has a\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=jonathon+jacobson&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2010&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2012&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2014&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2016&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2018&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2020&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2022\">long history</a>\u00a0of political giving; since 2008, the top beneficiaries of his largesse, other than the $1 million he gave UDP Project in 2022, have been Republican super PACs, Republican candidates including Scott Brown and Lindsey Graham, and Republican fundraising committees, including Mitch McConnell\u2019s National Republican Senatorial Committee. David Zalik, who gave $2 million, is a Haley, Giuliani, and Mitt Romney\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=david+zalik\">donor</a>\u00a0as well.</p>\n<p>Amazing that all these Republican megadonors are now so keen to put money behind Democrats in 2024!</p>\n<p>To be fair, they\u2019re not all pure saboteurs. A few of the top 10 contributors to the United Democracy Project super PAC have given small amounts to Democrats before. One donor of the top 10 can even plausibly be called a regular Democratic booster, and that\u2019s Haim Saban, a prominent\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/haim-saban-power-rangers-hillary-clinton-top-donor/\">Hillary Clinton backer</a>. But in no world could you even call this a bipartisan group of benefactors. It\u2019s Republicans who know what they\u2019re doing.</p>\n<p>It's going to make House and Senate races really tough for progressives\u2014even the ones who have survived AIPAC-backed primary challengers before. Most of these races are happening in deep-blue districts not in play for Republicans. But Republicans see a way to make them competitive, by seeking out conservative Democrats and propping them up with TV advertising budgets befitting major statewide candidates. The candidates, too, know this is the deal\u2014Squad member Summer Lee\u2019s primary opponent Bhavini Patel\u00a0<a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2024/02/01/summer-lee-primary-bhavini-patel-republican/\">said</a>\u00a0on a recent fundraising call that her campaign was instructing Republicans to re-register as Democrats to vote against Lee in their Democratic primary showdown. (Lee was a top AIPAC target in 2022, as well.)</p>\n<p>That\u2019s bad news for Democrats of all political persuasions. As they do with any incumbent member, Democratic leadership has endorsed and pledged money to the progressive members who are facing challengers. Not for nothing, many of them are among the most popular and prominent Democratic politicians in the country. But that doesn\u2019t mean they are immune to being outspent. If AIPAC is spending millions of dollars, House Democratic leadership will also need to spend precious resources to counteract some of these attacks\u2014which will then drain money and attention away from red-to-blue House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip to secure a majority in Congress.</p>\n<p>So you can see why Republicans would delight in this strategy. In a difficult fundraising environment, siphoning limited resources away from frontline races means Democrats will be less competitive in toss-up contests. Meanwhile, if UDP succeeds in knocking out, say, Jamaal Bowman in New York\u2019s 16^th\u00a0District, they will make the Democratic caucus whiter and more conservative\u2014more like the Republican Party\u2014all while weakening the Dems elsewhere.</p>\n<p>Even if those AIPAC-funded campaigns fail, it could still jeopardize the path to a House majority for Democrats. Millions of dollars of attack ads are certain to weaken the standing of any candidate, and if these progressives survive their primaries, they will be wounded in the general, where AIPAC then could (and will) help their Republican opponents. In 2022, after spending millions to oppose Summer Lee in her Democratic primary in Pennsylvania\u2019s 12^th\u00a0District, UDP then continued to spend on attack ads in the general, boosting her Republican opponent in what became a fairly competitive race. If it wasn\u2019t clear already, UPD has no loyalty to the Democratic Party broadly, or to its greater ambitions.</p>\n<p>There are other reasons for concern, too. Progressives\u2014the Squad in particular\u2014are standout small-dollar fundraisers and excellent grassroots campaigners. In an election where enthusiasm for Joe Biden is at\u00a0<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/12/biden-trump-2024-campaign-polls-nyt-siena.html\">a perilous low</a>, the support of those politicians, who have a record of speaking to young people and voters of color, will be crucial to bringing those constituencies back into the fold. They are almost certain to play a role in a winning Democratic presidential campaign. In fact, despite recent criticism of Biden\u2019s Israel policy, progressives have been his closest allies when it has come to passing the president\u2019s signature ... donations from Republican megadonors filed with the FEC are\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.levernews.com/inside-the-israel-lobbys-new-90-million-war-chest/\">only part of the AIPAC war chest</a>. So the biggest issue is that, beyond UPD, there could be a lot more money coming to prevent Democrats from getting the majority they need.</p>\n<p>Of course, it\u2019s not the most novel strategy to fund the friend of your enemy. Democrats even tried their hand at it in 2022, putting money into\u00a0<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/midterm-elections-2022-democrats-dirty-campaign-tactics.html\">elevating Trumpian loons</a>\u00a0who were running for Congress and gubernatorial elections in blue-state primaries so that they would be easier for Democrats to beat. And it worked! In other words, there\u2019s no rule against fighting dirty. But the real problem is that Democratic leaders in Congress haven\u2019t fought back.</p>\n<p>Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries\u2014who\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/hakeem-jeffries/summary?cid=N00033640&amp;cycle=2022&amp;type=I\">took\u00a0more money</a>\u00a0from the Israel lobby in 2022 than from any other group and is featured prominently on AIPAC\u2019s website (alongside House Republican leadership)\u2014has so far refused to condemn this tsunami of Republican money being brought into Democratic primaries via AIPAC\u2019s super PAC. A public disavowal of this financial support, or a declaration than any political consultancies aiding these campaigns are unwelcome in Democratic politics, would hardly be unprecedented; in 2019, House Democrats\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/us/politics/democrats-liberals-tension.html\">made it an official policy</a>\u00a0to blacklist any pollster, consultant, or strategist who aided a progressive challenger against a sitting Democratic incumbent ahead of the 2020 elections.</p>\n<p>Jeffries has so far, in this cycle,\u00a0<a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2024/01/17/hakeem-jeffries-aipac-summer-lee/\">endorsed incumbent progressives</a>\u00a0Lee and Ilhan Omar, and even donated small amounts of money\u00a0<a href=\"https://twitter.com/i/bookmarks?post_id=1752027539701125426\">to their campaigns</a>\u2014and Bowman\u2019s too.* But he has not rung any alarm bells, saying late last year: \u201cOutside groups are gonna do what outside groups are gonna do.\u201d</p>\n<p>It\u2019s weird. Getting (and keeping) Democrats in power is key to Jeffries\u2019 own success. And if Democrats are willing to let Republicans openly sabotage them in their own primary races in the spring and summer, it\u2019s hard to believe they\u2019ll be able to defeat Republicans in an open fight in the\u00a0fall.</p>\n<p><em class=\"author-id\"><strong>Alexander Sammon</strong>\u00a0is a Slate politics writer.</em></p>\n<p><em class=\"publisher\">Slate is a daily magazine on the web and podcast network. Founded in 1996, we are a general-interest publication offering analysis and commentary about politics, news, business, technology, and culture. Slate\u2019s strong editorial voice and witty take on current events have been recognized with\u00a0numerous awards, including the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. The site, which is owned by Graham Holdings Company, is supported by advertising and subscription revenues.</em></p>\n</div>\n<div>\n<span class=\"hidden\"><a href=\"https://brid.gy/publish/twitter\"></a></span><span class=\"hidden\"><a href=\"https://brid.gy/publish/mastodon\"></a></span><div class=\"node_view\"></div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<ul class=\"tags\">\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/aipac\" hreflang=\"en\">AIPAC</a></li>\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/democratic-primary\" hreflang=\"en\">Democratic primary</a></li>\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/big-money\" hreflang=\"en\">Big Money</a></li>\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/progressive-caucus\" hreflang=\"en\">Progressive Caucus</a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n<div class=\"buttons-article-end\">\n<div class=\"subscribe-article-end\">\n<a class=\"btn btn-primary\" href=\"https://portside.org/subscribe\">Subscribe to Portside</a>\n</div>\n</div>"
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"displayName": "There Sure Are a Lot of Republican Billionaires Funding the Democratic Primaries",
"content": "<div class=\"expanded-article-image-wrapper\">\n<img alt=\"\" class=\"expanded-article-image u-photo img-responsive\" height=\"346\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://portside.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/The_Squad_2_19_24.jpg\" width=\"615\"/>\n<div class=\"article-image-credit\">\n Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"full-article-text-wrapper\">\n<p>The presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/squad-primary-battle-israel-gaza-pacs.html\">out of Congress</a>. And now, thanks to the\u00a0<a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4442815-what-we-learned-from-2024-candidates-year-end-fundraising-reports/\">most recent round</a>\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.</p>\n<p>Surprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.</p>\n<p>Let\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.</p>\n<div class=\"links inline social-buttons-links tokens\" id=\"block-socialsimpleblock\">\n<div class=\"social-buttons\">\n<div class=\"social-buttons-title\">Share this article on</div>\n<ul class=\"links\">\n<li class=\"twitter\"><a data-placement=\"top\" data-popup-height=\"300\" data-popup-width=\"600\" data-toggle=\"tooltip\" href=\"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?url=https%3A//portside.org/2024-02-19/there-sure-are-lot-republican-billionaires-funding-democratic-primaries&amp;text=There%20Sure%20Are%20a%20Lot%20of%20Republican%20Billionaires%20Funding%20the%20Democratic%20Primaries\" title=\"Twitter\"><i class=\"fa fa-twitter\"></i><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Twitter</span></a></li>\n<li class=\"facebook\"><a data-placement=\"top\" data-popup-height=\"300\" data-popup-width=\"600\" data-toggle=\"tooltip\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A//portside.org/2024-02-19/there-sure-are-lot-republican-billionaires-funding-democratic-primaries\" title=\"Facebook\"><i class=\"fa fa-facebook\"></i><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Facebook</span></a></li>\n<li class=\"mail\"><a data-popup-open=\"false\" href=\"mailto:?body=%0AThere%20Sure%20Are%20a%20Lot%20of%20Republican%20Billionaires%20Funding%20the%20Democratic%20Primaries%0Ahttps%3A//portside.org/2024-02-19/there-sure-are-lot-republican-billionaires-funding-democratic-primaries&amp;subject=There%20Sure%20Are%20a%20Lot%20of%20Republican%20Billionaires%20Funding%20the%20Democratic%20Primaries\" title=\"Mail\"><i class=\"fa fa-envelope\"></i><span class=\"visually-hidden\">Mail</span></a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n</div>\n<p>The presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/squad-primary-battle-israel-gaza-pacs.html\">out of Congress</a>. And now, thanks to the\u00a0<a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4442815-what-we-learned-from-2024-candidates-year-end-fundraising-reports/\">most recent round</a>\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.</p>\n<p>Surprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.</p>\n<p>Let\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.</p>\n<p>AIPAC\u2019s most successful sally in 2022 was kicking Andy Levin\u2014not only one of the most prominent Jewish members of the House, but also a former synagogue president\u2014out of his House seat in Michigan, in favor of a more conservative, non-Jewish representative in Haley Stevens. (Levin had dared to indicate support for a two-state solution, introducing\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/29/pro-israel-lobby-aipac-andy-levin-democratic-races#:~:text=Aipac%20turned%20its%20guns%20on,to%20block%20expansion%20of%20Jewish\">a bill</a>\u00a0that would have prevented U.S. aid from being used to fund Israeli settlements in the West Bank and that recognized East Jerusalem as \u201coccupied territory,\u201d among other provisions.)</p>\n<p>And all of that was before Israel\u2019s devastating war in Gaza began.</p>\n<p>Now, AIPAC has made it a clear goal to defeat every progressive Democrat it can in 2024. At the end of January, Federal Election Commission filings revealed that the United Democracy Project super PAC already had\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-02-01/ty-article/.premium/aipac-readies-for-primaries-with-40-million-war-chest-following-oct-7-attack/0000018d-647e-d897-a3ef-e7fff8690000\">$40 million on hand</a>\u00a0by the end of 2023, nearly double the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms. Those numbers will likely skyrocket further.</p>\n<p></p><div class=\"snapshot-mini-form tokens\" data-drupal-selector=\"snapshot-mini-form\" id=\"block-portsidelistservnewslettersubscribeminiform\">\n<form accept-charset=\"UTF-8\" action=\"#snapshot-mini-form\" class=\"form-horizontal\" id=\"snapshot-mini-form\" method=\"post\">\n<p class=\"helper-text\">If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.</p><div class=\"subscribe-oneline\"><div class=\"row form-group js-form-item form-item js-form-type-email form-type-email js-form-item-email-address form-item-email-address\">\n<label class=\"col-sm-2 control-label js-form-required form-required\" for=\"edit-email-address\">Email</label>\n<div class=\"form--email col-sm-10 col-lg-8\">\n<input aria-required=\"true\" class=\"form-email required form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-email-address\" id=\"edit-email-address\" maxlength=\"64\" name=\"email_address\" required=\"required\" size=\"64\" type=\"email\" value=\"\"/>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"form-group\">\n<input class=\"btn-wide button js-form-submit form-submit btn-portside\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-submit\" id=\"edit-submit\" name=\"op\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Subscribe\"/>\n</div>\n</div><input class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-list-name\" name=\"list_name\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"PORTSIDE-SNAPSHOT\"/>\n<p class=\"helper-text\">(One summary e-mail a day, you can <a href=\"https://portside.org/subscribe\">change anytime</a>, and Portside is always free.)</p><input class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-honeypot-time\" name=\"honeypot_time\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"RPpakOIZ1095e0JiNiEZyAVsUkVqF2BeZdZv8ScDiTw\"/>\n<input autocomplete=\"off\" class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"form-y2j3jnovcc5nvxktquqdgerscvwk-acca91xu4qhbs4\" name=\"form_build_id\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"form-y2j3JnovCC5nvXKtQuQDGeRScvwK-aCCa91xU4QhBS4\"/>\n<input class=\"form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-snapshot-mini-form\" name=\"form_id\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"snapshot_mini_form\"/>\n<div class=\"zip-textfield js-form-wrapper form-wrapper\" style=\"display: none !important;\"><div class=\"row form-group js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textfield form-type-textfield js-form-item-zip form-item-zip\">\n<label class=\"col-sm-2 control-label\" for=\"edit-zip\">Leave this field blank</label>\n<div class=\"form--textfield col-sm-10 col-lg-8\">\n<input autocomplete=\"off\" class=\"form-text form-control input--text\" data-drupal-selector=\"edit-zip\" id=\"edit-zip\" maxlength=\"128\" name=\"zip\" size=\"20\" type=\"text\" value=\"\"/>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n</form>\n</div>\n<p>Massive though it is, the dollar figure is actually less notable than who donated it. Of the top 10 biggest donors to the Democrats-only super PAC during the past six months, boosters of Donald Trump abound. GOP megadonor Bernie Marcus, former CEO of the Home Depot, kicked in $1 million. An LLC affiliated with Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots (who gave $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration) chipped in $500,000. Paul Singer, another billionaire financier\u2014and Nikki Haley megadonor,\u00a0<em>and</em>\u00a0<a href=\"https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/1751051262626287660\">Rudy Giuliani fundraiser</a>\u2014also kicked in $1 million. (Singer is perhaps best known as\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court\">the luxury vacation sponsor</a>\u00a0of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.)</p>\n<p>Singer and Marcus also sponsored AIPAC\u2019s guerrilla campaign to overrun the Democratic primary process\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-06-27/ty-article/.premium/gop-megadonors-gave-millions-to-aipacs-super-pac-ahead-of-democratic-primaries/00000181-a438-d084-a3bf-ae7e221d0000\">back in 2022</a>; some of the even more generous donors in this cycle are new to the project. The top individual United Democracy Project donor during the past six months was Jan Koum, billionaire founder of WhatsApp. He donated $5 million to UDP over the final half of 2023; during that very same period, he also gave $5 million to the super PAC of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.</p>\n<p>Behind Koum was financier Jonathon Jacobson, who contributed $2.5 million. Jacobson has a\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=jonathon+jacobson&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2010&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2012&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2014&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2016&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2018&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2020&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2022\">long history</a>\u00a0of political giving; since 2008, the top beneficiaries of his largesse, other than the $1 million he gave UDP Project in 2022, have been Republican super PACs, Republican candidates including Scott Brown and Lindsey Graham, and Republican fundraising committees, including Mitch McConnell\u2019s National Republican Senatorial Committee. David Zalik, who gave $2 million, is a Haley, Giuliani, and Mitt Romney\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=david+zalik\">donor</a>\u00a0as well.</p>\n<p>Amazing that all these Republican megadonors are now so keen to put money behind Democrats in 2024!</p>\n<p>To be fair, they\u2019re not all pure saboteurs. A few of the top 10 contributors to the United Democracy Project super PAC have given small amounts to Democrats before. One donor of the top 10 can even plausibly be called a regular Democratic booster, and that\u2019s Haim Saban, a prominent\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/haim-saban-power-rangers-hillary-clinton-top-donor/\">Hillary Clinton backer</a>. But in no world could you even call this a bipartisan group of benefactors. It\u2019s Republicans who know what they\u2019re doing.</p>\n<p>The presidential field is basically set, but before the Trump vs. Biden rematch begins in earnest, there are still a bunch of highly contentious primaries for the House and Senate left to be decided. On the Democratic side, none will draw more attention and money than the campaign to knock the Squad\u2014the famed young, progressive legislators of color\u2014<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/squad-primary-battle-israel-gaza-pacs.html\">out of Congress</a>. And now, thanks to the\u00a0<a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4442815-what-we-learned-from-2024-candidates-year-end-fundraising-reports/\">most recent round</a>\u00a0of fundraising reports filed to the Federal Election Commission, we know exactly who\u2019s funding that campaign.</p>\n<p>Surprise! It\u2019s Republican billionaires and megadonors.</p>\n<p>Let\u2019s back up: During the 2022 midterms, one of the super PACs affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group\u2014called the United Democracy Project\u2014spent more than any other outside group during the Democratic primaries. Yes, it was spending on Democrats. But it boosted only conservative Democrats who were in races against progressive legislators, in part because progressives are, as a whole, willing to criticize Israel, and sometimes even question unconditional military aid to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s PAC\u2019s most successful sally in 2022 was kicking Andy Levin\u2014not only one of the most prominent Jewish members of the House, but also a former synagogue president\u2014out of his House seat in Michigan, in favor of a more conservative, non-Jewish representative in Haley Stevens. (Levin had dared to indicate support for a two-state solution, introducing\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/29/pro-israel-lobby-aipac-andy-levin-democratic-races#:~:text=Aipac%20turned%20its%20guns%20on,to%20block%20expansion%20of%20Jewish\">a bill</a>\u00a0that would have prevented U.S. aid from being used to fund Israeli settlements in the West Bank and that recognized East Jerusalem as \u201coccupied territory,\u201d among other provisions.)</p>\n<p>And all of that was before Israel\u2019s devastating war in Gaza began.</p>\n<p>Now, AIPAC has made it a clear goal to defeat every progressive Democrat it can in 2024. At the end of January, Federal Election Commission filings revealed that the United Democracy Project super PAC already had\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-02-01/ty-article/.premium/aipac-readies-for-primaries-with-40-million-war-chest-following-oct-7-attack/0000018d-647e-d897-a3ef-e7fff8690000\">$40 million on hand</a>\u00a0by the end of 2023, nearly double the $26 million it spent on the 2022 midterms. Those numbers will likely skyrocket further.</p>\n<p>Massive though it is, the dollar figure is actually less notable than who donated it. Of the top 10 biggest donors to the Democrats-only super PAC during the past six months, boosters of Donald Trump abound. GOP megadonor Bernie Marcus, former CEO of the Home Depot, kicked in $1 million. An LLC affiliated with Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots (who gave $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration) chipped in $500,000. Paul Singer, another billionaire financier\u2014and Nikki Haley megadonor,\u00a0<em>and</em>\u00a0<a href=\"https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/1751051262626287660\">Rudy Giuliani fundraiser</a>\u2014also kicked in $1 million. (Singer is perhaps best known as\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court\">the luxury vacation sponsor</a>\u00a0of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.)</p>\n<p>Singer and Marcus also sponsored AIPAC\u2019s guerrilla campaign to overrun the Democratic primary process\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-06-27/ty-article/.premium/gop-megadonors-gave-millions-to-aipacs-super-pac-ahead-of-democratic-primaries/00000181-a438-d084-a3bf-ae7e221d0000\">back in 2022</a>; some of the even more generous donors in this cycle are new to the project. The top individual United Democracy Project donor during the past six months was Jan Koum, billionaire founder of WhatsApp. He donated $5 million to UDP over the final half of 2023; during that very same period, he also gave $5 million to the super PAC of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.</p>\n<p>Behind Koum was financier Jonathon Jacobson, who contributed $2.5 million. Jacobson has a\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=jonathon+jacobson&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2010&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2012&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2014&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2016&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2018&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2020&amp;two_year_transaction_period=2022\">long history</a>\u00a0of political giving; since 2008, the top beneficiaries of his largesse, other than the $1 million he gave UDP Project in 2022, have been Republican super PACs, Republican candidates including Scott Brown and Lindsey Graham, and Republican fundraising committees, including Mitch McConnell\u2019s National Republican Senatorial Committee. David Zalik, who gave $2 million, is a Haley, Giuliani, and Mitt Romney\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=david+zalik\">donor</a>\u00a0as well.</p>\n<p>Amazing that all these Republican megadonors are now so keen to put money behind Democrats in 2024!</p>\n<p>To be fair, they\u2019re not all pure saboteurs. A few of the top 10 contributors to the United Democracy Project super PAC have given small amounts to Democrats before. One donor of the top 10 can even plausibly be called a regular Democratic booster, and that\u2019s Haim Saban, a prominent\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/haim-saban-power-rangers-hillary-clinton-top-donor/\">Hillary Clinton backer</a>. But in no world could you even call this a bipartisan group of benefactors. It\u2019s Republicans who know what they\u2019re doing.</p>\n<p>It's going to make House and Senate races really tough for progressives\u2014even the ones who have survived AIPAC-backed primary challengers before. Most of these races are happening in deep-blue districts not in play for Republicans. But Republicans see a way to make them competitive, by seeking out conservative Democrats and propping them up with TV advertising budgets befitting major statewide candidates. The candidates, too, know this is the deal\u2014Squad member Summer Lee\u2019s primary opponent Bhavini Patel\u00a0<a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2024/02/01/summer-lee-primary-bhavini-patel-republican/\">said</a>\u00a0on a recent fundraising call that her campaign was instructing Republicans to re-register as Democrats to vote against Lee in their Democratic primary showdown. (Lee was a top AIPAC target in 2022, as well.)</p>\n<p>That\u2019s bad news for Democrats of all political persuasions. As they do with any incumbent member, Democratic leadership has endorsed and pledged money to the progressive members who are facing challengers. Not for nothing, many of them are among the most popular and prominent Democratic politicians in the country. But that doesn\u2019t mean they are immune to being outspent. If AIPAC is spending millions of dollars, House Democratic leadership will also need to spend precious resources to counteract some of these attacks\u2014which will then drain money and attention away from red-to-blue House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip to secure a majority in Congress.</p>\n<p>So you can see why Republicans would delight in this strategy. In a difficult fundraising environment, siphoning limited resources away from frontline races means Democrats will be less competitive in toss-up contests. Meanwhile, if UDP succeeds in knocking out, say, Jamaal Bowman in New York\u2019s 16^th\u00a0District, they will make the Democratic caucus whiter and more conservative\u2014more like the Republican Party\u2014all while weakening the Dems elsewhere.</p>\n<p>Even if those AIPAC-funded campaigns fail, it could still jeopardize the path to a House majority for Democrats. Millions of dollars of attack ads are certain to weaken the standing of any candidate, and if these progressives survive their primaries, they will be wounded in the general, where AIPAC then could (and will) help their Republican opponents. In 2022, after spending millions to oppose Summer Lee in her Democratic primary in Pennsylvania\u2019s 12^th\u00a0District, UDP then continued to spend on attack ads in the general, boosting her Republican opponent in what became a fairly competitive race. If it wasn\u2019t clear already, UPD has no loyalty to the Democratic Party broadly, or to its greater ambitions.</p>\n<p>There are other reasons for concern, too. Progressives\u2014the Squad in particular\u2014are standout small-dollar fundraisers and excellent grassroots campaigners. In an election where enthusiasm for Joe Biden is at\u00a0<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/12/biden-trump-2024-campaign-polls-nyt-siena.html\">a perilous low</a>, the support of those politicians, who have a record of speaking to young people and voters of color, will be crucial to bringing those constituencies back into the fold. They are almost certain to play a role in a winning Democratic presidential campaign. In fact, despite recent criticism of Biden\u2019s Israel policy, progressives have been his closest allies when it has come to passing the president\u2019s signature ... donations from Republican megadonors filed with the FEC are\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.levernews.com/inside-the-israel-lobbys-new-90-million-war-chest/\">only part of the AIPAC war chest</a>. So the biggest issue is that, beyond UPD, there could be a lot more money coming to prevent Democrats from getting the majority they need.</p>\n<p>Of course, it\u2019s not the most novel strategy to fund the friend of your enemy. Democrats even tried their hand at it in 2022, putting money into\u00a0<a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/midterm-elections-2022-democrats-dirty-campaign-tactics.html\">elevating Trumpian loons</a>\u00a0who were running for Congress and gubernatorial elections in blue-state primaries so that they would be easier for Democrats to beat. And it worked! In other words, there\u2019s no rule against fighting dirty. But the real problem is that Democratic leaders in Congress haven\u2019t fought back.</p>\n<p>Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries\u2014who\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/hakeem-jeffries/summary?cid=N00033640&amp;cycle=2022&amp;type=I\">took\u00a0more money</a>\u00a0from the Israel lobby in 2022 than from any other group and is featured prominently on AIPAC\u2019s website (alongside House Republican leadership)\u2014has so far refused to condemn this tsunami of Republican money being brought into Democratic primaries via AIPAC\u2019s super PAC. A public disavowal of this financial support, or a declaration than any political consultancies aiding these campaigns are unwelcome in Democratic politics, would hardly be unprecedented; in 2019, House Democrats\u00a0<a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/us/politics/democrats-liberals-tension.html\">made it an official policy</a>\u00a0to blacklist any pollster, consultant, or strategist who aided a progressive challenger against a sitting Democratic incumbent ahead of the 2020 elections.</p>\n<p>Jeffries has so far, in this cycle,\u00a0<a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2024/01/17/hakeem-jeffries-aipac-summer-lee/\">endorsed incumbent progressives</a>\u00a0Lee and Ilhan Omar, and even donated small amounts of money\u00a0<a href=\"https://twitter.com/i/bookmarks?post_id=1752027539701125426\">to their campaigns</a>\u2014and Bowman\u2019s too.* But he has not rung any alarm bells, saying late last year: \u201cOutside groups are gonna do what outside groups are gonna do.\u201d</p>\n<p>It\u2019s weird. Getting (and keeping) Democrats in power is key to Jeffries\u2019 own success. And if Democrats are willing to let Republicans openly sabotage them in their own primary races in the spring and summer, it\u2019s hard to believe they\u2019ll be able to defeat Republicans in an open fight in the\u00a0fall.</p>\n<p><em class=\"author-id\"><strong>Alexander Sammon</strong>\u00a0is a Slate politics writer.</em></p>\n<p><em class=\"publisher\">Slate is a daily magazine on the web and podcast network. Founded in 1996, we are a general-interest publication offering analysis and commentary about politics, news, business, technology, and culture. Slate\u2019s strong editorial voice and witty take on current events have been recognized with\u00a0numerous awards, including the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. The site, which is owned by Graham Holdings Company, is supported by advertising and subscription revenues.</em></p>\n</div>\n<div>\n<span class=\"hidden\"><a href=\"https://brid.gy/publish/twitter\"></a></span><span class=\"hidden\"><a href=\"https://brid.gy/publish/mastodon\"></a></span><div class=\"node_view\"></div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<ul class=\"tags\">\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/aipac\" hreflang=\"en\">AIPAC</a></li>\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/democratic-primary\" hreflang=\"en\">Democratic primary</a></li>\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/big-money\" hreflang=\"en\">Big Money</a></li>\n<li class=\"h-category\"><a href=\"https://portside.org/progressive-caucus\" hreflang=\"en\">Progressive Caucus</a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n<div class=\"buttons-article-end\">\n<div class=\"subscribe-article-end\">\n<a class=\"btn btn-primary\" href=\"https://portside.org/subscribe\">Subscribe to Portside</a>\n</div>\n</div>",
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