House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a strong ally of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has publicly expressed his support for the reelection campaigns of progressive Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Jamaal Bowman of New York, despite AIPAC’s efforts to remove them from office. In a statement, Jeffries’ spokesperson, Christie Stephenson, confirmed that he intends to continue his practice of supporting all incumbent House Democrats, regardless of their ideology.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats’ campaign arm, did not comment on this specific issue but reiterated its policy of supporting incumbent Democrats irrespective of their political beliefs.
Jeffries has previously shown his support for Bowman and Omar, who are known critics of AIPAC. His political action committee, the Jobs, Education, and Families First (JEFF) PAC, donated $5,000 each to Bowman, Omar, and Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, another left-wing critic of Israel, before their primary races in 2022. JEFF PAC also donated $5,000 to Representative Summer Lee of Pennsylvania during a general election fight when AIPAC’s super PAC spent a significant amount of money against her.
HuffPost reached out to Jeffries’ team for comment because AIPAC is actively recruiting candidates to challenge Omar and Bowman, according to a report by Jewish Insider. Both Omar and Bowman advocate for stricter conditions on U.S. aid to Israel, which AIPAC views as a threat to Israel’s security. They were also among the progressive lawmakers who did not attend Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to Congress in July.
On the same day the Jewish Insider report was released, AIPAC shared a video of Jeffries from an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel, in which he praised the “special relationship” between the United States and Israel.
It is worth noting that AIPAC uses different entities for various activities. It uses its main nonprofit arm for lobbying on Capitol Hill and funds its congressional delegation trips to Israel through an affiliated philanthropy, the American Israel Education Foundation. Separate entities are used for engaging in electioneering. AIPAC’s political action committee endorses candidates, while its affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, invests heavily in competitive elections. Both entities were launched in December 2021.
During the 2022 election cycle, United Democracy Project spent approximately $4 million trying to defeat Lee in the primary and general elections. Additionally, it discreetly spent $350,000 supporting Omar’s primary challenger. However, Omar narrowly survived the primary race.
Despite the apparent differences between the branch of AIPAC that sponsored Jeffries’ trip to Israel and the affiliated groups involved in campaigns, HuffPost sought to get Jeffries’ stance on Omar and Bowman due to his strong opposition to primary challenges and his particular disdain for what he refers to as the “extreme left.” Jeffries co-founded Team Blue, a political action committee dedicated to defending incumbent Democrats against primary challenges in the 2022 elections. The group only endorsed a few incumbents in the previous cycle, all of whom faced left-wing challengers.
HuffPost also inquired about Jeffries’ conversation with Representative Dean Phillips, a moderate Democrat from Minnesota, regarding Phillips’ potential presidential run and his belief that President Joe Biden should not seek a second term due to his age. Phillips, as a co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, is a member of the House Democrats’ leadership team.
Stephenson confirmed that Jeffries and Phillips had a private and productive conversation late last week. However, no further comments were provided at this time.
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