Progressive Groups Form A Counterweight To AIPAC’s Electoral Push

Twenty-four organizations will launch a ‘seven-figure’ campaign to defend progressive Democrats. The Israel lobby’s first foray into primaries this year fell flat.

Twenty-four progressive groups have formed an alliance, promising to commit at least $1 million to defend incumbent members of Congress being targeted by AIPAC and its pro-Israel allies in primary elections this year.

The coalition is calling itself Reject AIPAC, and it includes several organizations experienced in campaign organizing, like Justice Democrats, the Working Families Party, Sunrise Movement, Our Revolution, and Gen-Z for Change. Other groups in the coalition have raised their voices and led protests during Israel’s war on Gaza, like Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, Peace Action, Democratic Socialists of America, and many more.

“The fight against AIPAC is one of the fights for the soul of our democracy,” the coalition said in a statement. “Now is the time for the whole of the Democratic Party to Reject AIPAC once and for all.”

The strategy includes paid advertising and field organizing in campaigns, and continued lobbying in Congress for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza. The coalition will ask members to reject AIPAC endorsements and sign a pledge to no longer accept funds from them. This is similar to no-oil-money and anti-NRA pledges that have been signed in the past. Already, an unnamed number of Democratic lawmakers have signed the anti-AIPAC pledge.