Progressive challengers plan to use Israel’s war in Gaza as a cudgel against centrist candidates in 2026’s Democratic primaries, a broad campaign that will disrupt the party’s plans to focus the high-stakes midterm elections solely on opposition to President Donald Trump.
After two cycles in which pro-Israel groups spent heavily against left-wing candidates, insurgent Democrats believe the mood has changed. Their party’s base is growing more opposed to the war, and in that climate, they expect ads paid for by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its allies to alienate Democratic voters.
“People are very impatient to see an end to that war,” said Matt Dunlap, a former Maine secretary of state who on Monday launched a challenge to centrist Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.
Dunlap saw Golden’s support from AIPAC, and his votes to continue sending offensive weapons to Israel, as a “mixed bag” in the Republican-leaning district. “I think support for that is eroding quickly,” he added, “because people see what’s happening on the news.”
In more strongly Democratic seats, where most primary challenges are unfolding, progressive candidates have preemptively denounced AIPAC and promised not to seek its support, or have otherwise broken with party leaders on Israel.
“I am not taking a dime from AIPAC,” said California Democrat Angela Gonzales-Torres in an endorsement video from Justice Democrats, the left-wing group that helped elect the progressive “Squad” in 2018. She’s challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez.
In St. Louis, where former Rep. Cori Bush announced a comeback bid last week, loud protests at Rep. Wesley Bell’s town halls were an early indicator that the support he’s gotten from AIPAC — the biggest funder of his 2024 win, through its United Democracy Project super PAC — might be a political problem.
In Detroit, Rep. Rashida Tlaib created a joint fundraising committee to route donations to her and state Rep. Donavan McKinney, who’s condemned Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., for supporting military aid to Israel. Last year, AIPAC helped Thanedar defeat his primary challengers with a last-minute, $2.3 million super PAC investment.
“We’re sending billions overseas for bombs and weapons to kill families and children when we have starving families here at home,” McKinney told Semafor in a recent interview, as he campaigned at a street fair in the district. “I’ve even got Republicans who follow me, saying: Yo, this is kind of extreme. What’s going on? To malnourish a population, to ensure that they don’t have resources? These kids are dying!”