Kiss of Death: When the Foreign Lobby's Millions Backfire
There is a particular kind of hubris that comes with spending other people's money on American elections. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, through its super PAC the United Democracy Project, has perfected this art over the past several election cycles — pouring tens of millions into Democratic primaries to crush candidates who dare question unconditional military aid to Israel. In New
Jersey's 11th Congressional District, that hubris finally caught up with them. The setup was straightforward enough. Former Rep. Tom Malinowski, a moderate Democrat who had previously represented the district, was running to reclaim his old seat after it was vacated by Mikie Sherrill, who left to become New Jersey's governor. Malinowski had committed a cardinal sin in AIPAC's eyes: he came out in
support of conditions on aid to Israel. Not an arms embargo. Not a boycott. Conditions. The mildest possible position a sitting Democrat could take as American-made bombs continued falling on Gaza. So UDP spent $2.3 million on attack ads against Malinowski. The ads were dishonest, according to Malinowski himself, who wrote in his concession that "the outcome of this race cannot be understood
without also taking into account the massive flood of dark money that AIPAC spent on dishonest ads during the last three weeks." Meanwhile, known pro-Israel donors directed more than $50,000 into the campaign of Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way in the final weeks, splitting the moderate lane even further. The lobby's strategists apparently failed to consider the most obvious outcome of attacking one moderate