Aipac Spent $55M on Losing Candidates in 2026 Midterms
A report from Responsible Statecraft details how the group’s spending on defeated candidates reached nearly two-thirds of its total election expenditure.
By Charlotte Dubois ·
Responsible Statecraft reports that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent $55 million on congressional candidates who lost the 2026 midterm elections.
The organization deployed a total of $84 million across the election cycle. Of that sum, approximately two-thirds went to unsuccessful bids. The largest individual expenditure was $32 million, which Aipac directed against Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. El-Sayed won the seat despite that financial pressure. In 2022, 69 percent of Aipac’s Super Pac spending went to winners. In 2024, that figure rose to 87 percent.
Aipac also targeted Daniel Biss in Illinois’s 9th congressional district. The group spent nearly $6 million against the former mayor of Evanston. Biss had already won the Democratic primary earlier in the year. He secured the general election seat on Tuesday night. Biss is the grandson of Holocaust survivors and a vocal critic of Israel’s policies.
Abdul El-Sayed addressed the spending directly during his victory speech earlier this week. He cited a higher figure of $42 million spent against his campaign, a number that may include contributions from smaller Super Pacs. “To Aipac, who spent $42m against us. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to beat you twice,” he said. He referenced the group’s prior effort to defeat him in the Democratic primary.
Aipac announced its own victories on Wednesday via the social platform X. The group stated that more than 234 candidates supported by its members won their races. Aipac did not release a specific list of these seats. The organization also congratulated Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on their caucuses’ results. Both leaders have received funding from Aipac members.
Aipac Tracker identified 30 members of Congress who won their seats while rejecting ties to the organization. Vice President JD Vance posted an election postmortem on Wednesday. He attributed Republican losses to the US-Israeli war on Iran, a conflict Aipac endorsed, and the organization’s relationship with Israel.
The next step in the political process is the organization of the new House and Senate caucuses, which will begin their legislative work in January 2027.
