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super pacs
DNC Half-Measures Condemning Dark Money Won’t Cut It, Says Sanders as He Demands Total Ban
"Billionaire-funded super PACs—AIPAC, AI, crypto, and others—are spending hundreds of millions to defeat any candidate who crosses them. They should be banned from Democratic primaries. Period."
Apr 10, 2026
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday called for a total ban on dark money a day after the Democratic National Committee voted down a resolution that would have condemned the leading US pro-Israel lobby, which has spent nine figures on US elections over the past five years.
The DNC Resolutions Committee rejected the resolution, which condemned “the growing influence” of dark money and corporate-backed outside spending on Democratic races, specifically calling out the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. United Democracy Project, AIPAC's dark money arm, unleashed a $100 million blitz targeting progressives during the 2024 election cycle.
When combined with other pro-Israel lobby groups, like GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson's Preserve America PAC, that figure soars to over $200 million, according to the public interest group AIPAC Tracker.
Instead, the DNC panel opted for a broader resolution decrying the influence of dark money—defined as undisclosed independent campaign contributions—in the 2026 Democratic primaries.
"The DNC just passed a resolution condemning dark money," Sanders (Vt.) said Friday on X. "That’s a start, but not enough."
"Billionaire-funded super PACs—AIPAC, AI, crypto, and others—are spending hundreds of millions to defeat any candidate who crosses them," the senator added. "They should be banned from Democratic primaries. Period."
Sanders campaigned twice for president, centering his opposition to the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, which effectively ushered in the modern era of secret unlimited political spending.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, dark money spending in federal elections has skyrocketed from negligible amounts before 2010 to over $1.9 billion in the 2024 cycle alone, with over $4 billion in total undisclosed outside financing following the high court's contentious ruling.
Polling has repeatedly affirmed that support for Israel—which stands accused in the International Court of Justice of committing genocide in Gaza and has already been found by the ICJ to be illegally occupying Palestine under apartheid rule—is detrimental to Democrats.
The DNC's own suppressed postmortem of the 2024 presidential election also showed that former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' unconditional support for Israel cost Harris votes.
As AIPAC has grown more toxic to US voters amid a litany of Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza—a growing number of Democrats, including some who once welcomed the group's support, are turning their backs on the lobby.
“AIPAC really is not an organization that I think today I would want any part of," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said last month after affiliated groups poured $22 million into House races in his state.
While AIPAC cash was instrumental in unseating congressional progressives including former Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.), its largesse failed to oust others, including Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Sanders wasn't the only one to criticize the DNC's rejection of the anti-AIPAC resolution.
“The American people are clear: They want our government to invest in life and stop funding the bombs that are destroying lives in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran," Jewish Voice for Peace political director Beth Miller said Friday.
"The DNC’s failure to pass this simple resolution condemning the outsized spending of an extremist and Republican-funded group like AIPAC in Democratic primaries shows how wildly out of touch the party is with its base," Miller added.
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AIPAC Flops in Illinois, But Record Election Spending Called a 'Full-Spectrum Disaster for Democracy'
"It’s time to kick AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super PACs out of Democratic primaries."
Mar 18, 2026
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee failed on Tuesday to secure wins in the two Illinois US House primaries it invested the most money in, the latest electoral flop for the pro-Israel lobbying organization whose brand has become increasingly noxious to Democratic voters amid Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza.
In Illinois' 7th and 9th Congressional Districts, AIPAC spent millions backing Chicago treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who finished second, and Democratic State Sen. Laura Fine, who finished third. In the latter race, AIPAC pivoted from initially attacking Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss—who ultimately won—to concentrate on defeating Justice Democrats-backed Kat Abughazaleh.
AIPAC, which faced backlash for trying to conceal its spending in the Illinois contests using shell organizations, tried to spin the 9th Congressional District results as a win, despite spending more against Biss than against Abughazaleh.
"Though Kat narrowly lost this race, we are proud to have backed this campaign that helped ensure the people of IL-09 would not be represented by another AIPAC shill," Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, said in a statement. "This outcome is a massive loss for AIPAC as they lose more and more influence within the Democratic Party. No amount of shell PACs or covert funding can hide their toxicity from Democratic voters, their monopoly over this party’s agenda is coming to an end.”
Two AIPAC-backed candidates did prevail Tuesday: Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in the 2nd Congressional District and former Rep. Melissa Bean in the 8th Congressional District.
AIPAC's mixed results came amid broad alarm over outside spending that flooded Tuesday's midterm primary elections in Illinois, driven by pro-Israel, crypto, and AI special interest groups. Overall, more than $92 million was spent on campaign ads in Tuesday's contests in Illinois, a state record.
"I think we can safely say that almost $100 million spent in a handful of primaries is a full-spectrum disaster for democracy," wrote David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, which called the torrent of spending "a corruption of democracy that is relatively unprecedented in modern elections."
The National Journal reported Tuesday that when the national midterm cycle is over, "the price tag for the Illinois primary will be an important footnote in what’s projected to be the most expensive midterm election ever."
"The nonpartisan research firm AdImpact estimates that more than $10.8 billion will be spent on ads alone this cycle," the Journal observed. "Even as the competitive map gets smaller, the price tag keeps increasing as more outside deep-pocketed groups invest more in primaries."
Super PACs, entities that can spend unlimited sums boosting their preferred candidates, pumped roughly $31 million into Tuesday's US House primaries in Illinois. AIPAC-linked organizations accounted for around $22 million of the total.
"It’s time to kick AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super PACs out of Democratic primaries," US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote ahead of Tuesday's races.
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‘You Should Be Outraged’: Candidates Sound Alarm on Stealth AIPAC Meddling in Illinois
"They’re using shell organizations to try to crush progressive candidates in secret," said the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "We can’t let them get away with it."
Feb 18, 2026
Progressive congressional candidates in Illinois sounded the alarm Tuesday over efforts by AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying organization, to influence congressional races in the state using methods that appear designed to conceal its role as Democratic voters increasingly view the group as politically toxic amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“This isn’t what Democratic voters want. Even AIPAC knows it, which is why they’re hiding their name behind a shady super PAC and their agenda behind whatever ad they think will poll best," Junaid Ahmed, who is running to represent Illinois’ 8th District in the US House, said during a press conference alongside other Democratic candidates.
On Wednesday, The Washington Post highlighted two organizations—with names that betray no association with the pro-Israel lobby—that "sprang into existence late last month" and waded into the Illinois congressional contests.
Elect Chicago Women and Affordable Chicago Now!, according to the Post, "appear to use vendors who have worked with AIPAC-affiliated efforts in the past."
"Elect Chicago Women uses a mail vendor that shares identifying information with a mail vendor used by AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project," the newspaper reported. "UDP’s vendor for phone banking also has the same address as the vendor listed by Affordable Chicago Now."
Illinois State Sen. Robert Peters, a Democratic candidate in the 2nd Congressional District, said AIPAC's efforts to obscure its involvement in the races amount to an admission of the lobby's growing unpopularity with voters across the US. A recent poll found that nearly half of Democratic voters in competitive congressional districts said they could "never" support a congressional candidate they knew was backed by AIPAC.
"So they’re trying to be slick and to use these shell organizations to be able to move money to support candidates who are willing to support the right-wing agenda," Peters said Tuesday.
Daniel Biss, a progressive running to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in the 9th Congressional District, decried the "millions of dollars in AIPAC-backed coordinated donations and dark money super PAC ads flooding each of our districts."
“We are here, united, as progressives to say that this kind of massive dark money barrage is exactly the kind of corruption we must stand against,” Biss said at the Tuesday press conference. “It is wrong for our party, wrong for our voters, and wrong for our city. Democrats will not let right-wing groups buy Illinois’ 9th District or any of these seats."
Watch the full press conference:
Drop Site and The American Prospect reported earlier this month that AIPAC "road-tested its stealth approach in a 2024 House primary in Oregon that pitted Susheela Jayapal, the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), against physician Maxine Dexter."
"Dexter raised relatively little money throughout much of her campaign, then saw a last-minute deluge organized by AIPAC coupled with outside spending through super PACs, which themselves turned out to be funded by AIPAC," the outlets noted. "The timing of the donations meant that there was no meaningful transparency before voters went to the polls, and Dexter expressed a mixture of ignorance and umbrage when her opponents suggested the money actually came from AIPAC."
In the Illinois contests, AIPAC appears to be using similar tactics, secretly funneling money to preferred candidates through super PACs with no outward affiliation with the pro-Israel lobbying group. The primary beneficiaries of the campaign cash, according to Drop Site and The American Prospect, are Laura Fine in the 9th District, Donna Miller in the 2nd District, and Melissa Bean in the 8th District.
Groups linked to AIPAC have so far spent an estimated $4 million in support of Miller, Bean, Fine, and Melissa Conyears-Ervin.
US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Wednesday that "if you care about the future of the Democratic Party, you should be outraged about what AIPAC is doing in Chicago right now."
"They’re using shell organizations to try to crush progressive candidates in secret," said Casar. "We can’t let them get away with it."
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