Aipac spent $55m on losing congressional candidates in midterm elections: Report

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) spent more than $84m in the 2026 US midterms, but nearly two-thirds of those funds were spent on losing candidates, according to a new report from Responsible Statecraft. Aipac’s Super Pac and other groups spent $55m on failed candidates. The largest portion of those funds, about $32m, was spent trying to defeat Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. The results marked one of Aipac’s worst performances in years, suggesting that the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has contributed to soaring cost-of-living issues, resonated strongly with voters. In the 2022 midterms, Aipac’s Super Pac, United Democracy Project, saw 69 percent of its expenditure spent on races backed by the organisation that won. That number was even higher in 2024, after Israel’s genocide in Gaza, with 87 percent of its spending going to successful races. Read more: Aipac spent $55m on losing congressional candidates in midterm elections: Report American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) President Michael Tuchin addresses the Aipac Policy Summit at a hotel in Washington, DC, on 5 June 2023 (Mandel Ngan/AFP)