[ They spent nearly $5 million to target and defeat Levin, far
more than was spent by any other group. Something is profoundly wrong
in our political system when a handful of billionaires, spend millions
of dollars, to defeat progressive candidates.]
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AIPAC SPENT MILLIONS TO DEFEAT PROGRESSIVE JEWISH CONGRESSMAN ANDY
LEVIN  
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Jake Johnson
August 3, 2022
Common Dreams
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_ They spent nearly $5 million to target and defeat Levin, far more
than was spent by any other group. Something is profoundly wrong in
our political system when a handful of billionaires, spend millions of
dollars, to defeat progressive candidates. _

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., center, campaigns for Michigan
Democratic Rep. Andy Levin, right, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, left, at a
rally on July 29, 2022. , Photo by Bill Pugliano // Forward

 

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee's sizable investments in
Michigan's 11th Congressional District paid off Tuesday when Rep.
Haley Stevens defeated fellow Democratic Rep. Andy Levin, a Jewish
progressive who has criticized
[[link removed]] Israel's
illegal and brutal occupation of Palestinian territory.

Stevens and Levin were forced into a primary contest by
Michigan's redistricting process
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which provided an opportunity for AIPAC's super PAC and other special
interest groups to pour millions
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the race to oust Levin, who has been described as the most progressive
Jewish member of the House.

"It is alarming that this race, like many other Democratic primaries
this cycle, was heavily impacted by the aggressive outside spending of
AIPAC."

Stevens ultimately prevailed with 60% of the vote, a win that
AIPAC celebrated
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"major and consequential."

AIPAC's intervention in the contest through the United Democracy
Project—a super PAC funded by Republican billionaires
[[link removed]]—drew
outrage from progressives and liberal Jewish organizations such as J
Street, which lamented Levin's defeat in a statement
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Tuesday.

"It is alarming that this race, like many other Democratic primaries
this cycle, was heavily impacted by the aggressive outside spending of
AIPAC and its super PAC, the United Democracy Project," J Street said.
"They spent nearly $5 million to target and defeat Levin, far more
than was spent by any other group."

J Street went on to highlight AIPAC's endorsement
[[link removed]] and
funding of "109 Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election on
January 6th, promoters of the Big Lie like Jim Jordan, Scott Perry,
and more—while attacking candidates like Andy Levin... as
extremists."

"Democratic Party leaders should make absolutely clear just how
harmful and unwelcome AIPAC's interventions in its primary contests
are," the group added. "Candidates in future primaries should disavow
and decline the support of AIPAC and its super PAC—which have come
as a surprise to at least some of them."

Levin was just the latest progressive Democrat to lose a race in which
AIPAC took a heavy interest. Last month, the United Democracy
Project helped
[[link removed]] corporate
attorney Glenn Ivey defeat former U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards in the
Democratic primary for Maryland's 4th Congressional District.

In a statement
[[link removed]] congratulating
Stevens and conceding the race, Levin said he was "the target of a
largely Republican-funded campaign set on defeating the movement I
represent no matter where I ran."

"I will continue to speak out against the corrosive influence of dark
money on our democracy," Levin added. "Onward."

Michele Weindling, electoral director of the youth-led Sunrise
Movement, said Tuesday that the Democratic leadership is to blame for
allowing "millions to pour into MI-11 to silence our generation" at a
moment when "Americans, and young people especially, are doubting our
democracy."

"Rep. Andy Levin was one of the few representatives who have actually
stood up for young and working people, and Congress is in a worse
place without him," said Weindling. "We are grateful for his
leadership and for the young people who poured so much into this
race."

At a rally
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of Tuesday's primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who endorsed
Levin—said that AIPAC's efforts in Michigan's 11th Congressional
District had "nothing to do—in my view—with Israel."

"It is simply trying to defeat candidates and members of Congress who
stand for working families and are prepared to demand that the wealthy
and large corporations pay their fair share of taxes," argued the
Vermont senator, who has called on
[[link removed]] the
Democratic National Committee to institute a ban on super PAC money in
the party's primary races.

"There is something profoundly wrong in our political system when a
handful of billionaires, through super PACs that spend millions of
dollars, try to defeat progressive candidates for Congress," Sanders
said over the weekend. "That is not what democracy is about. That is
what oligarchy is about."

_[Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.]_

_Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to
republish and share widel_

* Andy Levin
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* AIPAC
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* Michigan
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* 2022 Elections
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* Jewish voters
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* Jewish community
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* zionism
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* Anti-Zionism
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* Israel
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* Palestine
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* Palestinian rights
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* BDS
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* Jewish Voice for Peace
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* J Street
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