Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) drew criticism on Thursday after announcing that he won’t accept any new donations or support from AIPAC and that he will return all of the pro-Israel group’s prior donations.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that the recent breakthrough in Gaza will move us closer to ending the horrific violence in the region,” stated the congressman, generally viewed as centrist. “A political resolution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace is exactly the kind of framework I’ve been calling for from the beginning.”
“I support Israel’s right to exist, but I’ve also never been afraid to disagree openly with AIPAC when I believe they’re wrong,” he added. “In recent years, AIPAC has aligned itself too closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government. I’m a friend of Israel but not of its current government, and AIPAC’s mission today is to back that government.”
Marshall Wittmann, an AIPAC spokesman, stated that Moulton “is abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction.
Moulton has been “repeatedly asking for our endorsement” for years, Wittmann said. He added that the congressman is sending “a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) stated that he guarantees that Moulton has “no problem accepting support from the pro-Hamas wing of your party in your Senate primary.”
“Rejecting support from Jewish Americans might seem like the ‘it’ thing to do in this moment, but all you are doing is placating an antisemitic mob,” Lawler stated.
Jeff Jacoby, a longtime pro-Israel Boston Globe columnist, wrote that he has admired Moulton’s “willingness to challenge the crazier obsessions of the Democratic left.”
“But hostility toward the world’s lone Jewish state is now so overwhelming among Democrats that even mostly sensible members of the party cannot resist it,” the columnist wrote. “AIPAC exists to support Israel, regardless of the party in power at any given time. Of course, Moulton is free to spurn donations from Americans who organize to strengthen U.S.-Israel ties. But he hasn’t announced a similar ban on Americans who support any other country.”
OpenSecrets, which tracks money in U.S. politics and its effects on policy, states that AIPAC donated $10,000 to Moulton’s campaign over the last two years. Individuals affiliated with the group gave $32,850 over that same period.
That, according to OpenSecrets, made AIPAC the top contributor to Moulton’s campaign.
Moulton’s campaign said it is in the process of returning $35,000 linked to AIPAC, including $15,560 in AIPAC donations from the third quarter of 2025, which appeared on Moulton’s federal campaign finance filing.
The congressman has a mixed record on Israel, showing general support but increasing criticism of Jerusalem’s handling of its war against the Hamas terror group.
Moulton’s announcement came days after Israel signed on to a U.S.-drafted peace plan, to which Hamas and key Arab leaders have also agreed.
It also came a day after Moulton announced his candidacy for U.S. senator, issuing a challenge to incumbent Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who has increasingly criticized Israel and has not received AIPAC funding from 2019 to 2024, according to OpenSecrets.
Markey said this week that Moulton is a “well-funded challenger” with “a record of walking back on progressive values to appease the extremists in the Republican party.”
Reps. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) and Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.) have said recently that they reject AIPAC support, after previously accepting funding.
