American Priorities, a new progressive political action committee, announced plans to back preferred Democratic primary challengers, positioning itself as a counterweight to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other pro-Israel groups.
The PAC has already reported spending more than $500,000 in support of Nida Allam, a Democrat running for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District against incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.).
Allam, a member of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, has criticized Foushee over her support for Israel and her 2024 meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Foushee was backed by United Democracy Project, a super PAC primarily funded by AIPAC, which helped Foushee defeat Allam in an open-seat race for the district in 2022.
Pro-Israel groups have not spent money in this race cycle. Foushee told NBC News earlier this month that she co-sponsored legislation to block arms sales to Israel, saying it was “clear to me and my constituents that the Netanyahu government’s indiscriminate killing of innocent Palestinians cannot continue.”
American Priorities has also spent $72,000 supporting Rev. Frederick Haynes III, who is running to replace Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) in the Dallas-area 30th Congressional District, as Crockett runs for a Senate seat.
Haynes criticized Israel in a sermon delivered the day after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and has praised several anti-Israel activists. In a podcast appearance, he called Christian Zionism a “warped, even wicked interpretation of scripture that is part of a political agenda of conquest and triumph.”
American Priorities said it plans to spend at least $10 million on Democratic candidates, targeting at least 10 additional races and “focusing on competitive primaries where independent expenditures can move outcomes.”
While the PAC did not outline specific criteria for candidate support, a press release for the group stated that “the 2026 midterms represent a generational inflection point for the Democratic Party, where there is an opportunity to elect congresspeople whose views on foreign policy are plainly reflective of where the Democratic base has moved.”
The group added that it “will be spending in key races throughout the country to ensure that the Democratic Party keeps pace with the evolution of its own voters and does not squander the moment.”
