How AIPAC Could Help Elect The Next Member Of The Squad

A special election in New Jersey offers a preview of an unpredictable Democratic primary season.

AIPAC’s playbook ahead of Thursday’s Democratic primary for a New Jersey congressional seat looks familiar: United Democracy Project, a super PAC controlled and funded by allies of the pro-Israel group, spends millions of dollars’ worth of television ads, mailers and phone calls to demolish a candidate they oppose.

“ICE’s deportation force is out of control,” a female narrator says at the start of one of the group’s 30-second ads airing ahead of the special election. “Tom Malinowski voted with Trump to increase funding.”

The twist is who the ads are targeting. Former Rep. Tom Malinowski is not only a former ally of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, but he’s also a mainstream liberal and definitely not the most left-wing candidate in the race. That’s activist Analilia Mejia, a former top official on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign in 2020.

And many Democrats in New Jersey — including some otherwise sympathetic to AIPAC’s cause — think targeting Malinowski is only increasing the chances Mejia can come out of a crowded primary and become the newest member of the progressive “Squad,” a group AIPAC has previously sought to extinguish.

“They’re taking a big risk here,” said one Democratic operative in the state who works for an elected official friendly with AIPAC and requested anonymity to preserve relationships. “Attacking the front-runner from the left is usually going to end up helping the most left-wing candidate in the race.”