Who’s Funding AIPAC’s Political Spending Barrage?

Here are the tech industry founders, Republican megadonors and others funding AIPAC and its closely-tied allies this election cycle.

This piece originally appeared in Sludge.

For decades after its founding in the 1950s, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, declined to spend money directly on elections. But that has changed dramatically in recent years, and this year the group is planning to spend a massive amount of money to support pro-Israel candidates and defeat those who have questioned the Israeli military’s killing of more than 30,000 people in Gaza following the deadly October 7 Hamas attacks. Politico and other outlets have reported that it is prepared to spend $100 million on ads and other political advocacy efforts ahead of the November elections to defeat progressive Democratic candidates. 

Already, the group and its closely-tied allies and affiliates have spent about $30 million in the 2024 cycle, with the bulk of the spending coming from AIPAC PAC, which operates as a conduit for AIPAC supporters to earmark funds to candidates’ campaigns. AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), has been spending millions on a California Democratic primary recently and is sitting on nearly $42 million in cash. An allied super PAC called Democratic Majority for Israel PAC (DMFI PAC) has been spending on pro-President Biden text messages and has nearly $3 million on hand. DMFI PAC, which functioned as AIPAC’s primary outside spending operation until it founded its own super PAC in January 2022, is run by former AIPAC consultant Mark Mellman, and AIPAC has allowed its supporters to credit their contributions to DMFI towards their AIPAC contributions. The millions of dollars in outside spending unleashed by DMFI PAC in Democratic primaries in the 2022 cycle was widely seen as working in parallel with AIPAC’s electoral aims.

Sludge analyzed the groups’ Federal Election Commission filings to reveal the top donors to AIPAC and its closely-tied political spending groups so far this election cycle. The chart below totals money donated to AIPAC PAC, DMFI PAC, and UDP from January 1, 2023 through January 31, 2024.

The largest donor has been Jan Koum, the billionaire founder of WhatsApp, and the largest donor to the pro-Nikki Haley super PAC SFA Fund. Koum donated a total of $5 million to UDP in September and October of last year. 

Another large donor, David Zalik, has also been a Haley supporter. Zalik donated more than $80,000 to Haley’s campaign, super PAC, and joint fundraising committee last year, according to FEC records. He has also donated this year to the campaigns of Texas Republicans Rep. Mike McCaul and Sen. Ted Cruz. Zalik, the founder of Goldman Sachs affiliate GreenSky, earmarked $453,800 in political contributions through AIPAC PAC this cycle to dozens of Democratic and Republican candidates and donated $2 million to UDP. His spouse, Helen, also made $453,800 in contributions through AIPAC PAC. 

Bernard Marcus, the billionaire Republican megadonor and co-founder of Home Depot, gave UDP $2 million in donations in May and November of last year. Since the start of the 2016 cycle, Marcus and his spouse have contributed over $60.1 million to Republican candidates for Congress and the White House, according to data from OpenSecrets. In 2020, Marcus donated $10 million to pro-former President Donald Trump super PAC Preserve America PAC, and in 206 he donated $5 million to pro-Trump super PAC Rebuilding America Now and $1 million to Make America Number 1, a super PAC that backed Trump and Sen. Cruz.

Paul Singer, who gave $1 million to UDP in September, donated $5 million in December to SFA Fund. In 2018, Singer donated $1 million to pro-Trump super PAC Future45, and last year was named by ProPublica as a benefactor of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. 

Private equity firm founder Paul Levy, who donated $1 million to UDP in November, similarly has funded the pro-Haley super PAC, giving $700,000 on Oct. 30 and an additional $100,000 on Jan. 25.

Michael Leffell, founder of investment company Portage Partners, gave UDP half a million dollars in March of last year and another half a million dollars in February. Over the past two decades, Leffell has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and other GOP candidates, according to FEC records.

Joseph Cayre, a billionaire businessman who founded the New York City-based real estate company Midtown Equities, gave UDP half a million dollars on Oct. 13. In the 2022 cycle, Cayre’s donations at the federal level went largely to Republican Party candidates and groups, including at least $50,000 given to the Kevin McCarthy-led joint fundraising committee Take Back the House 2022.

This year, DFMI PAC has also been dipping its toes into Democratic primaries, spending $125,000 to back attorney and activist Joanna Weiss over California state Sen. Dave Min in a House race where UDP has unloaded almost $4.6 million attacking Min. In another California primary, Rep. Adam Schiff benefited from nearly $17,000 worth of DMFI spending in February in his run for U.S. Senate, in print ads in outlets like the San Diego Jewish Journal. According to Politico, UDP is monitoring 15 to 20 House races and polling in many of those districts. 

Among the top recipients of donations from AIPAC PAC this cycle have been the corruption scandal-plagued Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).