- United States
- Calif.
- Letter
Abdul El-Sayed just won the Michigan Democratic Senate primary despite being outspent 9-to-1, with outside groups pouring over $62 million into his opponent's campaign. AIPAC's Super PAC alone spent more than $30 million — much of it from Republican donors and people outside Michigan — trying to buy a Democratic Senate seat. Congress needs to pass legislation that prohibits this kind of outside Super PAC interference in party primaries.
Michigan voters saw through it. Eighty percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents now hold unfavorable views of Israel, yet AIPAC ran ads that didn't even mention the country. What voters actually responded to was El-Sayed's platform: Medicare for All, affordable housing, money out of politics. That's what wins. The problem is that most candidates don't survive a $62 million assault long enough to make that case. Super PACs shouldn't be able to drown out constituents with out-of-state, out-of-party money. Fix this.