{"id":426047,"date":"2026-08-07T03:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T03:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426047\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T03:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T03:24:08","slug":"aipac-linked-super-pacs-spend-millions-in-california-to-thwart-progressive-candidate-us-midterm-elections-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426047\/","title":{"rendered":"Aipac-linked Super Pacs spend millions in California to thwart progressive candidate | US midterm elections 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Super Pacs tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) have spent millions in a California<\/a> congressional race to keep a progressive Democrat from winning Eric Swalwell\u2019s former seat.<\/p>\n

Aisha Wahab, a state senator who has been endorsed by the California Democratic party, is widely considered the frontrunner in the special election for the district covering a swathe of the East Bay.<\/p>\n

Swalwell had been in office for more than a decade when he resigned earlier this year following multiple allegations of sexual assault.<\/p>\n

Wahab outpaced her closest competitor, Melissa Hernandez, the president of the board of directors for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) agency and a former Dublin mayor, in a June primary as well as a special election to complete the remainder of Swalwell\u2019s term, by more than 20 points. They are set to face off against each other in a runoff election later this month, and then again in November.<\/p>\n

Super Pacs are pouring money into the race, dropping more than $5m in recent weeks and supporting pro-Hernandez ads and Wahab attack ads, Politico reported<\/a> on Thursday. The spending includes $1.2m from United Democracy Project, which is backed by Aipac, and $2.1m from Bold America Pac, which has received significant financial backing from the United Democracy Project, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

Track Aipac, which tracks the group\u2019s funding of US politicians, reported<\/a> that the lobby has spent more than $4.4m to support Hernandez in the race.<\/p>\n

Wahab said there has been a barrage of attack ads against her in the last month that have misrepresented her record, particularly as it relates to public safety issues. She described the Super Pacs\u2019 involvement as election interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to ask yourself, why? Aipac is clearly not interested in having diverse voices at the table, they are not interested in supporting the Jewish community and a peaceful dialogue,\u201d she argued. \u201cThey want a puppet they can control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ads have generated outrage among her constituents, she said, adding that her campaign fields calls and emails daily from people \u201cdisgusted by the ads\u201d.<\/p>\n

People are familiar with her record, Wahab added, and her personal history. Her father was murdered when she was a child, and Wahab grew up in the foster care system. As a state lawmaker, she has prioritized victims, she said, and supported legislation to make human trafficking a serious felony and a bill of rights for sexual assault survivors.<\/p>\n

Aipac, which is one of the largest Super Pacs and the most powerful pro-Israel lobby organization in the US, has significantly expanded its political spending in recent years. The New York Times<\/a> reported earlier this week that Aipac has doubled its spending, largely in Democratic primaries, to $67.2m.<\/p>\n

The organization spent millions to support moderate Haley Stevens in Michigan\u2019s Democratic Senate primary. The progressive Abdul El-Sayed ultimately won the primary race in what has been described as a defining contest for the party.<\/p>\n

Wahab pointed to her record and wide-ranging support, including endorsements from the organization Our Revolution to state and local officials including the attorney general Rob Bonta and the Alameda county sheriff, Yesenia Sanchez.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Guardian, Ajay Mohan, campaign manager for Hernandez, said: \u201cMelissa does not control independent expenditures. No candidate does. That is the law, and she sees those ads when you see them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMelissa remains laser focused on lowering the costs of housing and health care, and supporting strong public safety – just as she did as Mayor,\u201d Mohan added.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has contacted Aipac for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Super Pacs tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) have spent millions in a California congressional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-426047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}