Youth led Dawn movement is stepping forward to defend the Squad (a cohort of progressive House members) from a war chest of right-wing money being raised against their re-election efforts.
In an announcement Thursday night, the climate-focused Sunrise Movement said it endorsed Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.),
Jamal Bowman (D.N.Y.) Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tliab (D-Mich.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.). The endorsements come as reports from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reveal that pro-Trump billionaires have donated substantial sums to a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that aims to overthrow the Team.
"The amount of money right-wing billionaires are spending to defeat the Squad is a testament to how effective they have been in transforming American politics and taking on the fascist right," said Sunrise political director Michele Weindling. .
saying in a sentence.
"You can't pretend to be a proud Democrat in the morning and then make secret deals with Trump donors at night."
Sunrise's statement comes amid growing coverage of AIPAC's efforts to fund Squad opponents through its United Democracy Project (UDP). UDP is an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC that spent more than any other non-campaign group in the 2022 Democratic primary, pouring its money behind conservative Democrats challenging more progressive members of the party, like Alexander Sammon.
explained for Board. For example, in 2022, the group managed to unseat Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.), who had introduced legislation to prevent U.S. funds from supporting settlements in the West Bank, and boosted his more conservative primary opponent, Haley Stevens (D by Michigan). .), to victory.
The UDP is expected to step up its efforts against the Squad this year as its members have been some of the most outspoken lawmakers calling for a ceasefire in Loop. In the final six months of 2023, the PAC raised essentially as much as it did in all of 2022: $35 million.
HuffPost reported.
"While huge, the dollar figure is actually less notable than who donated it," Sammon wrote.
Major donors include:
- WhatsApp founder Jan Koum, who donated $5 million to the UDP and $5 million to Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley;
- financier Jonathon Jacobson, who donated $2.5 million and has previously donated to many Republican candidates and committees, including Mitch McConnell's National Republican Senatorial Committee;
- David Zalik, who donated $2 million and has donated to Haley, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney in the past;
- former Home Depot CEO and frequent Republican donor Bernie Marcus, who gave $1 million;
- Paul Singer, who donated a million dollars and is known for sponsoring Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's vacation; and
- Bob Kraft, a Trump supporter and owner of the New England Patriots, who donated $500,000 through an LLC.
Only one of the top ten donors, Haim Saban, regularly contributes to Democratic campaigns.
"Why is a group funded primarily by Republican millionaires and billionaires spending tens of millions of dollars on the Democratic primaries?" the Democratic judges asked in a fundraising email. "Because they want to sabotage our movement and overthrow the most progressive members of Congress who are fighting to hold them accountable and change the status quo."
Of the seven members of the Squad backed by the Sunrise Movement, Omar, Bowman, Lee and Bush are so far facing their main rivals. However, lawmakers are ready to fight back and have reported record fundraising gains. In the last three months of 2023, Tlaib raised $3.6 million, Ocasio-Cortez raised about $1.3 million, Omar raised about $1.6 million, Pressley raised about $155,000, Bush raised over $485,000, Lee raised over $987,000 and Bowman over $730,000.
"Despite all the attacks and smears these representatives have received, they made record fundraising gains, proving that progressive policies remain overwhelmingly popular," said Usamah Andrabi of Justice Democrats. saidthe 19.
Goalkeeper saidThe Associated Press that much of its funds came from the popular support of Arab and Muslim voters.
"The fact that in the midst of these AIPAC attacks, in the midst of us having a viable rival, we have a record quarter in fundraising is because the Muslim community has felt erased and dehumanized throughout this process," he said. Bowman.
During the same quarter, AIPAC donated more than $600,000 to Bowman's rival George Latimer, representing more than 40% of his $1.4 million haul.
Weindling criticized Democrats like Latimer who accept money from the right to campaign against some of the party's most prominent politicians.
"What disappoints me is that many establishment Democrats who have denounced for years every time a progressive challenges an incumbent, are aligning themselves with these Trump donors to unseat their party colleagues," Weindling said. "You can't pretend to be a proud Democrat in the morning and then make secret deals with Trump donors at night."
Weindling said the Sunrise Movement was "proud to once again campaign for these incredible progressive leaders."
"They have taken on the oil billionaires and Wall Street, and delivered billions of dollars in investments to their districts. We are honored to have worked alongside them to achieve legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and force a deeply needed moral voice in DC policy debates," Weindling continued.
The group will offer support through fundraising, phone banking and get-out-the-vote efforts among younger voters, starting with a virtual phone bank for Lee on February 14.
"We will do everything possible to mobilize thousands of young people and call on millions of voters to send a message loud and clear: in 2024, elect [to] supporting genocide and choosing to make deals to fossil fuel billionaires is a failure in the Democratic Party," Weindling said.
