Down Two Squad Members, Progressives Come for an AIPAC Democrat

The progressive group that helped elect the Squad is looking to rebuild after two members were taken out by million in spending from the American Israel Citizens Affairs Committee or AIPAC On Monday Justice Democrats endorsed Michigan state Rep Donavan McKinney in the Democratic primary against Detroit s Rep Shri Thanedar D-Mich the group s first primary challenge since AIPAC s onslaught Thanedar first elected to Congress in is a multimillionaire with backing from two of the biggest sources of outside spending on U S elections pro-Israel lobby groups and the cryptocurrency industry Three political action committees linked to the AIPAC spent million against Thanedar s challenger in the Democratic primary last year AIPAC previously opposed Thanedar in but their relationship grew closer after he went on one of the group s congressional junkets to Israel As part of his campaign launch McKinney has mentioned he is running on bringing working-class representation to Congress criticizing Thanedar for using taxpayer money to fund his campaign expenses and neglecting his constituents I m not running for Congress because I m a millionaire or a billionaire I m running because I m not the -year-old McKinney announced in a press release announcing his campaign launch I m running because our society deserves to have someone fighting back against the Trump-Musk administration who knows our struggles In a campaign video accompanying the launch McKinney announced constituents in the th Congressional District deserved a Democratic Party that leads the fight against billionaire elites and corporate PACs McKinney attacked Thanedar for buying his seat in Congress and having more in common with Donald Trump and Elon Musk than people like us Thanedar did not instantly respond to a request for comment The primary campaign is the first primary challenge against a party incumbent launched by Justice Democrats since and its first efforts since losing Reps Jamaal Bowman D-N Y and Cori Bush D-Mo after AIPAC and other outside groups spent close to million against the Squad members in last year s polling In a message Justice Democrats noted that patronage for Democrats in Congress is lagging while voters are looking for candidates who will fight harder than the people they see in office Last ballot cycle Justice Democrats focused their tools on protecting our incumbents against the threat of AIPAC and other right-wing lobbies promising and delivering on spending million in our elections spokesperson Usamah Andrabi commented in the Monday press release As a conclusion of their outsized spending we lost two of the majority of working class members of Congress in the the majority expensive Democratic primaries ever but out-organized and beat them in every other Squad seat he announced Those losses have only fueled our mission to expand our bloc in Congress and elect more working class champions to Washington The post Down Two Squad Members Progressives Come for an AIPAC Democrat appeared first on The Intercept