A group of wealthy pro-Israel political donors in the US have spent the last few days raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, in an eleventh-hour campaign trying to unseat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in her primary election this week.
Until now, Omar had not faced an Aipac offensive in her primary election this year and has been able to raise triple the amount of funds that her opponent Don Samuels has. Omar has raised $1.6m, compared to Samuels’ $535,000.
But after Bush lost her primary election last week, largely in part to a massive spending campaign by Aipac and its Super PAC, The Intercept obtained access to a WhatsApp group, titled, “Zionists for Don Samuels Against Ilhan Omar”, where a screenshot was posted saying that nearly $100,000 was raised in 24 hours for the campaign against Omar.
Pro-Israel groups have been spending heavily in this year’s election to try and help elect moderate Democrats in favour of progressives who have spoken critically against Israel or pushed for legislation in favour of Palestinian rights.
I can’t imagine it doing much. Samuels is a joke, Omar has no serious competition and neither does Klobuchar. It’s unfortunate because despite what you think about these politicians, competition is a good thing to prevent stagnation.