CHICAGO: Former Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards lost her bid to return in Maryland’s Democratic primary on Tuesday to Glenn Ivey, who received more than $6 million in pro-Israel political action committee money for his campaign.
Edwards supports the two-state solution and abstained from one-sided pro-Israel votes while in Congress, making her a target for pro-Israel supporters.
She became the first black woman to represent the Maryland 4th District in 2008, but left to make an unsuccessful bid for the Maryland US Senate in 2017.
More than $6 million were used to pay for attack ads against Edwards that came from the America Israel Political Action Committee through a super PAC called the United Democracy Project.
That money was in addition to the estimated $1.1 million that Ivey raised. Edwards only raised about $1 million.
She received about $720,000 from J Street, a Jewish-American organization that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace.
Despite relying on the AIPAC money to push his campaign to victory, during his victory speech Ivey did not mention it or reference Israel.
The AIPAC funding is among the largest amounts dumped into an attack campaign in US history.
Preliminary vote totals show Ivey winning with 51 percent of the vote. Edwards received 35 percent, and a third candidate, Angela Angel, received about 6 percent.
In American elections, independent PACs such as AIPAC and the UDP can raise funds in support of any candidate.
Edwards had the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who cited the need for more women in Congress during campaign ads.
Debra Shushan, policy director at J Street, accused AIPAC of raising the money from wealthy Republicans who hope to take over Democratic seats.
“We’re in an existential climate crisis and @AIPAC is spending millions of dollars from Republican billionaires to defeat climate champions @DonnaFEdwards #MD04 & @AndyLevin #MI11,” Shushan tweeted.
“They’re not only threatening our democracy by supporting insurrectionists, but our planet, as well.”
Levin is facing attacks funded by AIPAC money against his re-election bid in Michigan’s 11th District Democratic primary on Aug. 2 and in support of his more pro-Israel rival, Congresswoman Haley Stevens. Levin is also backed by J Street.
