AIPAC Halts Candidate Endorsements Amid US Backlash Against Israel

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most prominent pro-Israel lobby group in the US, has announced that it will stop endorsing candidates or making direct contributions to them. Critics were quick to hail Wednesday's announcement as AIPAC's admission of how toxic its brand had become — open support, in their telling, now burdens candidates more than it helps them.

The announcement marked a significant reversal. It underscored just how profoundly US public opinion of Israel has shifted over the latest war in Gaza, and how political candidates' once reflexive support for Israel has increasingly become a liability.

But AIPAC, which only launched its political action committee and started endorsing candidates three cycles ago, is hardly getting out of US elections. It pledged to maintain the work of its deep-pocketed super PAC, United Democracy Project, and to continue funnelling millions of dollars to prop up pro-Israel candidates through individual donors and AIPAC members. The shift is one of strategy, not withdrawal.

Political analyst Trita Parsi wrote that historically AIPAC sustained an aura of invincibility that ensured it won most battles by walkover — if you are perceived as invincible, the other side does not even bother to fight you. Now, he wrote, rather than invincibility, AIPAC's name carries such toxicity that the group does not want its own name on its political donations.

AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that AIPAC, which normally backs Democrats, was planning to give as much as $9 million to a PAC supporting Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. The group had already spent $32 million seeking to defeat El-Sayed, an outspoken critic of Israel, in the primaries.

In a letter to members first reported by Jewish Insider, AIPAC's leadership seemed to acknowledge that its once formidable power had suffered. They noted that the 2026 election was 'one of the most challenging environments in recent memory' for the group and predicted that the challenges would continue to grow in the years ahead. Winning the fight for the future of the country and the US-Israel alliance, they wrote, requires a more strategic, consequential and nimble political operation — the only tactic they are married to is the most effective one.

AIPAC boasted that it helped 290 candidates this election cycle, leading to the defeat of 29 candidates it described as 'anti-Israel'. But the group has also suffered major blows, including in Michigan and New Jersey. More than a dozen candidates who took AIPAC contributions in the past have since publicly distanced themselves from the group, and New York representative Pat Ryan announced last week that he would return nearly $250,000 from the group.

Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, one of AIPAC's most vocal critics, said that through this shift AIPAC openly admitted its brand has become toxic in the political world, and that fewer and fewer candidates are willing to be publicly affiliated with the group.

Tuesday's announcement would change little in practice, those who monitor AIPAC's political funding say. A spokesperson told Jewish Insider that AIPAC members had contributed over $90 million to candidates this election cycle — far more than the $3 million the group contributed directly through its PAC. Hady Amr, a former State Department official for Israeli and Palestinian affairs, noted that this is AIPAC going back to its tried and true approach.

Groups like Track AIPAC and the Reject AIPAC campaign say the lobby has already been experimenting with ways to make its support more untraceable. Hamid Bendaas of the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project said that by dropping endorsements and direct contributions, AIPAC gives up one signalling tool to aligned donors, but it has plenty of other tools available.

Taken together, the announcement testifies to a turning point in American politics: the calculation behind taking a public position on Israel has changed. But the flow of money is not stopping — only AIPAC's name is being taken off it.