American Priorities PAC has said it will capitalize on the growing anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the Dem base
A small group of deep-pocketed donors to New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, emboldened by his victory and seeking to capitalize on growing anti-Israel sentiment in the Democratic base, has funnelled millions of dollars into a new super PAC aimed at countering the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The money was not enough to take down the PAC’s first target, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D., N.C.). Sometimes it’s not always about the Benjamins.
The American Priorities PAC launched in February and quickly flooded the airwaves in North Carolina with $1.1 million in ads attacking Foushee for her ties to AIPAC. But the spending wasn’t enough to tip the scales in favor of Foushee’s challenger, Durham County commissioner Nida Allam, who has accused the United States of financing an Israeli “genocide of Palestinians.” Foushee declared victory in her primary early Wednesday morning after early results showed her with a 1 percent lead over Allam. A recount is likely.
Still, American Priorities says it will be a major player in left-wing politics this cycle. The group said in a press release that the 2026 midterms represent a “generational inflection point for the Democratic Party” with 80 percent of the party’s young primary voters in favor of restricting military aid to Israel. The group plans to spend eight figures in at least a dozen House races in 2026 in partnership with several left-wing groups, including the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, an anti-Israel activist group; Justice Democrats, the PAC that spearheaded Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D., N.Y.) 2018 campaign; and Leaders We Deserve, a group cofounded by activist David Hogg that supports far-left candidates in deep-blue House districts.
The group also invested $100,000 in ads supporting the Rev. Frederick Haynes III in his campaign to replace Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas). Haynes, who is best known for his praise of Louis Farrakhan and sermons denouncing Israel, won his primary Tuesday in a 50-point landslide.
American Priorities is funded by a handful of anti-Israel donors who appear to be emboldened by Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral election last year. Silicon Valley angel investor Tariq Afaq Ahmed, who gave $25,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a pro-Mamdani super PAC, told ABC News in July that Mamdani’s primary victory could signal the “infancy of something to come.”
Ahmed, who boasted in an Instagram post that he FaceTimes with Mamdani, donated $500,000 to American Priorities in January, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Omer Hasan, another Silicon Valley executive who donated $250,000 to the pro-Mamdani super PAC, gave $1 million to American Priorities.
Both Hasan and Ahmed are former executives of AppLovin, a marketing company facing accusations of alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party through one of its largest investors, the New York Post reported.
Mamdani’s links to the group extend beyond its donors. The treasurer for American Priorities, Brooklyn Democratic activist Mark Hanna, served alongside Mamdani in Rev. Khader El-Yateem’s failed 2017 City Council campaign. Mamdani said working on that campaign “transformed” his life, Jewish Insider reported.
Hanna did not return a request for comment.
Other major donors to American Priorities include Amir Nathoo, a board member of the Tech for Palestine charity who once lamented he was banned from LinkedIn for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, and Sam Mahrouq, the owner of at least 11 car dealerships in Texas who signed onto a letter in 2022 demanding FIFA sanction the Israeli Football Association.
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