California progressive advances to general election despite AIPAC attacks

Dave Min, a progressive running for a US House seat in southern California, has won enough votes to advance to the general election in November despite AIPAC spending millions to oppose him.

Min's race for California's 47th Congressional District, which Katie Porter vacated when she chose to run for Senate, was one of the few unpredictable outcomes on Super Tuesday. 

"Overall, I think it's great that Dave Min won despite AIPAC spending US$4.5 million against him, kind of a surprising outcome there. Otherwise... not any other surprises," Connor Farrell, CEO of Left Rising, told The New Arab.

On Wednesday night, after enough votes were counted in the tight race, his Democratic opponent in the race, Joanna Weiss, called him to concede.

In a social media post, she wrote that she has "pledged to do all I can to keep [California's 47th district] blue."

Orange County has historically leaned conservative. However, in recent years, it has trended more progressive, and elected officials reflect this shift. 

For months, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which is reportedly spending around US$100 million in the 2024 election cycle, spent more than US$4.7 million opposing Min's campaign. In their ads, by their super PAC, the United Democracy Project, they focused on a drunk driving arrest, for which Min has expressed remorse. 

In local media reports on the race, many have expressed confusion over why AIPAC would invest so heavily in a race to oppose a candidate who has not said much in the way of public statements on Israel. 

A February report by Jewish Insider, quoting Min's campaign manager, Dan Driscollo, shed some light on this question, pointing to his opposition to West Bank settlement expansion and criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Despite State Sen. Min's support of Israel and a broad coalition of endorsements from the Jewish community, a number of Republican donors at AIPAC are upset that he has called for Bibi Netanyahu to be held accountable for the security failures on Oct. 7 and Netanyahu's failure of leadership during this crisis," Driscoll said in a statement to the publication. "Sen. Min does not believe in the annexation of West Bank settlements; he had hoped that a constructive dialogue could be had. It appears they disagreed."

Other than the loss against Min, 32 other AIPAC-endorsed Democrats won in the primary elections. 

The Israel lobby group, through its political action committees, has in the past targeted progressives without a history of making strong statements related to Israel, possibly because of the likelihood that they would eventually become critical of Israel as part of their progressive platform. Given the growth in criticism of Israel among progressives, this could arguably be a potential predictor.