AIPAC Steers Donations to Michigan Senate Candidate Haley Stevens Through Portals That Obscure Its Role

AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is a prolific political spender, and according to the source it has begun steering pro-Israel money through a new method. As the group’s brand becomes toxic in many Democratic primaries, the source reports, AIPAC points donors to online portals it controls. These portals send money directly to candidates’ campaigns, so AIPAC’s name does not appear in public data.

The source reports this in Michigan, where Rep. Haley Stevens is in a three-way race for an open Senate seat. Her rival, Abdul El-Sayed, has criticized her campaign’s financial support from AIPAC, charging that the funds have bought her support for U.S. military aid to Israel. The Detroit News estimated, based on receipts from individuals who donated to both AIPAC and Haley Stevens for Senate, that AIPAC raised several million dollars for Stevens. The source says a fundraising page on AIPAC’s website directed funds to Stevens’ campaign, and that her campaign made payments to a company called Democracy Engine, which provides the AIPAC donor portals. The source attributes this finding to an investigation.

The source says this is not the only instance. AIPAC sent emails to donors last summer and fall directing them to candidate-specific links on a website called Pro-Israel Network. In a September email quoted by the source, Cari Toppel, an area director, wrote: “Use the link below to contribute to one, two or all three pro-Israel candidates.” The pages linked to donations for Stevens, Fine, and Angie Craig, who is running for Senate in Minnesota. According to the source, the portals let AIPAC collect information about donors, including how much they gave, and share it with the candidate. The source notes this would not be possible if supporters donated through the candidate’s own website. Donors who give through such a channel may not see the organization’s role in the gift, which is a matter of transparency the source treats as central to the story (Proverbs 18:17).

AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment for the story, the source reports. The group did condemn the Detroit News article on X. “The obsession with tracking how individual American citizens support candidates of their choice is outrageous,” AIPAC wrote. The source also notes that AIPAC has created political action committees with names that obscure their origin.

During a debate in Michigan on a Thursday night, the source reports, a moderator asked “what that money means and what it buys.” Stevens largely avoided answering, and El-Sayed responded that it “buys $3.5 billion sent to a foreign military that could be used here.” The source also reports that in March, Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona moderate considered a rising Democratic star, said: “I wouldn’t take AIPAC money because you have to basically be endorsing what’s happening right now and it’s not good.”

The source describes AIPAC as seeking to influence Democratic primaries and to block or slow the party’s drift to the left on Israel. It cites the group’s wins in 2021, when it helped elect Shontel Brown in Cleveland, and in 2024, when it helped defeat Cori Bush in St. Louis and Jamaal Bowman in Westchester County. In the 2026 cycle, the source reports, progressive candidates and groups are pushing to make an official endorsement, or a major advertising campaign on a candidate’s behalf, a political liability for candidates AIPAC supports. Track AIPAC, an organization that monitors the group’s contributions, has published graphics showing how much money candidates received from pro-Israel donors, and many prominent Democrats have rushed to announce that they will not accept support from AIPAC.

Source: Read the original report