AIPAC Running Field Organizing in Maryland House Race

[Celerity]

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-05-10-aipac-field-organizing-maryland-house-race/

Congressional candidate Sarah Kelly Elfreth attends a Chesapeake Executive Council Meeting at EPA Headquarters in Washington, October 11, 2022.

Maryland congressional candidate Harry Dunn would seem to have the perfect background and message to represent the current coalition of the Democratic Party in a safe blue seat. He’s a Black former Capitol Police officer who defended the building on January 6th as a mob descended on him. He later wrote a book about his experience that became a best-seller. Now he’s running for an open seat in Maryland’s Third District, vacated by retiring Rep. John Sarbanes (D), on a democracy reform platform that reflects the most commonly held values and aspirations of the party this election cycle.

But to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Dunn looks like a threat, apparently. In April, the lobby’s affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, slotted a $600,000 ad buy in support of Dunn’s leading opponent, Sarah Kelly Elfreth, an experienced state legislator who was elected with the backing of EMILYs List. The contents of those ad buys have so far lauded Elfreth’s credentials as a skilled, pragmatic legislator with accomplishments on issues from reproductive rights to climate. Those points directly mirror the “redbox” information put on her website, a work-around for campaigns to indirectly communicate with independent expenditure PACs without violating campaign finance laws.

We can’t ever let this happen again,’ Harry Dunn said when announcing his candidacy, referencing the January 6 attack. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

AIPAC and its affiliated PACs have directly contributed $170,000 to Elfreth’s campaign, and UDP has spent close to $4.2 million in support of Elfreth overall, the PAC’s second-largest expenditure thus far in the 2024 election cycle, according to the watchdog Open Secrets. The lobby’s efforts to get Elfreth elected have also significantly ramped up in recent weeks before Election Day on May 14th. In the final pre-primary reporting period, AIPAC and UDP’s network of donors accounted for over half of Elfreth’s maxed-out individual contributions, totaling nearly $150,000. A number of those top contributors to her campaign are GOP donors who have given to Trump and other Republicans in the past.

UDP’s level of investment in the race goes beyond fundraising though. The Prospect has learned that the PAC is actually embedded in Elfreth’s organizing infrastructure and helping run her ground game. UDP put out a job listing in early April for a team of paid field organizers to do outreach and work on getting out the vote for the primary. The posting does not specifically name Elfreth, but according to campaign sources it is evident she’s the recipient since that race is the only contested Democratic primary in the state where AIPAC is significantly invested. The payment is $4,000 per month for each organizer.



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