A pro-Israel group is wading into nearly a dozen contentious House primaries as it tries to shape the Democratic Party’s approach to the controversial issue.
The Democratic Majority for Israel PAC, which backs pro-Israel Democrats, is endorsing 11 House candidates, including several in expensive and crowded primaries the party must win in order to retake the House. The group’s initial endorsement list was shared first with POLITICO.
DMFI, first launched in 2019, is one of several groups across the political spectrum looking to influence the party’s views on Israel, even as its military operations in Gaza have divided the Democratic Party and become an early litmus test for both 2026 congressional candidates and 2028 presidential hopefuls.
The endorsements include candidates in six battleground races and five more in safe-blue, but crowded, Democratic primaries. They are backing moderate state Rep. Shannon Bird over progressive state Rep. Manny Rutinel for the right to face Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) in a swingy Colorado district.
In New York, the group is backing Cait Conley, who has entered a crowded primary to take on Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) in a district which Kamala Harris won by a one-point margin in 2024. In Texas, DMFI has endorsed police officer Johnny Garcia in a wide-open primary for the newly drawn, red-leaning seat.
DMFI is backing a pair of candidates in two of the four most competitive seats in Pennsylvania — Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who will face off against Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), and former TV anchor Janelle Stelson, who is also on track to run against Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). And in Virginia, former Rep. Elaine Luria picked up the group’s support as she vies to take on her former opponent, Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.).
The other candidates who are receiving DMFI’s endorsement are all running in crowded primaries in safe blue seats: Maryland state Del. Adrian Boafo, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.); Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, who is running to replace Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), who is running for Senate; and former Obama administration official Maura Sullivan, who is running to replace Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), who is running for the Senate.
“The vast majority of Americans support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state and understand the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” said former Rep. Kathy Manning, who serves on the DMFI PAC board. “If you’re running in a competitive district, you need Democrats, you need independents, you need Republicans.”
Several groups, including DMFI and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC, are boosting pro-Israel candidates with significant outside spending. The two groups have often overlapped in their endorsements, but AIPAC supports Democrats and Republicans — and has drawn the ire of progressives. DMFI, for its part, is focused on regaining a Democratic congressional majority.
AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, dropped more than $38 million on independent expenditures in 2024, while DMFI spent about $4.3 million. DMFI President Brian Romick said the group expects to be spending “comfortably” in the “seven-figures again” in 2026 but declined to elaborate further on the plans.
In Illinois, among the first primaries next month, DMFI and AIPAC appear aligned in their preferred candidates. DMFI announced it is backing former Rep. Melissa Bean, who is running to replace Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who is running for the Senate, and Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, who is vying to replace Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), another Senate candidate.
Bean and Miller have also attracted attention for their connections to AIPAC. Their primary opponents in both races have accused them of benefiting from AIPAC’s spending, concealed by shell super PACs that are boosting them with hundreds of thousands of dollars in positive TV spending. But DMFI has not yet endorsed in Illinois’ 9th District, another contentious primary to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky that AIPAC appears to have waded into.
Earlier this month, AIPAC triggered a wave of criticism and frustration, even from its own allies, for spending $2 million to sink former Rep. Tom Malinowski in a congressional special election in New Jersey. The group’s spending backfired, eliminating Malinowski, but failing to lift up its preferred candidate. Analilia Mejia, a progressive organizer who has said Israel committed genocide in Gaza, ultimately won.
Romick and Manning declined to comment on AIPAC’s strategy, with the former congresswoman noting DMFI is “a distinctly different and separate organization.”
In 2024, DMFI and AIPAC targeted former Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in 2024, both of whom lost their primaries to pro-Israel candidates. Romick demurred on whether DMFI planned to target any Democratic incumbents in 2026, adding that it is going “to take these primaries as they come and see if things develop.”
Jessica Piper contributed reporting.
