Arabic version: إنفاق أيباك يرسم ملامح الانتخابات التمهيدية لمجلس الشيوخ في ميشيغان
According to Al Jazeera, political action committees and a dark-money group have spent more than $60m supporting US Representative Haley Stevens or opposing Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s primary. El-Sayed, a progressive epidemiologist and former public health official, is running against Stevens to succeed retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters.
AIPAC’s election arm, United Democracy Project, had spent $30,638,639.63 on the contest as of Saturday evening, Al Jazeera reported, calling it a record for the group. Federal Election Commission records showed that AIPAC and other PACs had spent more than $54m to help Stevens. The Center for Democratic Priorities spent about $6.5m on advertisements supporting Stevens, according to local media reports, but had not reported that spending to the FEC.
UDP raised $100m during the election cycle, including $30m from AIPAC, which directs the PAC and is its largest donor. Al Jazeera reported that other UDP funders include Paul Singer, the Kraft Group, Marc Rowan, Blair Frank, Haim Saban and David Cordish. The largest non-AIPAC spender, the newly formed A Stronger Michigan, spent more than $17m and was mostly funded by the nonprofit Center Forward.
Independent groups have also spent about $3.5m to support El-Sayed, with Fighting for Michigan the largest spender in that camp. El-Sayed has raised $14.5m in direct campaign donations, compared with Stevens’s $11.9m. PACs cannot coordinate with candidate campaigns under the law, while individual donations to campaigns are capped at $3,500 per person per election.
Stevens said during a recent debate that campaign-finance reform is a broader problem and that she did not see much difference between super PACs supporting either candidate. El-Sayed has made AIPAC’s involvement a central campaign issue, arguing that Stevens is beholden to donors. The primary winner will face former Congressman Mike Rogers, the likely Republican nominee, in November.
