AIPAC’s Support For Election Deniers Becomes Flashpoint In Maryland House Race
Former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn called out AIPAC’s GOP ties after the pro-Israel group’s super PAC backed one of his opponents.
A former U.S. Capitol police officer, now running for Congress in suburban Maryland, is slamming AIPAC’s intervention in his race, noting the group’s support for dozens of Republicans who objected to certifying the 2020 election results even after the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
Harry Dunn, who endured anti-Black racism while defending the Capitol from rioters on Jan. 6, said the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the United Democracy Project ― a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee ― is spending in his race amounts to a threat to the democratic norms he fought to uphold during the infamous effort by violent demonstrators to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election.
“Every candidate for Maryland’s Third Congressional District should immediately condemn this dark money spending bankrolled by MAGA Republicans,” Dunn said. “Candidates who receive this support accept the endorsement of an organization that has backed candidates and members of Congress who incited the rioters I fought on January 6th and tried to overthrow our democracy.”
Dunn is also due to hold a press conference on Wednesday morning about “rejecting MAGA super PAC money.”
Harry Dunn (left) stands beside President Joe Biden before receiving the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second-highest civilian honor, on Jan. 6, 2023.PATRICK SEMANSKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
UDP is legally obligated to disclose its direct donors, but it may receive donations from corporations and nonprofits whose funders are not public. And while UDP is almost exclusively active in Democratic primaries, some of the super PAC’s top contributors are indeed Republican mega-donors like Bernie Marcus and Paul Singer. The group has already reserved $600,000 worth of airtime to support state Sen. Sarah Elfreth, a mainstream Democrat who was the leading fundraiser in the contest before Dunn’s entrance.
The spending, first reported by Jacob Rubashkin of Inside Elections, came as something of a surprise to observers who spotted no clear stakes for U.S.-Israel policy in the race.
Within hours though, news of the sudden cash influx had upended the May 14 Democratic primary in Maryland’s 3rd, which contains Annapolis and suburbs of Baltimore and D.C. It’s the latest example of how AIPAC’s aggressive approach to tamping down dissent from the establishment consensus on Israel and Palestine is rattling primaries in safe Democratic House seats.
In this case, however, rather than try to stamp out Dunn’s campaign, Dunn is very likely collateral damage on the way to stopping another candidate: John Morse, a labor lawyer endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday.
Morse has been a consistent and outspoken critic of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Following the killing of over 100 Palestinians seeking food aid in late February, Morse wrote on X, “The murder and starvation of innocent people must stop now.”