Americans are changing their minds about Israel, and on November 3 it showed up at the ballot box. A Quincy Institute tally found that AIPAC, its super PAC United Democracy Project, and affiliated PACs spent about $84 million on races decided as of November 4. About $55 million of it, nearly two-thirds, went to candidates who lost. In 2022, 69% of United Democracy Project spending went to winners. In 2024 it was 87%.
The biggest bet was Michigan. AIPAC-linked groups spent more than $30 million in the Democratic Senate primary trying to stop Abdul El-Sayed, who opposes US military aid to Israel. He won the primary. They then reportedly put about $9 million behind Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed beat him too, and became the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. On election night he had a message for AIPAC:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to beat you twice.
Michigan wasn't the only loss. In Maine, AIPAC-linked groups gave more than $4.8 million to support Senator Susan Collins. She lost to Troy Jackson, who has criticized Israel's assault on Gaza and opposes unconditional military aid to Israel. In Illinois, United Democracy Project spent $6.31 million trying to stop Daniel Biss, who won. In California, pro-Israel groups spent more than $6 million backing Melissa Hernandez against Aisha Wahab. Wahab won too. Adam Hamawy, a surgeon who volunteered treating wounded Palestinians in Gaza, became the first Muslim and first Arab American elected to the House from New Jersey, and Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who have both called for ending military aid to Israel, were re-elected.
Voters have spent three years watching what Israel is doing in Gaza. In September 2025, a UN Commission of Inquiry chaired by Navi Pillay concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, and named Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and former defense minister Yoav Gallant as having incited it. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli rights group B'Tselem have all found that Israel's rule over Palestinians amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects these findings.
Public opinion has moved with it. In February, Gallup found that for the first time in its polling, Israelis no longer lead in Americans' sympathies: 41% sided more with Palestinians and 36% with Israelis. In 2023 it was 54% for Israelis and 31% for Palestinians. Among Americans aged 18 to 34, 53% now side more with Palestinians, the first time a majority of that age group has said so.
Even President Trump has noticed. On Election Day he told Fox News that the US will stop giving Israel $4 billion a year in aid starting in 2027, saying "they don't need it," and he pointed to El-Sayed's campaign, where aid to Israel had become an issue. Weapons sales to Israel will continue.
Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute put it this way: We have entered a new era. He argues that candidates now see AIPAC money as toxic.
AIPAC still won plenty. It says 234 of the candidates it backed won, and Newsweek reports it helped defeat several prominent critics of Israel in primaries this year, including Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky. In October, AIPAC said it would stop endorsing candidates and making direct contributions after this cycle, though more of its spending already runs through affiliated PACs. After the vote, it said its members are determined to expand their political activism in the cycles ahead.
The killing in Gaza went on through all of it. Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 1,600 Palestinians have been killed since the October 2025 ceasefire took effect, and 74,618 since October 2023. On November 5, an Israeli drone fired two missiles at a tent sheltering displaced people west of az-Zawayda, and a child was killed by Israeli fire in Bureij refugee camp. Gaza's Government Media Office counted 753 Israeli ceasefire violations in October.
For years, taking AIPAC money was the safe move in American politics. This year a lot of the candidates it backed lost, and more Americans are refusing to look away from Gaza. Voters are watching how Congress votes on Israel. Contact your senators and representatives and tell them where you stand.