AIPAC Spends Millions Playing Political Hide-and-Seek in Illinois
KEY POINTS
- •AIPAC secretly spent nearly $9 million through PACs like Elect Chicago Women to influence four Illinois House races.
- •Their spending helped centrist Democrats Donna Miller and Melissa Bean defeat progressive rivals in the 2nd and 8th districts.
- •Despite heavy spending in some races, AIPAC lost key contests in the 7th and 9th districts, with progressives scoffing at their tactics.
In a dramatic soap opera worthy of a daytime Emmy, AIPAC, the pro-Israel group with a wallet fat enough to make Jeff Bezos blush, funneled nearly $9 million through sneaky PACs named Elect Chicago Women and Chicago Progressive Partnership — which sound like PTA groups, not money armies. Their payouts blasted ads attacking pro-Palestinian progressives in Illinois' 2nd and 8th districts, funding genteel centrists like Donna Miller ($4.5M ad blitz) and Melissa Bean ($3.3M + crypto & AI PAC bonus rounds). Meanwhile, AIPAC's grand attempt to sneak their candidate past rising progressive stars ended in a political game of Whac-A-Mole, losing big in races like the 7th and 9th districts despite pouring the full $5M salvo via United Democracy Project. Bonus plot twist: they even boosted one progressive candidate to take down another, confirming AIPAC's new motto is 'divide, confuse, conquer.' As one unnamed progressive quipped, AIPAC’s messaging is so toxic it’s basically political self-sabotage — but hey, at least it shows progressive slogans actually work.
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(1 of 3)AIPAC paid millions to pretend they’re progressive so they could crush progressives, but ended up fighting themselves like a political family reunion nobody asked for.
AIPAC spent big disguising itself as chill Chicago PACs, proving nothing says 'infiltration' like buying your own enemies.
They pumped millions into fake progressives, then blamed progressives for getting mad. The plot twist no one saw coming but everybody dared to expect.
Source: Axios | Published: 3/18/2026 | Author: Andrew Solender
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