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In the Democratic primary for an open Congressional seat in central New Jersey, a deep-pocketed super PAC focused on Middle East politics is in the midst of dumping $2 million on its favored candidate.
Sounds like AIPAC. But in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, it’s a pro-Palestine super PAC called American Priorities that has spent around $700,000 in the past month on TV advertisements extolling the candidacy of Adam Hamawy, a surgeon and US army veteran running on a platform of ending all US aid and weapons sales to Israel. The 30-second TV ad paid for by the super PAC highlights the candidate’s military service in Iraq—and his medical work in Gaza.
American Priorities plans to spend another $1.3 million before the June 2nd Democratic primary in the ultra-blue district. It’s a test case for whether the left can lift the AIPAC playbook for themselves, pouring money into packed Democratic congressional primaries to elect their own candidate. “Just as AIPAC recognized that these crowded, formless primaries are fertile ground to come in with a blitz and define the race before anyone else can, American Priorities got there first in this race,” said Joey Fox, the DC reporter for the New Jersey Globe, who has been closely tracking the race.
Founded in February, American Priorities is bankrolled by a group of wealthy, mostly Muslim American businesspeople, many of whom work in tech. According to federal election filings, the group’s largest donations came from Omer Hasan and Mohammed Waqas, two tech workers who both made six-figure donations to a super PAC backing Zohran Mamdani during the 2025 New York City mayoral election. American Priorities recently spent $1 million to boost Nida Allam, who came close to knocking off an incumbent in a Democratic congressional primary in North Carolina, and $100,000 to support Frederick Haynes, who won his Democratic primary in Texas.
New Jersey’s 12th, where Hamawy is running, is fertile ground for anti-AIPAC, pro-Palestine messaging. The progressive incumbent, Bonnie Watson Coleman, who is retiring, has consistently won with large margins in the highly diverse, suburban-urban district. Watson Coleman has labeled Israel’s campaign in Gaza a genocide, is a co-sponsor of the Block the Bombs Act, which would bar the sale of certain munitions to Israel, and last March called for an arms embargo on Israel. “This is maybe the single best New Jersey district for a progressive politician,” said Fox.
The American Priorities ad spending on Hamawy is meant to help overcome his disadvantage as a political outsider running in a crowded field of progressive local elected officials. His most formidable opponent is Sue Altman, a well-known progressive advocate who previously ran for Congress. Altman now says she supports conditions on aid to Israel and the Block the Bombs Act, but was previously endorsed by the AIPAC-aligned group Democratic Majority for Israel in 2024.
“Our goal is to help create a structure that allows candidates who represent the mainstream of the Democratic Party on Israel and Palestine win elections,” said Greg Krieg, a spokesperson for American Priorities. “We can’t match AIPAC dollar for dollar. But we want candidates to know that they can say what they really feel, and they’ll have a cavalry.”
Such outside spending has long been controversial. Unlike traditional political action committees, there is no limit on how much donors can give to a super PAC. Historically, this has often allowed big money from corporations and right-wing donors to swamp primary races and take out progressive candidates. Since it created its own super PAC in 2021, AIPAC has reshaped the landscape of low-turnout Democratic primaries, spending tens of millions of dollars on ads. To aid George Latimer’s Democratic primary win in New York in 2024, for example, AIPAC’s super PAC spent a record-breaking $14.5 million against incumbent progressive Jamaal Bowman. As of the end of March, AIPAC’s super PAC reported having $93.4 million in cash.
AIPAC’s spending has become increasingly contentious this year, and a number of centrist and progressive Democratic presidential hopefuls have said they won’t take money from the group.
“They have been a dominant force in elections,” said Michael Beckel, the director of political reform group Issue One’s program on money in politics. “This year, we are seeing more backlash and controversy about the way that group has been spending money, especially in Democratic primary elections.”
Though the left remains ambivalent about money in politics, American Priorities shows they aren’t willing to leave the tool on the table.
“I would be more than happy to abolish all super PACs,” said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for Justice Democrats, a progressive electoral group that has endorsed Hamawy. But “if a few class traitors want to get together to fund an opposition to a super PAC and lobby that is an existential threat to our democracy, I think that’s okay.”
In New Jersey’s 12th, the group’s strategy seems to be working so far. An internal poll commissioned by Hamawy’s campaign shows the doctor in the lead with 19% support in the 12-candidate race, according to a New Jersey Globe report. “If you’re an outsider it’s very difficult to get your name out there, so we’re just getting people the basic biographical information and putting him on their maps,” said Krieg. “Not coincidentally, he seems to be going up in the polls.”
Hebah Kassem, Hamawy’s campaign manager, said voters have taken note of the TV spots. “Dr. Hamawy canvassed last week, and people were like, ‘Hey, you’re the doctor that we saw on TV,” she said. “It is definitely a shift in progressive politics to have positive ads versus the attacks we normally see.”
American Priorities isn’t the only force bolstering Hamawy’s chances: His campaign itself has also raised the most amount of money in the race, and he was recently endorsed by 314 Action, a big-spending group promoting scientist candidates across the country. Hamawy has also garnered the endorsements of a number of pro-Palestine groups, as well as progressive Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ro Khanna.
AIPAC has not spent money in the New Jersey race, though Hamawy has made anti-AIPAC messaging central to his candidacy. “Dr. Hamawy’s win in June would once again prove just how toxic AIPAC is in our politics, and also that this is where the Democratic voters are,” said Andrabi. “They are anti-war, anti-genocide, and pro funding Medicare for all.”
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