Sarah Elfreth, a 35-year-old state senator, won a crowded Democratic primary to succeed the retiring Rep. John Sarbanes in Maryland's 3rd congressional district, as reported by the Associated Press. She defeated 21 other candidates, including Harry Dunn, the Capitol Police officer who won fame for defending the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, and is expected to cruise to an easy general election victory in a deep-blue seat.
Elfreth didn't win alone. She received more than $4.2 million worth of support from groups associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), an advocacy group and fundraising giant that has weighed in on primary contests across the country, targeting candidates deemed as insufficiently pro-Israel and boosting their opponents. AIPAC spending on Elfreth's behalf through the United Democracy Project (UDP), a super PAC that also acted as AIPAC's conduit in its failed $4.6 million bid to block state Sen. David Min from succeeding Rep. Katie Porter in her California district.
