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.
Dunn, who used his story to run on a platform focused on defending democracy, had declared support for Israel's "right to defend itself" but added that he was "glad President Biden has advocated for an approach that reduces unnecessary civilian casualties.” Most of the other candidates, including Elfreth, held similarly orthodox views.
Elfreth, who ran largely on bipartisan legislation that she authored or sponsored in the state senate rather than on Israel or Palestine, expressed surprise at AIPAC's support, but did not reject its help. AIPAC, for its part, claimed that Elfreth's victory "underscores that it is entirely consistent with progressive values to stand with the Jewish state."
One of Elfreth's opponents, labor attorney John Morse, had criticized AIPAC's support for her candidacy, telling Salon it was an intervention on behalf of someone they think "will turn a blind eye to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza." Sarah Turnbull, a former Maryland Democratic Party chair, self-described Zionist and supporter of Dunn, told Salon that the AIPAC and its "mega-donors" had made the race about Israel “above and beyond every other issue that matters to the American people,” and are “attempting to determine races across this country.”
Though super PACs are not allowed to coordinate with the candidates that they support, many AIPAC donors followed in the organization's lead by contributing directly to Elfreth's campaign. Several of them are known for supporting Republican and right-wing causes, including Trump fundraisers Larry Mizel, Robert Kargman, Robert Sarver, and Daniel Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
In the closing days of the campaign, Dunn ran ads attacking Elfreth for benefiting from those donations. Elfreth's campaign sidestepped the issue, choosing to highlight her support from labor unions and liberal groups like the Sierra Club.
