A new progressive group is promising to spend at least $10 million to boost preferred Democratic candidates and counter pro-Israel groups that have spent tens of millions of dollars to shape party primaries in recent years.
The group, called American Priorities, has already reported spending more than $500,000 to boost North Carolina Democrat Nida Allam in her primary challenge against Rep. Valerie Foushee. It also spent $72,000 to support the Rev. Frederick Haynes III in his bid for a Dallas-area congressional district.
While campaign finance filings disclosed those outlays last week, the group's broader aims had not previously been revealed.
American Priorities plans to target at least 10 more races with a commitment to spend "eight figures," according to a news release announcing the group's creation. It says it's "focusing on competitive primaries where independent expenditures can move outcomes."
A source familiar with the group's planning told NBC News it's considering getting involved in other brewing contests, including:
- Tennessee's 9th District, where state Rep. Justin Pearson is running a primary campaign against longtime Rep. Steve Cohen.
- New York's 7th District, where progressive state Assemblymember Claire Valdez is part of a crowded field running for retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez's seat. Velázquez is backing Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
- New Jersey's 11th District, where progressive Democrat Analilia Mejía just won a nationally watched special House primary where a pro-Israel group spent heavily.
- Open Democratic primaries in Illinois' 8th and 9th districts in the Chicago area.
The group's launch announcement doesn't outline specific criteria candidates must meet to earn its backing. But American Priorities is pointing to public polling showing a shift among Democrats toward embracing a more critical approach on Israel as more Democratic lawmakers in Congress are supporting legislation calling for new restrictions on sending Israel offensive weapons.
"The 2026 midterms represent a generational inflection point for the Democratic Party, where there is an opportunity to elect Congresspeople whose views on foreign policy are plainly reflective of where the Democratic base has moved," the news release read. American Priorities "will be spending in key races throughout the country to ensure that the Democratic Party keeps pace with the evolution of its own voters and does not squander the moment."
Hannah Fertig — a strategist who served in key roles on Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign and for the progressive, incumbent-challenging group Justice Democrats — will lead the PAC's work. The group is also working with progressive consulting firms like Middle Seat and Fight Agency.
The group's largest initial investment, backing Allam over Foushee in North Carolina's deep-blue Research Triangle, comes in a district where the politics of Israel have played a big role in recent years.
Allam, a member of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, has criticized Foushee over her past support for Israel and for her 2024 meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. United Democracy Project, a super PAC primarily funded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, spent millions to help Foushee defeat Allam in an open-seat race for the district in 2022.
This time, pro-Israel groups haven't spent money on the race. Foushee told NBC News in a statement earlier this month that she "co-sponsored legislation to block arms sales to Israel because it is clear to me and my constituents that the Netanyahu government’s indiscriminate killing of innocent Palestinians cannot continue.”
The rift between pro-Israel groups and progressives has widened over the years as groups like United Democracy Project spent tens of millions of dollars against progressive candidates in Democratic primaries. Former Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bowman of New York are among the high-profile progressives who lost primary races to challengers boosted by UDP.
UDP financial support includes tens of millions from AIPAC and from some heavyweight Republican donors, leading many progressives to cast the spending as an incursion by Republicans into Democratic Party politics, although other major donors donate to Democrats, too.
Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson with UDP, told NBC News in a statement about the group that "Americans have the right to engage in the political process according to the laws."
"Surely, this group will be subject to the same scrutiny and demonization from the far-left that UDP has confronted, otherwise it exposes their pure hypocrisy and double standards," he added.
