Filings show a political action committee tied to AIPAC spent $1.3 million on attacks against former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal in May while giving $1 million to a group supporting her opponent.
The nation’s most prominent pro-Israel group spent big last month to influence the race to replace outgoing Oregon U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer.
New filings show a political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, donated $1.3 million in May to a group that spent more than $3.2 million waging attacks on one of three central candidates in that race: former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal.
The group also poured $1 million into a separate group that lavished more than $2 million in support on Maxine Dexter, the physician and state lawmaker who ultimately won the race.
Those efforts, combined with a surge in fundraising from donors with ties to AIPAC, provided a major boost to Dexter. She is now all but assured a seat in Congress next year as the Democratic nominee in the deep blue Portland district.
The $1.3 million contribution was reported on Thursday by an AIPAC-affiliated political action committee called the United Democracy Project. The money went to Voters for Responsive Government, an out-of-state PAC that surfaced in April, that has offered no reasons for its interest in the Oregon primary.
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