In a recent op-ed, billionaire businessman and political donor Michael Sacks attempted to frame the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as a misunderstood and necessary arbiter of “mainstream” Democratic values. He suggests that those criticizing the organization’s unprecedented spending in Democratic primaries are out of step with the party’s core principle of “big tent” inclusion. But the last few years have shown that it is actually Sacks who is out of touch with the growing majority of Democratic primary voters, not just in Illinois but across the country.

Despite AIPAC’s claims of victory in Illinois primaries, the actual Democratic primary numbers tell a different story. In the Illinois 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary, around 50% of voters did not support an AIPAC-backed candidate. In Illinois’ 8th District Democratic race, almost 70% of voters did not support the AIPAC-backed candidate. And in the 7th and 9th districts, almost 80% of Democratic primary voters rejected AIPAC-backed candidates. That is not a mandate.

For decades, AIPAC’s lobbying priorities have been to ensure ongoing and unconditional U.S. military funding and support for the Israeli government’s atrocities against Palestinians. It is deeply misleading to frame AIPAC’s spending as a transparent effort to support pro-Israel candidates and to claim that these efforts are no different than those of any other interest group. If that were true, why hide its agenda? Why hide its donors and its policy objectives behind shell super political actions committees like “Elect Chicago Women” and “Affordable Chicago Now”?

Funded by AIPAC donors, these super PACs spent millions on ads focused on the cost of living and gender representation while never mentioning Israel or foreign policy. This is a deliberate attempt to hide their agenda from voters who have become increasingly wary of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, its war crimes against Palestinians, its illegal invasion of Lebanon and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. If AIPAC’s platform is as popular as Sacks claims, then why does it need to launder its message through shell PACs? 

Recent polling by NBC News showed that Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza has shifted public opinion. Conditioning, limiting and even halting military funding and weapons to Israel — because of its clear violations of international and U.S. law — is becoming the mainstream position for the Democratic primary electorate. Our own Democratic governor recently said that he has cut ties with AIPAC because of its connections to Republican donors and its evolution into a right-leaning, pro-Donald Trump organization. 

Democratic voters are also becoming increasingly concerned about the corrupting influence of dark money in our politics. Whether it is artificial intelligence, crypto, DraftKings or AIPAC, Democrats are wary of the way the ultrawealthy are using super PACs to have an outsize influence on Democratic politics. We can’t call out the insurrectionists and authoritarianism in the White House as anti-democratic while refusing to call out the super PACs drowning out the voices of everyday working people.

AIPAC’s own super PAC, the United Democracy Project, is funded by the same MAGA-aligned billionaire donors who are working to dismantle the Democratic platform on climate change, labor rights and reproductive freedom. When Sacks tells us to embrace this spending, he is asking us to welcome unlimited spending by MAGA and Republican interests into our Democratic Party primaries. 

Using Republican money to defeat working-class progressive Democrats does not strengthen the Democratic Party; it weakens the brand and alienates our strongest supporters. It makes our primaries a playground for the highest bidder, as we saw play out during the 2026 Illinois primary. Most alarming is that this spending is no longer limited to federal campaigns. These super PACs also targeted state-level races and will likely soon make their way to the upcoming municipal contests.

Despite the millions spent to buy the 2026 Illinois Democratic primary elections, the results proved that the era of unquestioned and unconditional U.S. support for genocide is ending. No amount of op-eds or Republican-funded super PACs can change the reality that Democratic voters are demanding more from those of us who are leaders in the party. 

The claim that criticism of AIPAC is a “thinly disguised effort” to “chase Jews and their allies out of our big tent coalition” is a disingenuous attempt to discredit and dismiss outrage and concern about U.S. backing for genocide and war. The Jewish diaspora is diverse in opinion on these matters and should not be flattened. To claim that AIPAC, one organization that lobbies for one particular political line, is speaking for all Jewish voices is false and dangerous.

If Sacks is serious about committing to a big-tent Democratic Party, he should acknowledge the incredible privilege and power his billionaire status affords him. He should reflect on why the majority of Democratic primary voters in Illinois have such a strong distaste for the politics of AIPAC, super PACs and the billionaire class. Instead of claiming that we are a hostile minority, he could earnestly seek to understand the perspectives of the anti-war working-class leaders who are shaping the future of the Democratic Party and leading the fight against Trump’s authoritarian agenda. Instead of targeting working-class candidates who do not share his views, he should actually listen to and follow the lead of the working people who make up the vast majority of our party.

My politics will always focus on building a multiracial, multicultural and multifaith coalition of working people to transform our country into one that lives up to its promise of freedom, justice and prosperity for all.

The Democratic Party should be a home for this coalition, but it will never be that as long as AIPAC, corporate super PACs and billionaires are allowed unlimited and unaccountable influence in our politics. 

U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez is a Democrat from Chicago who represents Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District.

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