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<\/a><\/p>\nIllinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks on stage during Vox Media’s Pivot Tour at The Chicago Theatre on November 12, 2025 in Chicago. (Daniel Boczarski\/Getty Images for Vox Media)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A Jewish Democrat who was once an AIPAC donor, Pritzker called the $70 million in outside spending \u201cinterference,\u201d and said AIPAC in particular had lost its way as a truly bipartisan group.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became an organization that was supporting Donald Trump and people who follow Donald Trump,\u201d Pritzker told the Associated Press. \u201cAIPAC really is not an organization that I think today I would want any part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
AIPAC\u2019s spending in a handful of Illinois congressional primaries was often at the center of the races\u2019 coverage. The pro-Israel group claimed victory after none of the \u201cSquad\u201d-type, anti-Israel progressives won the nomination, though two of its four preferred House candidates lost.<\/p>\n
Critics panned AIPAC for spending mostly through \u201cshell PACs,\u201d with innocuous-sounding names like \u201cElect Chicago Women\u201d and \u201cAffordable Chicago Now,\u201d and said that was an indicator of AIPAC\u2019s rapidly diminishing popularity among Democrats.<\/p>\n
Pritzker, who is from one of Illinois\u2019 wealthiest and most philanthropic families with a record of giving to Jewish causes, has a long record of supporting Israel. In 2013, he was honored at a fundraiser for Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces. He has given to AIPAC, and he spoke at a pro-Israel rally in the days following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. A square in Jerusalem is named for his grandfather.<\/p>\n
He is also a possible presidential candidate in party where a poll this week found that only 13% of members say they have a \u201cpositive\u201d view of Israel, and where refusal of AIPAC support has become something of a litmus test.<\/p>\n
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, also seen as likely to run in 2028, proudly said last month that he never has and \u201cnever will\u201d accept any money from AIPAC.<\/p>\n
While many Democrats\u2019 positions on Israel have shifted over the course of the Gaza war, AIPAC has remained steadfast in drawing a red line against candidates who are open to conditioning military aid to Israel. Pritzker would be one of those candidates.<\/p>\n
Though governors do not vote on matters of foreign policy, Pritzker came out in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 resolutions limiting weapons sales to Israel in 2025, saying it would send \u201cthe right kind of message.\u201d<\/p>\n
His comments on Wednesday were not his first public criticism of the group that he was once a donor to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI abandoned AIPAC more than a dozen years ago,\u201d he said in a New York Times interview earlier this month. \u201cIt was an organization that had at one time been bipartisan in nature and really all about preserving a strong relationship between the United States and Israel. But about a dozen years ago, the organization began to lean much more to the right and much more pro-Trump, who had then become a candidate for president, and that disturbed me greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pritzker noted that AIPAC was purely a public affairs council, and not a PAC at the time, meaning that it did not give money to candidates. It began donating directly to candidates only after forming a PAC in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the organization became political,\u201d he said. \u201cThey created a super PAC. They began to get involved in elections directly and choosing to support candidates who were MAGA and right-wing and Trumpy.\u201d<\/p>\n
AIPAC, which prides itself on supporting candidates on both sides of the aisle, has faced criticism for endorsing more than 100 lawmakers who\u2019d voted to overturn the election results after Trump\u2019s loss on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just didn\u2019t want anything to do with that,\u201d Pritzker said.<\/p>\n