AIPAC to End Candidate Endorsements and PAC Contributions.

(Marc Rod, JewishInsider.com Oct. 21, 2026) AIPAC leaders said that the United Democracy Project super PAC will continue, as the group urges its members to give directly to pro-Israel candidates.

AIPAC announced on Wednesday that, after three cycles of direct political involvement through its political action committee AIPAC PAC, it will no longer issue endorsements or directly earmark contributions to candidates, but said it will remain involved in political organizing and fundraising in other ways, including with its influential super PAC.

The decision is a striking turnabout just five years after the group first launched its PAC and super PAC and began directly endorsing and fundraising for candidates. The United Democracy Project super PAC, which launched alongside AIPAC’s PAC in 2021 and has spent tens of millions across numerous races, will continue its engagement.

In the current election cycle, AIPAC endorsements and donations have become a cudgel against lawmakers from the far left and far right, particularly with the emergence of anti-Israel activist groups targeting lawmakers for receiving money tied to Israel advocacy groups. A growing number of Democratic lawmakers — including some pro-Israel members like Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) — have also said they will reject donations from all outside political action committees, including AIPAC, or rejected AIPAC contributions specifically. 

AIPAC paused fundraising for 18 House Democrats earlier this year after they voted to cut U.S. aid to Israel, leaving 178 Republicans and 72 Democrats with active fundraising links on AIPAC portal.

“To win the fight for the future of the country and the U.S.-Israel alliance, we must build a more strategic, consequential, and nimble political operation. We will prioritize increasing direct, organized contributions from individual Americans to candidates — expanding upon our current efforts — and maximizing the emerging political fundraising tools,” a letter sent from AIPAC leadership to its members states. “Endorsements, direct PAC contributions, and earmarking will no longer be part of our approach so we can expand individual giving and utilize new tools to help our friends win.”

The decision came as a result of an evaluation by AIPAC’s board and a several-month strategic review, according to the letter.

Previously, earmarked donations made to candidates through AIPAC’s portal would show up on candidates’ fundraising reports as donated by the individual through AIPAC.

The AIPAC leaders added that “staff and local leaders will continue working” with members on fundraising and will recommend contributions to candidates “who are worthy of your support” — an approach reminiscent of  how the group operated before it launched its PAC in 2021, even as the group is maintaining its deep-pocketed UDP super PAC, which has played a pivotal role in numerous primaries since its inception. 

“Our measurement of success is the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa told Jewish Insider. “Our members have always been our greatest strength. … We’re putting more time and resources behind what’s most effective: AIPAC members’ direct contributions to candidates and increasing their impact over the next two years.”

Sousa said that AIPAC members contributed over $90 million to candidates this cycle, including earmarked donations through the AIPAC portal, compared to over $3 million in direct donations from the PAC itself. PACs are capped at providing $10,000 in direct donations per candidate each election cycle, a relatively small amount in the current fundraising environment.

She added that the UDP super PAC is “one of the most important tools that AIPAC members use to help defeat anti-Israel candidates.” 

Currently, AIPAC’s endorsement portal only includes sitting lawmakers, though the group has issued candidate endorsements in some open races.

The letter, signed by AIPAC President Bernie Kaminetsky, Board Chair Michael Tuchin, President-Elect Yehuda Neuberger and CEO Elliot Brandt, stated that the shift would allow AIPAC to “capitalize on new innovations and deliver even greater political impact to influence policy,” as well as allow AIPAC supporters to be “most effective” and “adapt quickly.”

But the AIPAC leaders also acknowledged the headwinds that the group has faced, calling the 2026 election “one of the most challenging environments in recent memory” and assessed that the “challenges we are confronting will continue to grow in the years ahead, and the 2028 cycle will demand an even stronger commitment by our activists to pro-Israel politics.”

The group said that securing the U.S.-Israel relationship going forward will require “[m]obilizing greater resources” for AIPAC, pro-Israel candidates and UDP.

Without providing specifics, the group stated that it has “seen a surge of new fundraising strategies that have changed how candidates raise and utilize resources” that were “inconceivable” when the PAC first launched and “present significant opportunities” to support pro-Israel candidates.

“We assess that these innovations are the beginning of a trend, and more new tools will be introduced in the next cycle,” the letter continues.

Sousa, the AIPAC spokesperson, told JI that the 2024 and 2026 cycles have been AIPAC’s biggest fundraising cycles in history and that the group aims to grow even further in the next cycle.

“The only tactic we’re married to is the most effective one … We have a highly engaged and motivated activist base, and the pro-Israel community is ready to stand with its friends in Congress,” she said.  “It’s always been that our activists have the biggest impact, and they are going to double down on their political contributions to candidates.”

Sousa emphasized that AIPAC had helped 290 candidates win this cycle and defeated 29 anti-Israel candidates — though the group suffered several high-profile defeats, including in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary, where its affiliated super PAC spent over $30 million supporting Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), and in a New Jersey congressional race, where its engagement indirectly helped a far-left anti-Israel Democrat emerge as an unlikely member of Congress.

Though UDP was involved in both races, AIPAC’s PAC did not issue public endorsements in either one.

Groups like TrackAIPAC and other anti-Israel activists had already begun targeting individual pro-Israel or Jewish donors — even when they contributed to candidates separately from AIPAC — and labeling their donations as AIPAC money. AIPAC’s decision to end earmarking contributions for candidates may put that practice of targeting Jewish donors, which garnered accusations of antisemitism, into sharper relief.

The new AIPAC strategy will also allow its supporters to continue contributing to candidates who have said publicly that they will reject contributions from AIPAC, or from PACs in general.

But it will also likely force a shift in AIPAC’s messaging on its bipartisan political work; the group previously boasted about being the top fundraiser for Democrats, as well as members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Equality Caucus to push back on left-wing attacks.