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July 18, 2022
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2022
Inside a nasty member-on-member primary
The final weeks of the member-on-member primary between Michigan Democratic Reps. Andy Levin and Haley Stevens are turning pretty nasty. Levin and his allies are starting to air negative attacks against Stevens in order to counter what they say is an avalanche in ad spending from AIPAC’s United Democracy Project ahead of the Aug. 2 election.
While having Israel-related advocacy groups flex their muscles in Democratic primaries is nothing new, the Stevens-Levin primary marks the only race this cycle where AIPAC, via its super PAC, is seeking to unseat an incumbent.
In the eight other Democratic primaries where the United Democracy Project has spent money this cycle, two were to defend Democratic incumbents (Reps. Shontel Brown in Ohio and Henry Cuellar in Texas) and six were in open-seat races.
When AIPAC launched UDP, progressives speculated the group would target high-profile anti-AIPAC lawmakers like the Squad. But to date, the super PAC has focused on blocking left-wing candidates from winning safe Democratic seats while protecting pro-Israel incumbents from progressive challengers.
This dynamic is playing out tomorrow in Maryland’s 4th District Democratic primary pitting former Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) against UDP-backed Glenn Ivey. J Street Action Fund — the political wing of the progressive pro-Israel advocacy group — has attacked Ivey as a big business lobbyist; UDP has spent millions trying to paint Edwards as an ineffective representative and boost Ivey.
In Michigan’s 11th District, the United Democracy Project has poured more than $2.2 million into ads supporting Stevens, a second-term member who’s aligned with the moderate wing of the Democratic Party. J Street Action Fund has spent roughly $700,000 to back Levin. The disparity in resources, Levin and his allies say, is justification for the recent attacks on Stevens.
“Whatever moves are happening are purely defensive moves because of the efforts to inject millions of outside dollars in spending in my primary,” Levin said.
A Levin campaign ad recently labeled Stevens “the wrong kind of Democrat,” while a spot from J Street Action Fund linked Stevens with the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Stevens dismissed the ads as a sign of desperation from the Levin camp.
“It’s what all my opponents do before they’re about to lose to me, which is attack,” Stevens told us.
Stevens’ allies have objected in particular to a J Street ad that criticizes Stevens for receiving donations from AIPAC’s PAC. The spot says AIPAC’s PAC endorsed 109 Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
“[AIPAC is] supporting the likes of Jim Jordan and Ronny Jackson and Scott Perry and this Loudermilk guy who organized the tours of the insurrection on Jan. 5. I mean, this isn’t a joke,” Levin told us. Here’s more from Levin:
“No campaign cash is worth abandoning our democracy,” the narrator in the J Street ad says while images of the attack on the Capitol flash across the screen.
UDP responded in a new ad over the weekend saying Levin should be “ashamed” of the “despicable” J Street ad.
“Evoking one of the darkest days in the history of our country in an attack ad against a sitting Democrat who voted twice to impeach Donald Trump and who lived through Jan. 6 on Capitol Hill is dangerous and in extremely poor taste,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a member of the Jan. 6 committee, told us.
AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann also hit back at J Street:
The Levins-Stevens race has been fractious from the start. Levin’s decision to run in the 11th District enraged other House Democrats who thought he should run in the redrawn, politically competitive 10th District.
Instead, Levin and Stevens are now battling it out for a safe Democratic seat. Several Democratic lawmakers and aides told us they think Stevens has the upper hand in the race, hence the negative ads from Levin and J Street.
The J Street ad in particular, which infers a link between Stevens and the Jan. 6 insurrection, left several Democrats fuming.
“It reeks of desperation on J Street’s part,” said one senior Democratic aide.
Levin says outside groups supporting Stevens went negative on him “months ago.” Levin cited a January email from a former AIPAC president sent to pro-Israel donors that labeled Levin – who is Jewish – as “arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the US-Israel relationship.” Multiple former and current Jewish members of Congress condemned David Victor’s comments.
Victor told us that he stood by this characterization. “[Levin] has all this sort of platform and credibility, and he’s claiming to be pro-Israel yet he’s acting in the opposite way,” Victor said. “There’s this huge disconnect between who he thinks he is on the issue and the way he behaves.”
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a Levin endorser, acknowledged the brutal reality of the Democratic infighting has prompted the negative ads.
“We hate member-against-member races, right, because they’re tough,” Pocan said.
“Democratic primary voters are going to find more appealing someone who votes with them more often, like Andy,” Pocan added.
— Max Cohen
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