Pro-Israel group plans to take on Squad members

BOSTON — A powerful pro-Israel group positioning to try to take down liberal “Squad” members in next year’s elections over their condemnations of Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. It's still searching for a challenger to at least one of them.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is attempting to recruit challengers to some Squad members — the group is planning to back a Democratic county executive against Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), for instance — and is expected to spend upwards of $100 million to try and knock out the incumbents.

In 2022, AIPAC and an affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, spent more than $26 million helping pro-Israel candidates — many of whom won.

But the group is undecided on whether to wade into Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley's reelection in Massachusetts against likely tough odds in 2024.

Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson United Democracy Project, said in an email “all of our research and intel to date indicates voters have serious concerns about anti-Israel candidates like Ayanna … who refused to vote to condemn the Hamas Oct. 7 terrorism on the House floor.”

But Dorton didn’t say if the group had specifically polled Pressley’s 7th District. And he said no decisions had been made yet on what races the group will wade into.

Pro-Palestinian protests have erupted across the Boston area in recent weeks — many of them taking place in Pressley’s liberal district and echoing her own views on the conflict. Pressley also hasn’t faced a serious challenger from either party since she defeated then-Rep. Mike Capuano in 2018.

For those reasons and others, finding a viable challenger to Pressley could prove difficult, local Democratic operatives say. Boston Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld posited that Josh Kraft, the son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who heads the Patriots’ philanthropic foundation and recently bought property in Boston, could take her on — though Kraft the told CommonWealth Beacon he’s also been approached about taking on Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

“Pressley is in no way vulnerable in anything I see,” Democratic strategist Scott Ferson said. She’s been reelected twice “because she’s very good and dynamic and all the things you’d be looking for in a member of Congress, but she also reflects her district.”

“Could they find somebody [to run against Pressley]? Sure,” Ferson added. “Could they beat Pressley? I would not bet that on any odds.”

Pressley is using the threat of an AIPAC-backed challenger to draw in donations to her reelection campaign. In a fundraising email sent over the weekend, she asked her supporters to split contributions between her campaign and Bowman’s.

“We need to keep Jamaal in Congress,” Pressley wrote in the email, noting that AIPAC is also “recruiting primary challengers to target me.” Harry Shipps, a spokesperson for Pressley’s campaign, said she remains focused on her work in Congress; he did not directly address AIPAC’s plans.

A version of this story first appeared in Monday's Massachusetts Playbook. Subscribe here.