Takeaways from Maryland-04: GOP-Aligned Millions Should Not Shape Democratic Primary Results

July 20, 2022

J Street’s Vice President of Public Affairs, Kevin Rachlin, released the following statement on the results of the Democratic congressional primary in Maryland’s 4th district:

“While we in the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement are disappointed in the outcome of this race, we’re proud of our endorsee Donna Edwards for running a principled, hard-fought campaign, and we congratulate her opponent Glenn Ivey on his victory.

“Regardless of the ultimate outcome, we remain extremely alarmed by the outrageous amount of money dumped into this Democratic primary campaign by AIPAC, its SuperPAC UDP, and their affiliates. They spent nearly seven million dollars to attack and defeat Donna Edwards, outspending her campaign and allies by a staggering 7:1. They targeted her for defeat simply for holding principled, mainstream Democratic views about US diplomatic leadership in the Middle East, while their spokespeople baselessly smeared her as “anti-Israel.” It’s a deeply harmful trend we’ve seen again and again in this cycle.

“It’s extremely harmful to the Democratic party when a group that endorses over 100 Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th, and that is funded in part by Republican billionaires, spends seemingly unlimited sums of money to decisively shape the outcome of Democratic primaries. Democratic voters deserve to know that a Republican-aligned group with right-wing foreign policy views is pouring millions into Democratic primaries – yet far too many remain in the dark about this dramatic new trend in our politics.”

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