American Priorities

2026 election cycle

The first races the PAC involved itself in were two Democratic primaries for seats in the United States House of Representatives.^[7] One, in North Carolina, was a primary between incumbent representative Valerie Foushee, who had previously received support from AIPAC (although she disavowed AIPAC in 2025), and challenger Nida Allam.^[4] The PAC spent about $1 million in support of Allam, who went on to lose to the incumbent by less than 1% in the election in her district.^[3] The other was the open primary for Texas's 30th congressional district, which was vacated by Jasmine Crockett, who was running in the 2026 Senate election in Texas.^[2] American Priorities spent $100,000 in support of Frederick Haynes III, who won his primary without any major opposition.^[3]

The PAC considered spending in support of pro-Palestine candidates in Illinois house races, but opted not to.^[4][3] Some candidates that American Priorities could have supported, like Junaid Ahmed in Illinois's 8th congressional district, lost their primaries.^[3] This led to criticism from pro-Palestine journalist Ryan Grim, who said that spending from the deep-pocketed group could have led to Ahmed (who lost to Melissa Bean, an AIPAC-backed candidate) winning the primary.^[3]

The PAC decided to spend around $2 million supporting Democrat Adam Hamawy in his primary campaign to win New Jersey's 12th congressional district, an open and heavily Democratic seat.^[6][8] The spending included $600,000 to air an ad highlighting Hamawy's time as a doctor during the Iraq War and Gaza War.^[6] Hamawy was also endorsed by other progressive organizations, including Justice Democrats, which had at one point donated to American Priorities.^[9][10] Hamawy outraised his opponents and won the Democratic primary to succeed the retiring representative, Bonnie Watson Coleman.^[8][11] The New Jersey Globe credited the spending from American Priorities with raising Hamawy's profile and establishing him as the frontrunner in the race.^[12] After Hamawy's victory, a senior strategist for Hamawy described the group's spending as "extremely helpful".^[13]

American Priorities spent over $400,000 supporting the campaign of Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district.^[14] Rabb won the primary by over 10% over his closest rival.^[14]

In California, the group spent heavily in support of progressive Democrat Randy Villegas in his campaign to take on incumbent Republican representative David Valadao.^[15][16] Villegas was opposed in the nonpartisan primary by moderate Democrat Jasmeet Bains, who received support from the lobbying group Democratic Majority for Israel.^[15] Villegas won second place in the primary as Valadao placed first, earning a spot in the November general election and defeating Bains, who placed third.^[16]

In June, the group devoted $2 million to support a trio of Democratic candidates running in House of Representatives elections in New York. Primaries in New York were less than a month away.^[17] The New York candidates the group supported were all endorsed by New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and included Brad Lander, who was mounting a primary challenge against incumbent representative Dan Goldman in the election in district 10; Darializa Avila Chevalier, who was mounting a primary challenge against incumbent representative Adriano Espaillat in the election in district 13; and Claire Valdez, running in the election in district 7, a seat which was open following the retirement of incumbent representative Nydia Velázquez.^[17] Goldman and Espaillat were both endorsed by AIPAC.^[17] The three candidates supported by American Priorities received criticism from their opponents for receiving support from the PAC, although all three claimed not to have any involvement with the group.^[18]

All three New York candidates supported by American Priorities won their primaries, including two who defeated AIPAC-backed incumbents.^[19] The group's aggressive spending in support of Avila Chevalier was described by some political operatives and by Justice Democrats with being a crucial component in her victory against Espaillat, the incumbent.^[13]

In Colorado, American Priorities supported Melat Kiros in her primary challenge against incumbent representative Diana DeGette.^[20] The group spent around $140,000 on TV ads.^[20] Drop Site News reported that the incumbent received outside support from a super PAC which received funding from the United Democracy Project, an AIPAC affiliate.^[21] Kiros won her primary, unseating the incumbent.^[22]