<\/p>\n
Former Lieutenant Governor<\/span> Tahesha Way is not the clear front-runner in New Jersey\u2019s special congressional election on Thursday. She\u2019s seventh in fundraising out of 10 candidates as of last week\u2019s Federal Election Commission deadline, and public polling<\/a> has been sparse. But as the race drew close to the finish line, the Israel lobby made her the beneficiary of a last-minute push.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the final weeks before the election, an Intercept analysis has found, 30 donors to groups including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, its super PAC, and Democratic Majority for Israel have poured more than $50,000 into Way\u2019s campaign. On Friday, amid the fundraising push and less than a week before the election, DMFI officially endorsed her.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lobby is known for spending against progressives and the most vocal critics of the state of Israel, but in New Jersey, it appears to be backing one moderate to pick off another. Yet more pro-Israel money in the race comes at the expense of Tom Malinowski, who is no progressive on Israel policy but nevertheless has become the subject of AIPAC ire \u2014 marking a reversal for the group, which supported him in 2022.<\/p>\n AIPAC\u2019s super PAC, United Democracy Project, has spent more $2.3 million on ads against Malinowski. <\/strong>The ads do not mention Israel but attack Malinowski on immigration, saying he helped fund \u201cTrump\u2019s deportation force\u201d because he voted in favor of a 2019 bipartisan appropriations bill that funded the Department of Homeland Security. The majority of Democrats, including many supported by AIPAC, voted for the bill.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a statement to The Intercept, UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton made no mention of Malinowski\u2019s DHS funding vote. He said Malinowski had fallen afoul of the group\u2019s policy priorities by discussing the possibility<\/a> of conditioning aid to Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our goal to build the largest bipartisan pro-Israel majority in Congress. There are several candidates in this race far more pro-Israel than Tom Malinowski,\u201d Dorton said.<\/p>\n Way and Malinowski are competing in a crowded race in New Jersey\u2019s 11th Congressional District to replace former Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who vacated the seat after she was elected governor<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Way and Malinowski\u2019s campaigns did not respond to The Intercept\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n Also running are Analilia Mejia, the former political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019s 2020 presidential campaign; veteran Zach Beecher; Passaic County commissioner and election lawyer John Bartlett; former Morris Township Mayor Jeff Grayzel; and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill.\u00a0<\/p>\n Way already had substantial support from the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, which endorsed her and has spent more than $1.7 million backing her campaign, almost half of what it spent in total last cycle. But even with close to $4 million in outside spending on her side, she has lagged behind her opponents in fundraising. She\u2019s raised just over $400,000 \u2014 compared to Malinowski\u2019s over $1.1 million, more than $800,000 for Gill, and over half a million for Beecher. Bartlett has raised more than $460,000, Grayzel has raised $428,000, and Mejia has raised just over $420,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n