{"id":26545,"date":"2026-03-04T19:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=26545"},"modified":"2026-03-04T19:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:43:13","slug":"dem-house-candidate-rakhi-israni-gave-to-maga-republicans-laura-loomer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=26545","title":{"rendered":"Dem House Candidate Rakhi Israni Gave to MAGA Republicans, Laura Loomer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A new Democratic<\/span> candidate in California\u2019s 14th Congressional District primary raised eyebrows when she announced she raised $2 million in the first two weeks of her campaign. Rakhi Israni threw her hat into the race for Rep. Eric Swalwell\u2019s seat in the strongly Democratic leaning district just a few weeks ago and quickly brought in the big cash from donors whose identities are, for now, unknown.<\/p>\n

The $2 million in donations aren\u2019t the only eyebrow-raising political donations Israni has been involved in.<\/p>\n

Public filings on her own personal political giving reveal years of support for far-right Republicans. The list of those who have received her cash include MAGA candidates, the Republican head of the evangelical Zionist group Christians United for Israel, anti-abortion candidates, and even far-right pundit Laura Loomer, according to disclosures reviewed by The Intercept.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be unequivocal: I oppose Trump\u2019s attacks on our democracy, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his assault on reproductive freedom, and the division he has fueled in this country,\u201d Israni said in a statement to The Intercept. \u201cI reject MAGA politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israni, a first-time political candidate with a history of Hindu nationalism advocacy, is challenging a clutch of progressive Democrats: state Sen. Aisha Wahab; progressive Democratic strategist Matt Ortega; BART board president Melissa Hernandez; and immigration attorney Abrar Qadir. Swalwell, who is leaving the seat to run for governor of California, has not yet endorsed a candidate in the primary.<\/p>\n

With Israni\u2019s past political donations coming to light, Ortega questioned how she came to donate to far-right figures.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is no version of this story where Rakhi Israni giving money to Laura Loomer is acceptable. None.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cWhy did Rakhi Israni give money to Laura Loomer? Was it that Laura Loomer calls herself a \u2018proud Islamophobe<\/a>\u2019? Or perhaps it was Laura Loomer calling<\/a> Islam \u2018a cancer on humanity\u2019 that won her support?\u201d Ortega said in a statement. \u201cThere is no version of this story where Rakhi Israni giving money to Laura Loomer is acceptable. None. It\u2019s disqualifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wahab, for her part, suggested Israni might be out of step with voters in the deep-blue district.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur district wants and deserves a real Democrat \u2014 pro-choice, pro-democracy, and firmly against extremism \u2014 not someone bankrolling MAGA-extremists and far-right allies, pretending to be something they\u2019re not,\u201d Wahab said in a statement to The Intercept. \u201cPeople will look closely at who funds a campaign, a candidate\u2019s record, and whether their record matches their rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her statement, Israni said, \u201cOver the course of my professional career, I have engaged broadly and, at times, supported individuals across the political spectrum. Those contributions were not ideological endorsements of every position a candidate has taken, nor do they reflect support for extreme rhetoric or divisive statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Donating to the Far Right<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Israni\u2019s personal political donation history tracks with support for Hindu nationalism and pro-Israel candidates and includes donations to some of the most far-right and MAGA candidates that have run for Congress in recent years.<\/p>\n

In 2022, she gave $4,200<\/a> to Republican Rich McCormick\u2019s successful campaign for a Georgia House seat, according to Federal Election Commission data. McCormick was also endorsed by the Hindu American PAC, where Israni sits on the board<\/a>. Last year, she donated $3,500 to a Republican candidate in California\u2019s 13th Congressional District, months before the candidate hosted MAGA figure Matt Gaetz at a \u201cSave California<\/a>\u201d rally.<\/p>\n

Another far-right candidate Israni gave money to was New York Republican Robert Cornicelli, who ran in the 2022 GOP primary for the 2nd Congressional District in Long Island on a platform <\/a>that included abolishing the Department of Education. Cornicelli is also president of Veterans for America First, also known as Veterans for Trump. He is vocal about what he calls <\/a>\u201cradical Islam\u201d and last year self-published a book titled <\/a>\u201cWhat is White? A Manifesto on How Elites Erased Your Culture and Made You the Enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israni contributed $260.73 to Laura Loomer\u2019s 2020 Florida congressional primary run. Loomer is a controversial MAGA loyalist and informal Trump adviser who once celebrated<\/a> the deaths of thousands of Muslim refugee families. She wrote \u201cnow it\u2019s time to round up the Muslims before it\u2019s too late\u201d on X<\/a> late last week. The Hindu American PAC gave Loomer $5,000 that same year,<\/a> while Israni was on the board. In 2024, Loomer was widely criticized for bigoted remarks<\/a> about Kamala Harris\u2019s Indian heritage.<\/p>\n

The Hindu American PAC, with Israni on the board, also gave $5,000 to Devin Nunes in 2020, a former Trump Cabinet member who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump the following year.<\/p>\n

Other personal donations made by Israni to Republicans include $1,500 in 2022 to California Rep. Michelle Steel, who supported overturning Roe v. Wade, and $1,500 in 2024 to a failed campaign by Niraj Antani, an anti-abortion activist and self-proclaimed \u201cpro-Trump conservative warrior<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, Israni gave $1,000 to Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s leadership PAC, which contributed solely to Republicans that cycle. Today, Gabbard is Trump\u2019s director of national intelligence. Israni also supported the Republican executive director of Christians United for Israel, David Brog<\/a>, when he ran in Nevada\u2019s 1st Congressional District.<\/p>\n

One Texas Republican who received $250 from Israni in 2022, Pat Fallon, had voted to overturn<\/a> the 2020 presidential election. In total, she gave to over 10 MAGA candidates, more than the Democratic candidates she donated to in recent years, which included Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey governor and several Indian American candidates around the country.<\/p>\n

In her statement, Israni said, \u201cI am a Democrat running for Congress in California\u2019s 14th District because I believe in accountability, protecting fundamental rights, defending democracy, and delivering real economic results for the families who make up our district. As the only attorney in this race, I bring the legal experience necessary to hold Donald Trump, the MAGA movement, and any form of extremism accountable.\u201d (Contrary to Israni\u2019s statement, Qadir is also an attorney.)<\/p>\n

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Israni and Wahab\u2019s Past<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Irsani and Wahab, one of her House primary opponents, previously found themselves on the opposite sides of a legislative tussle. In Sacramento, Wahab introduced legislation in 2023 that would make California the first state to add caste-based discrimination to non-discrimination law. Proponents of the bill<\/a> saw it as a way to address alleged discrimination based on someone\u2019s \u201ccaste,\u201d their position in a system of inherited social stratification in South Asian societies and diasporas.<\/p>\n

At the time, Israni testified against the bill at statehouse hearings, calling <\/a>it an \u201cunconstitutional denial of my community\u2019s rights to fairness and equal protection under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law was also opposed by the Hindu American Foundation, a controversial<\/a> Indian American diaspora advocacy group whose lobbying<\/a> is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government. Israni served as a board member<\/a> of the Hindu American PAC, a group that shares leadership with the Foundation.<\/p>\n

Wahab \u2014 the first Afghan American woman elected to public office in the U.S. \u2014 said<\/a> she received violent threats in response to the proposed legislation, which was reportedly the target of coordinated opposition<\/a> from major Democratic Indian American donors and Hindu nationalist networks. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom ultimately vetoed the bill.<\/p>\n

Israni\u2019s list of campaign donors won\u2019t be publicly filed until mid-April. With ballots mailing out in May, that leaves little time for voters in the district to review her backers. A corporate lawyer who owns a testing preparatory company with her husband, she announced<\/a> on January 23 that she raised over $1 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign. Less than two weeks later, on February 4, she claimed<\/a> the total raised was nearing $2 million.<\/p>\n

Israni has links to American organizations aligned with the Hindutva movement \u2014 a Hindu nationalist political tendency. She appeared at recent events hosted by the Hindu American Foundation and spoke on a panel called \u201cHinduphobia & Antisemitism: Two Sides of the Same Coin\u201d at the group\u2019s conference <\/a>last year. She also served as an executive at Sewa International USA, an international Indian charity tied to Hindutva groups. And Israni wrote about <\/a>hosting Modi at a Silicon Valley reception in 2015.<\/p>\n

A deleted X account<\/a> reviewed on the Internet Archive that is tied to Israni\u2019s email shared frequent content in support of Modi and the Indian government.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n