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A progressive North Carolina<\/span> official who lost her 2022 congressional race after the pro-Israel<\/a> lobby<\/a> spent almost $2.5 million against her<\/a> sees a fresh opening this midterm cycle, as a public disturbed by the genocide in Gaza has turned pro-Israel spending into an increasing liability.<\/p>\n Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam is preparing for a rematch against Rep. Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., for the 4th Congressional District seat she lost by nine points in 2022. This time, the Israel lobby\u2019s potential influence has shifted: Feeling the pressure from activists and constituents, Foushee has said she won\u2019t accept money <\/a>from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n Allam, who launched her campaign Thursday with the backing of the progressive group Justice Democrats, told The Intercept that wouldn\u2019t be a shift for her.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never accepted corporate PAC or dark money, special interest group money, or pro Israel lobby group money,\u201d said Allam, whose 2020 election to the county commission made her the first Muslim woman elected to public office in North Carolina.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The country\u2019s top pro-Israel lobbying groups and the crypto industry spent heavily to help Foushee beat Allam in 2022, when they competed in the race for the seat vacated by former Rep. David Price, D-N.C. AIPAC\u2019s super PAC, United Democracy Project, and DMFI PAC, another pro-Israel group with ties to AIPAC, spent just under $2.5 million backing Foushee that year. The PAC funded by convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried also spent more than $1 million backing Foushee.<\/p>\n After nearly two years of pressure from activists in North Carolina enraged by Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza, Foushee announced in August that she would not accept AIPAC money in 2026, joining a growing list of candidates swearing off AIPAC money<\/a> in the face of a new wave of progressive challengers.<\/p>\n This time, if pro-Israel and crypto groups spend in the race, it\u2019s on Foushee to respond, Allam said. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they decide to spend in this, then it comes down to Valerie Foushee to answer, is she going to stand by the promise and commitment she made to not accept accept AIPAC and pro-Israel lobby money?\u201d Allam said. \u201cThis district deserves someone who is going to be a champion for working families, and you can\u2019t be that when you\u2019re taking the money from the same corporate PAC donors that are funding Republicans who are killing Medicare for all, who are killing an increased minimum wage.\u201d<\/p>\n Foushee\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Allam, who helped lead Bernie Sanders\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign in North Carolina, is the seventh candidate Justice Democrats are backing so far this cycle. The group \u2014 which previously recruited progressive stars including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. \u2014 is endorsing candidates challenging incumbents next year in Michigan<\/a>, California<\/a>, New York, Tennessee, Missouri, and Colorado<\/a>. Justice Democrats is taking a more aggressive approach to primaries this cycle after only endorsing its incumbents last year and losing two major seats<\/a> to pro-Israel spending<\/a>. The group plans to launch at least nine more candidates by January, The Intercept reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Allam unveiled her campaign with other endorsements from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sunrise Movement, the Working Families Party, and Leaders We Deserve, a PAC launched by progressive organizers David Hogg and Kevin Lata in 2023 to back congressional candidates under the age of 35. She said she sees the local impacts of the Trump administration on working families every day in her work as a Durham County commissioner.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019m hearing from our residents every single day is that they don\u2019t feel that they have a champion or someone who is standing up and fighting for them at the federal level, and someone who is advocating for working families,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the safest blue district in North Carolina and this is an opportunity for us as a Democratic Party to have someone elected who is going to be championing the issues for working families \u2014 like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal \u2014 and has a track record of getting things done at the local level.\u201d<\/p>\n Allam is rejecting corporate PAC money and running on taking on billionaires and fighting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been carrying out raids<\/a> and arresting residents in the district. She\u2019s also supporting a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and ending military aid to Israel. She began considering a run for office after a man murdered her friends in the 2015 Chapel Hill shootings<\/a>. <\/p>\n Small dollar donors powered Allam\u2019s 2022 campaign, when she raised $1.2 million with an average donation of $30. She\u2019s aiming to replicate that strategy this cycle, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump is testing the waters in every way possible,\u201d Allam said. \u201cThe only way that we\u2019re going to be able to effectively fight back against Trump is by passing the Voting Rights Act, is by taking big corporate money out of our elections, by ending Citizens United. Because they\u2019re the same ones who are fighting against our democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n <\/p>\n