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Rep. Shri Thanedar,<\/span> D-Mich., lost more than $630,000 in investment income last quarter after he put $3.7 million in campaign funds<\/a> into the cryptocurrency industry, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission released on Wednesday. Amid those losses, bundlers from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have stepped in to prop up his campaign.<\/p>\n Two-thirds of the money Thanedar raised in the last quarter came from AIPAC, which collects money from multiple donors and funnels it to the pro-Israel group\u2019s preferred candidates, according to his campaign\u2019s most recent FEC filing. Less than a quarter of those donors listed Michigan as their state of residence. Thanedar, who is facing a challenge from a democratic socialist in next month\u2019s Democratic primary, was in the minority<\/a> of House Democrats who voted against cutting $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel from a State Department spending bill this week.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of money for a campaign to be losing, especially when the market is at record highs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not raising a lot of money from donors at this point,\u201d said Brendan Glavin, director of insights at the watchdog campaign finance group OpenSecrets, about Thanedar\u2019s filing. Asked about the investment losses Thanedar listed in the filing, Glavin said, \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of money for a campaign to be losing, especially when the market is at record highs.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanedar \u2014 who has made his money building, buying, and selling off<\/a> companies \u2014 has heavily self-funded his campaign to stave off Donavan McKinney, a Michigan state representative aiming to maintain a wave of socialist success that\u2019s seen challengers from the left topple establishment favorites in New York<\/a>, Pennsylvania<\/a>, and Colorado<\/a> so far this midterm cycle. Thanedar gave himself $800,000 in June, the latest in more than $12 million he\u2019s loaned his campaign since he first ran for Congress in 2021. He outraised McKinney last quarter, though Thanedar\u2019s campaign carries his personal loans as debt.<\/p>\n In his most recent campaign filing, Thanedar reported more than $3.9 million in investment income losses this cycle.<\/p>\n The August 4 Michigan primary is among the next races to pit a democratic socialist<\/a> candidate against an incumbent. McKinney \u2014 whose endorsers include Justice Democrats<\/a>, the Working Families Party, the Metro Detroit chapter of Democratic Socialists for America, several major unions, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. \u2014 is running on Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, a national homes guarantee, opposing President Donald Trump\u2019s war on immigrants, and ending military aid to Israel. He has hit Thanedar for buying his seat in Congress, paying campaign expenses with taxpayer money<\/a>, and spurning<\/a> his constituents.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Deep-pocketed donors \u201cget a massive return on investment when Shri Thanedar votes with 99.9% of Republicans and against a majority of Democrats to keep spending our taxpayer dollars funding Israel\u2019s genocide, or when he votes for Trump\u2019s crypto corruption, or even when he simply refuses to answer his constituent\u2019s calls during a crisis,\u201d said Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi, calling Thanedar\u2019s service in Michigan\u2019s 13th Congressional District \u201crepresentation for the 1% at the expense of one of the poorest districts in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot be the party of the working class when we\u2019re represented by multimillionaires, bankrolled by AIPAC donors, doing the bidding of corporate interests,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not unusual for candidates to put campaign funds into investment vehicles, but Thanedar\u2019s decision to invest campaign funds in the cryptocurrency industry in 2024 was notable, said Glavin. At the time, the pro-crypto lobby<\/a> was ramping up its spending on elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere are examples of candidates who have lost significant funds in putting their money into the market,\u201d Glavin said. \u201cBut you\u2019re usually going to find that they\u2019re going to put it in something a little less volatile than the crypto market.\u201d<\/p>\n The campaign\u2019s investment losses were only partly offset by contributions from AIPAC bundlers. Glavin said the debt incurred from Thanedar\u2019s loans to the campaign and the share of his most recent fundraising haul boosted by AIPAC suggest the campaign isn\u2019t doing much on the fundraising front.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like the campaign is actually going out and soliciting those funds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Thanedar was a target of AIPAC during his first congressional run; the group endorsed his opponent and its super PAC spent millions against him in 2022<\/a>. Since then, however, Thanedar has faced scrutiny for his increasingly cozy relationship with the pro-Israel lobby. AIPAC endorsed him during his 2024 reelection campaign, and a pop-up political action committee<\/a> funded by AIPAC\u2019s super PAC spent more than $2 million<\/a> against his opponent that cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Michigan congressman is featured on AIPAC\u2019s political portal for donors, which it uses to funnel contributions to its preferred candidates. As the primary election nears, Thanedar\u2019s critics have recirculated a video he filmed while on an AIPAC trip to Israel<\/a> in 2023. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n