New filings with the Federal Election Commission Friday confirmed long-reported ties between the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Elect Chicago Women, a super PAC formed in late January that spent more than $5.8 million on advertisements promoting State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview) and attacking Mayor Daniel Biss in the Democratic primary to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District.
The filings show ECW received more than $4 million from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC which IRS filings show is operated by AIPAC.
“UDP was happy to support these local committees, along with Chicago donors, to make sure pro-Israel Democrats would have their voices heard,” a UDP spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Saturday. “Like many other groups, we are using a number of different tools to engage in races this cycle.”
Biss won Tuesday’s crowded Democratic primary with 29.6% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Associated Press.
The mayor overcame Fine and 13 other opponents, declaring in his victory speech that “AIPAC found out the hard way” that the “9th District is not for sale.”
“We now have definitive proof of what has been apparent for months: AIPAC was behind the dark money super PACs flooding Chicago’s airwaves this election season,” Biss wrote in a Friday evening news release from his campaign.
The filings revealed the names of 20 other donors. A Daily review of FEC and IRS records shows all 20 have links to AIPAC through membership or previous donations to its PACs.
Among them is Northwestern trustee Michael Sacks, a UDP donor who contributed at least $1.2 million to AIPAC-aligned super PACs last month, including $900,000 to ECW.
The donation came about one week after text messages between Sacks and former University President Michael Schill were released. In the messages, Sacks criticized Biss for declining to send Evanston Police Department officers to clear the pro-Palestinian encampment on Deering Meadow in April 2024.
Biss slammed U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) for publicizing those messages in a letter released less than 50 days before the election. During a Jan. 29 news conference, Biss accused Republicans of “trying to create a media circus.”
In a news release later that day, the mayor linked the controversy to the pro-Israel lobbying group, calling Walberg’s inquiry into “local law enforcement collaboration” between the city and the University “nothing more than a baseless political attack fueled by his top political patron, AIPAC.”
Biss then joined several other Democratic congressional candidates from nearby districts during a February news conference, criticizing suspected connections between AIPAC and super PACs like ECW. The mayor later complied with Walberg’s inquiry, briefing Republican staff members of the House Education and Workforce Committee on March 6.
Throughout the campaign, Fine denied coordinating with ECW and repeatedly called on the group to disclose its donors before Friday’s deadline, which landed days after Tuesday’s election.
Only after Biss’ election victory did AIPAC publicly acknowledge its involvement in the 9th District’s Democratic primary, writing in a Tuesday evening X post that “while disappointed Laura Fine did not prevail,” the group was “especially proud to help defeat” progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh, who placed second.
Chicago Progressive Partnership, another super PAC tied to AIPAC that attacked Abughazaleh’s campaign, is required to disclose its donors by April 15.
None of the advertisements from ECW or CPP in the 9th District discussed Israel. In Friday’s release, Biss called them “deceptive” and suggested his primary victory provides a blueprint for candidates facing similar opposition.
“AIPAC works so hard to hide its activities because it knows its extreme agenda is toxic to Democratic voters,” the mayor wrote. “But we beat AIPAC’s right-wing money on Election Day and showed progressives nationwide how to fight back – and we’re just getting started.”
Email: [email protected]
X: @jdowb2005
Email: [email protected]
Bluesky: @ryaninevanston.bsky.social
Related Stories:
— Biss blasts AIPAC involvement in congressional races
— Biss calls encampment-related congressional inquiry ‘baseless’
