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The leading pro-Israel<\/span> lobbying group has kept quiet on the race for an open Senate seat in Illinois while pouring its largest investments this cycle into the state\u2019s high-profile House primaries, leaving observers to wonder whether it would really sit out the Senate contest.<\/p>\n But for the top of the ticket in Tuesday\u2019s Democratic primary, more than two dozen donors to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are quietly backing Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, The Intercept has found.\u00a0<\/p>\n At least 27 AIPAC donors have given to Stratton\u2019s campaign to replace retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., according to an analysis of federal campaign data. A former AIPAC president, Lee Rosenberg, is on her finance committee.<\/p>\n While public opinion sours<\/a> on AIPAC\u2019s brand, the group is backing<\/a> a multimillion-dollar ad campaign run through other committees with palatable names like \u201cElect Chicago Women\u201d in at least four Democratic House primaries<\/a>. Its donors<\/a>, meanwhile, have been funneling<\/a> money to its preferred Illinois House candidates<\/a>. The group has kept an even lower profile in the Senate race, where it\u2019s been less clear how, if at all, the pro-Israel lobby is engaging.<\/p>\n Neither of the top contenders for the safe Democratic seat have suggested they would champion the Palestinian cause if elected to the Senate. Both Stratton and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi<\/a>, her leading opponent, have declined to call Israel\u2019s destruction in Gaza a genocide or commit to stopping U.S. weapons transfers to Israel, and at least one of Stratton\u2019s pro-Israel donors also gave to Krishnamoorthi\u2019s campaign. AIPAC endorsed<\/a> Krishnamoorthi, who has received<\/a> more than $250,000 from the pro-Israel lobby during his decade in Congress, for his 2024 reelection.<\/p>\n Both are running to the right<\/a> of Rep. Robin Kelly, a relatively progressive Illinois congresswoman currently in a distant third, but even she staked out a more critical position on Israel upon entering the race and has taken some pro-Israel money<\/a> while in office, much of it from the centrist group J Street.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n AIPAC donors have given more than $70,000 to Stratton\u2019s campaign since August, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission \u2014 out of just over $4 million she\u2019s raised in total. The 27 donors have collectively given just under $5 million to AIPAC, its super PAC United Democracy Project, and the group Democratic Majority for Israel<\/a>, which has close ties<\/a> to AIPAC. Only two of them live in Illinois.<\/p>\n Rosenberg, the former AIPAC president on Stratton\u2019s finance committee, is a leading Democratic strategist in Illinois, longtime adviser to Gov. JB Pritzker, and former adviser<\/a> to Barack Obama. <\/p>\n In response to questions from The Intercept, a Stratton campaign spokesperson said that AIPAC had not endorsed the lieutenant governor and was not spending in the Senate race. The spokesperson said Stratton has more than 28,000 individual donors and supports a two-state solution for peace between Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n In the final days ahead of Tuesday\u2019s primary, Stratton has begun to catch up in the polls to Krishnamoorthi, who has largely outperformed his Democratic opponents in fundraising and public opinion surveys. The two candidates\u2019 allies and critics have pointed fingers over fundraising, accusing the other of drawing support from corporate donors<\/a>.<\/p>\n Krishnamoorthi\u2019s $30 million fundraising haul is supplied in part by a crypto PAC, donors<\/a> to President Donald Trump, and Palantir\u2019s chief technology officer, among others<\/a>, the Chicago Tribune reported<\/a> on Tuesday. Stratton, meanwhile, has said she\u2019s not taking corporate PAC money and hit Krishnamoorthi\u2019s campaign<\/a> for accepting support from a \u201cMAGA-backed crypto PAC,\u201d but her opponents have also criticized her Senate campaign for still benefiting from corporate donors that fund PACs<\/a> backing her.<\/p>\n Democrats in Illinois have criticized AIPAC\u2019s efforts to elect pro-Israel Democrats in deep-blue seats in and around Chicago. Pritzker, one of Stratton\u2019s top surrogates and funders<\/a> (and her boss), is a former AIPAC donor who cut ties with the group and has since denounced it as a \u201cpro-Trump organization<\/a>\u201d and \u201csignificantly MAGA-influenced<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n Pro-Israel spending \u201cis a moral issue,\u201d said former Rep. Marie Newman, an Illinois Democrat who was ousted from Congress in 2022 after pro-Israel groups<\/a> spent against her<\/a>. \u201cAIPAC must be stopped if you believe in democracy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Stratton, who took a trip to Israel in 2019 to meet with an opposition leader, as Politico reported<\/a>, has been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel\u2019s destruction in Gaza. She has not said whether she would support legislation blocking U.S. weapons to Israel<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Criticizing Netanyahu is at odds with taking support from AIPAC and its donors, Newman said.<\/p>\n \u201cAIPAC vigorously supports Netanyahu, a right-wing dictator, best friend to Trump and his authoritarian inhumane government,\u201d Newman told The Intercept. \u201cIsrael\u2019s right-wing government has dragged us into multiple unnecessary wars, helped ruin the US\u2019 reputation in the world and is committing genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n