An opaque political group that spent $3.25 million solely to attack congressional candidate Susheela Jayapal during the May primary has finally revealed its donors, a month after the former Multnomah County commissioner lost her bid to represent the Portland area in Congress.
The group, Voters for Responsive Government, received its largest donation, $1.3 million, from an affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), federal documents show. The filings show that Voters for Responsive Government also owes the powerful pro-Israel group $20,000 for “administrative services.”
The political action committee, which formed in April, received the remainder of the nearly $4 million it received from donors in May from a company and seven individuals, most of whom have publicly reported their ties to causes and groups. pro-Israelis.
The PAC paid for numerous negative ads and banner ads pointing out Jayapal as primarily responsible for rampant homelessness and open drug use in the Portland area, as well as something that never happened: the county that provided drug pipes and other paraphernalia related to methamphetamine and fentanyl . The incendiary articles attempted to attribute the failures of the Multnomah County Commission and its powerful chairman solely to Jayapal, when in fact she was one of five commissioners in charge of county business between 2019 and her resignation at the end of 2023.
Anthony B. Davis, co-founder and president of Chicago-based private equity firm Linden Capital Partners, donated $1 million to Voters for Responsive Government. Davis was at one time the president of AIPAC Illinois, according to an article in Classic Chicago magazine. The American Jewish Committee of Chicago awarded him a human rights award in 2017.
Edgewater Partnership LP, based in Maryland and associated with Maryland real estate developer Reed Cordish, whose father served on AIPAC’s national board, donated $650,000. Jonathan Jacobson, former CEO of Boston-based Highfields Capital Management and former chairman of the International Board of Directors of the Israel Institute for National Security Studies, donated $350,000.
Neil L. Cohen, president of the investment firm Emerald Development Managers, donated $253,000, while investment banker Kenneth Moelis donated $200,000. Both Cohen and Moelis have previously contributed to an AIPAC affiliate.
Responsive Government voters didn’t start receiving donations until May, allowing them to shield donors fueling their multimillion-dollar campaign against Jayapal until after the May 21 Oregon primary.
Jayapal said she expected pro-Israel groups to oppose her, as they have in other races across the country.
Insider Jewish Magazine wrote last year that Jayapal had come under scrutiny from pro-Israel leaders after he refused to sign a county commission statement condemning Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack because it did not recognize Palestinians killed in the brutal response from Israel. He subsequently explicitly condemned Hamas and called for a ceasefire. Jayapal’s sister, Pramila Jayapal, is a member of Congress representing the Seattle area and chairs the House Progressive Caucus, which has criticized Israel more harshly than House Democrats as a whole.
State Rep. Maxine Dexter ultimately won the competitive Democratic primary to represent Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District in May, receiving 47% of the vote to Jayapal’s 33%. Dexter is expected to cruise to victory in November in his bid to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who has represented the overwhelmingly Democratic Third District for nearly three decades.
Dexter benefited from a last-minute surge in donations from pro-Israel donors and from outside spending, including the 314 Action Fund, which aims to elect progressives with science backgrounds to Congress. The 314 Action Fund, which spent $2.2 million to support Dexter, received two-thirds of its April donations from three donors, two of whom are strong supporters of Israel.
However, Dexter also benefited from key endorsements and his track record in the state Legislature. Both the Oregonian editorial board and Willamette Week endorsed Dexter.
“Maxine has the support of Oregon unions, gun violence prevention advocates, The Oregonian (Editorial Board) and dozens of Democratic leaders who know she has a track record of delivering progressive results,” said Nathan Clark, director of Dexter’s campaign, during the primaries.
Oregon journalist Sami Edge contributed to this report.
— Jamie Goldberg oversees The Oregonian/OregonLive’s political, education and homelessness coverage. She can be reached at jgoldberg@oregonian.com or 503-221-8228. You can find it in X in @jamiebgoldberg
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