Which AIPAC‑affiliated super PACs registered independent expenditures in the 2024 House races, and how much did each spend?
Executive summary
AIPAC’s primary super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), is the only AIPAC‑affiliated super PAC that reporting clearly shows registered substantial independent expenditures in 2024 House races; UDP’s filings and contemporaneous reporting put its total independent‑expenditure tally in the mid‑tens of millions to roughly the mid‑thirties of millions, depending on the reporting date and accounting method [1] [2]. Other organizations frequently described as “AIPAC‑affiliated” (for example, Democratic Majority for Israel/DMFI or various allied PACs) have made independent expenditures in prior cycles, but the reviewed reporting does not provide a clear, contemporaneous, and comprehensive 2024 House independent‑expenditure total for those groups [3] [4].
1. United Democracy Project: AIPAC’s super PAC and its independent‑expenditure footprint
United Democracy Project, created as AIPAC’s super PAC arm, reported and was reported to have spent tens of millions on independent expenditures affecting House races in 2024; FactCheck and Sludge both cite UDP totals in the same ballpark, with UDP’s overall spending for the cycle reported as about $55–56 million and the portion explicitly labeled as independent expenditures reported as “more than $35 million” or “more than $35.6 million” as of late September filings [1] [2]. Sludge’s reporting adds context by breaking UDP outlays into independent expenditures (television ads and mailers) versus operating and transfer costs, noting UDP “has spent money on more than a dozen U.S. House races” and highlighting multi‑million‑dollar entries in targeted contests [2]. FactCheck echoes those numbers and ranks UDP’s independent‑expenditure amount among the largest super PACs in the cycle [1].
2. Reconciling the divergent figures and reportage windowing
Different outlets quote different UDP numbers because of filing cutoffs and what they count as “independent expenditures” versus overall disbursements: FactCheck cites about $56 million total spending with $35.6 million in independent expenditures as of Sept. 22, 2024 [1], while Sludge reported UDP had spent about $55.4 million with “more than $35 million” on independent expenditures and flagged specific race‑level expenditures [2]. Other organizations and analysts cite varying higher totals when combining UDP disbursements with AIPAC PAC donations and transfers that aren’t categorized as independent expenditures — producing cycle totals (AIPAC PAC + UDP) that approach or exceed $100 million in some summaries, but those larger figures conflate direct donations, PAC transfers and independent expenditures [5] [6] [2].
3. Other pro‑Israel or allied groups: evidence and limits in the sources
Reporting and databases note other pro‑Israel groups historically active in outside spending — notably Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) and groups like Mainstream Democrats PAC — but the provided sources do not offer a definitive 2024 House independent‑expenditure sum for those groups the way they do for UDP; DMFI is discussed in prior‑cycle contexts (e.g., near $7.6 million in independent expenditures in 2022) and as a player in 2024 electoral politics, but the assembled reporting does not give a single authoritative 2024 IE total for DMFI [3]. OpenSecrets and other trackers are referenced as repositories where finer, race‑level independent‑expenditure entries can be queried, but the supplied excerpts do not enumerate separate 2024 House IE totals for each affiliated committee beyond UDP [4] [7].
4. What can be stated with confidence and where reporting is ambiguous
Confident facts based on the supplied reporting: UDP was the registered AIPAC super PAC making independent expenditures in the 2024 House contests and had at least roughly $35–36 million in documented independent expenditures by late September 2024, within a roughly $55–56 million total spending envelope for the cycle [1] [2]. Less certain from these sources: a comprehensive line‑item list of every AIPAC‑affiliated committee that registered independent expenditures in every House contest, and precise cycle‑end IE totals for all allied groups; the available excerpts point to other affiliated or allied PACs’ activity historically but do not supply a complete, auditable 2024 House IE ledger for each such group [3] [4].
5. Reporting agendas, framing and next steps for verification
Coverage from outlets like Sludge and Common Dreams emphasize UDP’s role in ousting progressive incumbents and frame AIPAC’s spending as a coordinated intervention [2] [8], while trackers such as OpenSecrets offer raw filings and race‑level breakdowns that permit independent verification [4] [7]. For a definitive, itemized answer — listing every AIPAC‑affiliated super PAC that filed independent‑expenditure reports in House contests and an exact dollar figure for each across the full 2024 cycle — consulting FEC filings and OpenSecrets’ independent‑expenditure tables is necessary because the source excerpts here only provide clear, attributable totals for United Democracy Project and contextual numbers for combined AIPAC entities [1] [2] [4].