How much has AIPAC PAC and affiliated political groups donated to each member of Congress since 2000?

1. What the available records and reporting actually cover — big recent totals, not a 2000–present per-member ledger

Investigations and FEC-based datasets cited by news outlets and watchdogs show AIPAC’s direct political spending surged after it created a PAC and a super PAC: AIPAC PAC and UDP together reported nearly $126.9 million in 2023–2024 ^[1], and multiple outlets summarized that AIPAC-related spending topped $100 million in the 2024 cycle ^{[2] [1]}. OpenSecrets and ReadSludge maintain campaign-level tables for the 2024 cycle that let readers look up donations to particular candidates in that cycle, but the sources do not present an aggregated, member-by-member lifetime total dating back to 2000 ^{[1] [3] [4]}.

2. Why a per-member, 2000–present total is hard to produce from these sources

AIPAC’s political footprint has changed: until 2021 AIPAC largely acted as a lobbying group and a conduit for member-directed donations rather than giving directly, then created a PAC and the UDP super PAC to spend independently ^{[5] [6]}. Much reporting documents cycle-level totals, earmarked donations, and independent expenditures, but the sources do not include a single database that sums every AIPAC PAC + affiliated group dollar paid to each member of Congress across 25+ years (not found in current reporting). Where investigators do publish per-candidate FEC tables, they are typically cycle-specific ^{[1] [4]}.

3. What gets reported and where to look for candidate-level numbers

ReadSludge, The Intercept projects, and OpenSecrets are the primary sources cited here for granular FEC-based numbers: ReadSludge published month-by-month FEC summaries and candidate-level tables for the 2023–2024 cycle ^{[7] [1] [4]}. OpenSecrets provides organization profiles and industry recipient summaries and cycle totals ^{[3] [8]}. These outlets’ 2023–24 tables let you look up how much AIPAC PAC or UDP gave to individual candidates in that cycle ^{[1] [4]}.

4. Historical context: AIPAC’s methods and older figures

Older reporting emphasizes that pro-Israel interests have been channeling money through many conduits for decades, and that AIPAC historically influenced donors and allied PACs rather than itself writing direct checks to candidates until recently ^{[5] [9]}. For example, reporting notes that between 2000 and 2004 AIPAC board members averaged donations of roughly $72,000 each, reflecting how influence often flowed through individuals and allied PACs ^[5]. But those older figures document donor behavior or board member averages, not a consolidated, per-member-of-Congress sum from 2000 onward ^[5].

5. Disputes, agendas, and differing framings in the sources

Newsrooms and watchdogs differ in emphasis and framing. ReadSludge and The Intercept emphasize AIPAC’s electoral interventions and publish detailed FEC-based tables for recent cycles ^{[1] [4]}. Outlets like Common Dreams and The Guardian emphasize the political implications of the spending and its role in particular primaries or policy fights ^{[2] [10]}. TrackAIPAC and allied projects take an advocacy stance documenting “connections to the Israel lobby” and present targeted per-member snapshots but with an explicit political mission ^{[11] [12]}. These differing agendas affect selection and presentation of numbers; none of these sources claim to be a definitive 2000–present per-member ledger ^{[1] [4] [11]}.

6. Practical next steps to build the per-member totals you asked for

To compile “donations to each member of Congress since 2000,” you’ll need candidate-level FEC data across every cycle and a consistent definition of “AIPAC-affiliated” (direct AIPAC PAC gifts vs. donor-earmarked contributions vs. UDP independent expenditures vs. allied pro-Israel PACs). ReadSludge and OpenSecrets provide cycle tables and FEC-driven exports for recent years that could be extended backward using FEC raw data — but the sources provided here do not themselves offer that full, long-range aggregation ^{[1] [3] [4]}.

If you want, I can: (a) extract and sum AIPAC PAC + UDP amounts for all members for 2023–24 from the ReadSludge/OpenSecrets tables cited ^{[1] [4]}, or (b) draft a data plan and list the FEC tables and filters you’d need to assemble a 2000–present per-member dataset ^{[1] [3]}. Which would you prefer?