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Which congressional candidates received the largest AIPAC PAC donations in the 2024 and 2022 cycles?
Executive summary
AIPAC’s PAC and affiliated groups became major players in 2022 and exploded in 2023–24: AIPAC reports delivering more than $17.5 million to candidates in 2022 (its first direct giving year) and says it supported 361 candidates in 2024 with “more than $53 million” in direct support via AIPAC PAC; watchdog reporting and FEC tallies put total AIPAC-related spending (PAC + super PAC) for 2023–24 roughly in the tens of millions to over $95 million depending on the accounting used [1] [2] [3] [4]. Coverage identifies specific large single‑recipient PAC gifts in 2023–24 (for example, Wesley Bell receiving more than $3.1 million and Rep. Ritchie Torres receiving roughly $201,000 in a November filing) while noting AIPAC’s super PAC spending (United Democracy Project/UDP) operates differently and cannot donate directly to candidates [5] [6] [7].
1. AIPAC’s giving scale: rapid growth from 2022 to 2024
AIPAC only began direct PAC donations in late January 2022 and reports that the AIPAC PAC and members delivered more than $17.5 million to pro‑Israel congressional candidates in that first 2022 cycle [1]. By the 2023–24 cycle, independent reporting and FEC tallies show a dramatic uptick: ReadSludge and other outlets count AIPAC PAC direct contributions in the 2023–24 cycle at roughly $55.2 million to federal candidates and put combined AIPAC PAC + UDP spending near $126.9 million when including independent expenditures—while other outlets using different cutoffs report totals in the $95–100+ million range [3] [4] [8]. These discrepancies reflect different definitions (direct PAC gifts vs. super PAC independent spending) and timing of FEC data releases [3] [4].
2. Who got the largest AIPAC PAC donations in 2024 (examples reported)
Investigations using FEC filings highlight several large single‑recipient flows: Missouri’s Wesley Bell reportedly received more than $3.1 million from AIPAC PAC through July 31, 2024, with UDP adding independent‑spending activity in that race as well [5]. In late‑cycle filings, the AIPAC PAC reported sending more than $201,000 to Rep. Ritchie Torres in a November report and six‑figure packets to other House Democrats such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz ($141,058) and Josh Gottheimer ($61,176) in the same month [6] [9]. ReadSludge and Sludge compiled lists of top recipients for 2024 and tracked month‑by‑month PAC disbursements [10] [11].
3. 2022 top recipients: limited initial footprint but notable beneficiaries
Because AIPAC only began direct giving in 2022, early coverage emphasized a much smaller set of recipients and amounts. Initial AIPAC PAC disbursements in early 2022 totaled small sums overall (e.g., reporting of at least $71,000 in initial donations) with named early beneficiaries including Senators John Hoeven and Todd Young and Rep. Henry Cuellar; AIPAC’s own summary of the 2022 cycle stresses the $17.5 million figure overall for that cycle [12] [1]. Longform analyses of pro‑Israel PAC giving in 2022 (including non‑AIPAC groups) are available via OpenSecrets and other trackers [13] [14].
4. PAC vs. super PAC: why “largest donations” can mean different things
AIPAC PAC can give hard dollars directly to campaigns but is limited by contribution rules (FactCheck notes PACs face per‑election caps and that super PACs like UDP cannot give directly at all) while United Democracy Project (UDP) and other AIPAC‑linked super PACs spent large sums on independent ads and mailers, dramatically magnifying AIPAC’s electoral footprint in 2024 [7]. Thus “largest AIPAC donations” should be read two ways: the biggest direct PAC checks to campaigns (e.g., multi‑hundred‑thousand or single‑ to low‑millions to specific candidates such as Wesley Bell or Torres in reporting) versus the heaviest independent spending on races by UDP or allied groups (tens of millions overall) [5] [3].
5. Data limitations and divergent trackers
Different outlets use different methodologies: AIPAC’s own site highlights its endorsements and totals (e.g., “more than $53 million” in 2024 direct support), Sludge and ReadSludge mined FEC filings to list top recipients and donor flows, and OpenSecrets compiles PAC contributions on slightly different bases—so exact rankings of “largest recipients” vary by dataset and the reporting date [2] [11] [15] [3]. For example, ReadSludge’s candidate‑level tables list the “top recipients of AIPAC money” for 2024, but those lists reflect monthly FEC filings and updates that change over the cycle [10].
6. Takeaways and how to verify further
If you need a definitive ranked list for each cycle, consult the underlying FEC filings and the data tables assembled by ReadSludge/Sludge and OpenSecrets—those sources provide candidate‑level disbursement tables used in reporting [10] [15]. Journalistic coverage points to a small set of particularly large PAC gifts in 2024 (Wesley Bell, Ritchie Torres and several House Democrats in late filings) while emphasizing that much of AIPAC’s 2024 firepower took the form of super PAC independent spending (UDP) rather than only direct PAC checks [5] [6] [3].
Available sources do not mention a single authoritative, final ranked table produced by AIPAC that lists the top individual recipient amounts across both 2022 and 2024 combined; instead, reporters and watchdogs have reconstructed rankings from FEC data and public filings [3] [10] [15].