Which House primaries received the largest United Democracy Project independent expenditures in 2024?

1. New York’s 16th District: the single most expensive House primary targeted by UDP

The most emphatic figure in the public reporting is UDP’s campaign against Jamaal Bowman in NY-16, where the super PAC’s independent expenditures included nearly $9.9 million to oppose Bowman and about $4.8 million to back challenger George Latimer — a spending total that FactCheck and OpenSecrets reporting say “eclipsed what any interest group has ever spent on a single House race” ^[1]. That outlay aligns with OpenSecrets’ breakdown showing UDP concentrated heavy independent-expenditure dollars on select Democratic primaries in 2024 ^{[2] [3]}.

2. Missouri’s 1st District: the other high-dollar primary fight cited

Reporting identifies the August Democratic primary in Missouri’s 1st District as another major UDP target, with roughly $3.3 million in independent expenditures backing St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell against incumbent Rep. Cori Bush, who had been outspoken on Gaza and Israel policy ^[1]. That amount is substantially smaller than UDP’s NY-16 spending but is singled out in coverage as one of the largest single-race investments after the Bowman-Latimer contest ^[1].

3. UDP’s aggregate footprint and where tracking organizations place it among super PACs

OpenSecrets and Ballotpedia tracking place UDP among the top independent‑expenditure super PACs in 2024: FactCheck reports UDP spent more than $35.6 million on independent expenditures in the cycle, while Ballotpedia cited a $22.7 million figure at midyear and contextually ranked UDP sixth among PACs on independent spending at that point ^{[1] [4]}. Those differences reflect timing and the evolving datasets compiled by OpenSecrets and other trackers; OpenSecrets’ dedicated UDP pages document targeted candidates and individual expenditure entries ^{[2] [3]}.

4. What the reported numbers imply about UDP strategy and limits of the available reporting

The public record in these sources makes clear UDP focused disproportionately on Democratic primaries it viewed as pivotal to shaping congressional positions on U.S.-Israel policy, channeling far more money to opposing some incumbents than to directly funding challengers’ campaigns ^{[1] [4]}, but the available excerpts do not provide a full ranked list of every House primary by dollar amount — OpenSecrets’ targeted-candidate and independent-expenditure pages hold the detailed line‑items ^{[2] [3]}. FactCheck and Ballotpedia supply aggregate and top-race highlights ^{[1] [4]}, while OpenSecrets is the primary ledger for per-race totals ^{[2] [3]}.

5. Alternative readings and potential agendas in the coverage

Coverage emphasizes NY-16 because the dollar amounts were unprecedented for a single House contest and because the donors and aims of UDP tie back to AIPAC-related advocacy, which invites critiques about an outside group shaping internal party primaries ^{[1] [5]}. Some outlets frame UDP’s spending as defensive support for candidates perceived as pro-Israel, while UDP and allies describe it as protecting U.S.-Israel policy allies in Congress; these framing differences reflect clear advocacy objectives and the political stakes underlying UDP’s targeted independent expenditures ^{[1] [4]}.

6. Bottom line and reporting limitations

Based on the reporting at hand, the largest United Democracy Project independent expenditures in 2024 were concentrated in the New York 16th District primary (nearly $9.9M opposing Jamaal Bowman plus ~$4.8M supporting George Latimer) and the Missouri 1st District primary (about $3.3M backing Wesley Bell), and broader trackers (OpenSecrets, FactCheck, Ballotpedia) document UDP as one of the cycle’s top independent-expenditure super PACs though full per-race rankings are available only in the granular OpenSecrets expenditure records cited ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.