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Representative Seth W. Moulton ‘01 (D-Mass.) pledged last week to return all donations he has received from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and refused to accept future campaign funding from the organization.
Moulton announced his run for Senate last week against incumbent Senator Ed J. Markey (D-Mass.), who has not received any AIPAC donations in his tenure as a senator.
Moulton’s campaign plans to return $35,000 in AIPAC donations by January — $15,650 of which were received during the third quarter of 2025 — according to a Wednesday FEC filing.
In 2023 and 2024 Moulton received a total of $42,850 from AIPAC, making the lobbying organization the top contributor to his campaign committee. AIPAC directly donated $10,000, and the other $32,850 was donated by individuals affiliated with the organization.
A lobbyist for the Israel government established the bipartisan organization in 1954, and the group expanded to founded the accompanying political action committee — the arm that funds pro-Israel candidates — in 2021. AIPAC supported 361 candidates in 2024, directly contributing over $53 million to their campaigns.
Moulton criticized the organization in a statement to The Crimson, writing that he has “serious concerns about their steadfast support for the Netanyahu government” and his decision was “based on AIPAC’s current direction.”
“I have always believed the people of Israel deserve safety and peace,” he wrote. “That being said, I have disagreed publicly with AIPAC on a number of issues over the years.”
Markey has struck a similar balance, pledging in 2024 that he has “steadfastly stood by Israel” for decades, but denouncing the Israeli government and the war in Gaza.
“The Netanyahu government cannot continue to conduct the war in Gaza the way it has until now,” he wrote in the 2024 statement.
The representative, also a Marine veteran, has already found some success against Markey. A poll released earlier this month by the conservative non-profit Fiscal Alliance Foundation reported that 43 percent of voters favored Moulton, compared to 21 percent in support for Markey. Moulton has an eight-point lead against Markey among Democratic voters.
Moulton, who represents the region from Salem to Amesbury, ran in the Democratic primary for the 2020 presidential election but dropped out three months after launching his campaign. He’s hoping to take Markey’s seat in the U.S. Senate, honing in on the 80-year-old’s age as a reason why he is unfit for another term.
“With everything we learned last election, I just don’t believe Senator Markey should be running for another six-year term at 80 years old,” Moulton said in his campaign announcement video.
The Fiscal Alliance Foundation poll reported that nearly two-thirds of respondents said that Markey should not seek re-election.
Support for Israel is “a pretty clear disadvantage” in the run-up to the Democratic primary next year, according to Harvard Kennedy School professor Matthew A. Baum. He added that those most likely to vote in the primary are becoming increasingly opposed to U.S. support for Israel since the start of the war in Gaza.
This adds a challenge to Moulton’s face-off against Markey, “who has already eschewed support from AIPAC,” Baum said.
“Moulton, presumably, is trying to neutralize that potential contrast,” he added.
If Moulton wins the primary, the stance will also be “more helpful than harmful” to his campaign in the general election. Baum said the American public is moving away from support for Israel, even “well beyond” the base of Democratic primary voters.
Representative Ayanna Pressely (D-Mass.), who is also rumored to soon launch her own Senate run against Moulton and Markey, has never accepted money from AIPAC. Massachusetts’s six other U.S. representatives have all received funding from the pro-Israel lobby.
—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.
—Staff writer Frances Y. Yong can be reached at frances.yong@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @frances_yong_.
