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How the Israel Lobby Became Rep. Auchincloss's Top Campaign Funder

November 28, 2025

Rep. Jake Auchincloss has received over $863,000 from the Israel lobby since 2020, according to an analysis of FEC filings.123 This total includes campaign donations associated with AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), DMFI (Democratic Majority for Israel), NORPAC, and other pro-Israel PACs.4 OpenSecrets data corroborates this figure, calculating roughly $694,000 in contributions from the pro-Israel interest category as of late 2024.2

Both sources confirm the same reality: AIPAC-connected money is now Auchincloss’s single largest source of campaign funds.3

Breakdown by Pro-Israel Donor Groups

Auchincloss’s pro-Israel funding comes from a mix of political action committees and individuals aligned with those groups. FEC data reveals the composition:3

Pro-Israel Contributions to Auchincloss 2020–2025 • FEC filings via OpenSecrets & TrackAIPAC Victory Fund & Joint Fundraising $280,835 Pro-Israel individuals (Jacobson, Winn, etc.) donate to Victory Fund, which splits funds between Auchincloss campaign + "Beyond Thoughts and Prayers PAC" — allows up to $10,000/donor (FEC filings) Regional Pro-Israel PACs $234,415 Includes: NORPAC, CityPAC, Pro-Israel America PAC, and other regional groups. AIPAC PAC & Affiliates (Direct) $171,750 AIPAC PAC direct contributions + AIPAC-affiliated bundlers AIPAC PAC (2025 Disbursements) $169,519 Monthly Breakdown (TrackAIPAC data): Feb 2025: $6,600 • Mar 2025: $53,359 • Apr 2025: $71,250 May 2025: $24,260 • Jun 2025: $14,050 (Source: TrackAIPAC) DMFI PAC $7,000 Democratic Majority for Israel — $5,000 (2020) + $2,000 (2022) Total Pro-Israel Money $863,519+

AIPAC itself is a lobbying organization, but since 2022 it operates a PAC that donates directly to candidates. Auchincloss received the maximum contributions from AIPAC’s PAC in multiple cycles, and AIPAC-related bundlers steered substantial additional funds his way.3

Notably absent from Auchincloss’s donor list: J Street PAC, which supports more liberal pro-Israel candidates. TrackAIPAC does not list J Street among his donors, implying J Street gave little or nothing to him.5 Auchincloss’s pro-Israel funding comes overwhelmingly from the AIPAC/DMFI side of the spectrum.

The Joint Fundraising Vehicle

Some pro-Israel donations reached Auchincloss through joint fundraising vehicles. In 2022, he established the Jake Auchincloss Victory Fund, which collects large checks to be split between his campaign and his leadership PAC (the “Beyond Thoughts and Prayers PAC”).6

This structure allows wealthy pro-Israel donors to give beyond normal single-committee limits. A donor giving $10,000 to the Victory Fund would see roughly $5,800 go to Auchincloss’s campaign and $5,000 to his leadership PAC—all counted as “Israel lobby” support.

TrackAIPAC’s higher $838,000 figure includes these joint fundraising contributions, which explains the gap between direct campaign totals and the comprehensive count.1

The Billionaires Behind the Money

TrackAIPAC identifies the top financiers behind the Israel lobby — many of them billionaires funding AIPAC’s political machine. Several of these mega-donors have personally contributed to Rep. Auchincloss:

AIPAC Mega-Donors to Auchincloss Jonathan Jacobson #1 AIPAC DONOR Boston hedge fund billionaire • Highfields Capital founder $4.6M to AIPAC $6,600 to Auchincloss Arthur Winn AIPAC MEGA-DONOR Boston real estate magnate • WinnCompanies founder $500K to AIPAC $3,300 to Auchincloss Robert Kraft GOP MEGA-DONOR New England Patriots owner • Trump ally $1M to AIPAC UDP $2,900 to Auchincloss (June 2021)

The pattern is clear: these individuals invest heavily in AIPAC’s PACs and super PACs, then also give the maximum allowable amounts to friendly candidates like Auchincloss in their own districts.

The GOP Connection: Where AIPAC Money Really Comes From

The billionaires behind AIPAC’s spending are not exclusively Democratic donors. Many are prominent Republican donors and major backers of Donald Trump. AIPAC’s big-money network spans both parties:7

Top AIPAC Donors: GOP Mega-Donors Miriam Adelson #2 AIPAC DONOR Her super PAC poured $215M+ into electing Trump $5 Million to AIPAC PAC Bernard Marcus #4 AIPAC DONOR Home Depot co-founder $3 Million to AIPAC UDP Paul Singer #6 AIPAC DONOR Republican mega-donor • Elliott Management GOP Mega-Donor Major Trump contributor TrackAIPAC found over $230 million in pro-Israel spending benefiting Donald Trump

The presence of figures like Adelson, Marcus, and Singer in AIPAC’s top donor ranks demonstrates that AIPAC’s fundraising base leans heavily on conservative billionaires who invest in both pro-Israel advocacy and Republican politics.

AIPAC boasts of supporting “361 pro-Israel Democratic and Republican candidates in 2024.”8 The common thread is not party loyalty but a pro-Israel agenda. Robert Kraft is a lifelong Republican donor yet gave to Democrat Auchincloss. Miriam Adelson and Bernard Marcus have given almost exclusively to Republicans, including massive contributions to elect Trump.

This underscores that the Israel lobby funding Auchincloss overlaps significantly with the donor class that fuels the GOP and Trump.

The Firearms Money Contradiction

Auchincloss presents himself as a champion of gun safety. In 2024, he launched “Beyond Thoughts and Prayers PAC” to support Democratic candidates who back gun control legislation, including the Assault Weapons Ban Act and safe storage requirements.9

But in 2022, Auchincloss accepted $2,500 from Louisianians for American Security PAC (LFAS), one of the regional pro-Israel PACs in his donor network.10 One of LFAS PAC’s major donors is Richard Lipsey, chairman of Lipsey’s LLC — one of the largest firearms distributors in the United States.11

A congressman who runs a gun safety PAC while taking money from a PAC funded by the firearms industry embodies the contradictions of big-money politics.

Follow the Money

The $863,000+ in Israel lobby money to Rep. Auchincloss is documented through FEC filings, OpenSecrets data, and TrackAIPAC analysis.2312 It encompasses contributions from both pro-Israel PACs and pro-Israel individuals, spanning multiple election cycles from 2020 through mid-2025.

When a congressman’s single largest source of campaign funds comes from a lobbying network whose top financiers have poured $230 million into electing Donald Trump, voters deserve to ask: whose interests does he represent?


References

  1. TrackAIPAC. “Track Your Congressmembers’ Connections to the Israel Lobby.” Retrieved from https://www.trackaipac.com/congress  2

  2. OpenSecrets. “Rep. Jake Auchincloss - Campaign Finance Summary.” Retrieved from https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/jake-auchincloss/summary?cid=N00045506&cycle=CAREER&type=I  2 3

  3. Patch (Brookline). “Brookline Rep.’s Top 2019-2024 Campaign Contributor Is AIPAC.” Retrieved from https://patch.com/massachusetts/brookline/brookline-rep-s-top-2019-2024-campaign-contributor-aipac  2 3 4 5

  4. TrackAIPAC. Ibid. 

  5. TrackAIPAC. Ibid. 

  6. FEC. “Jake Auchincloss Victory Fund - Committee Overview.” Retrieved from https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00806620/?tab=filings 

  7. TrackAIPAC. “The Trump Administration.” Retrieved from https://www.trackaipac.com/trump 

  8. AIPAC PAC. Retrieved from https://www.aipacpac.org/ 

  9. Newton Beacon. “Auchincloss launches PAC, campaign push for gun safety videos.” Retrieved from https://www.newtonbeacon.org/auchincloss-launches-pac-campaign-push-for-gun-safety-videos/ 

  10. OpenSecrets. “Rep. Jake Auchincloss - Pro-Israel PAC Contributions (2022).” Retrieved from https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/jake-auchincloss/pacs?cid=N00045506&cycle=2022&sector=Q&cat=Q05 

  11. LittleSis. “Louisiana for American Security Political Action Committee - Donors.” Richard Lipsey listed as major donor. Retrieved from https://littlesis.org/org/43188-Louisiana_for_American_Security_Political_Action_Committee 

  12. TrackAIPAC. “AIPAC Spending By Month - 2025.” Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qhipbcbFIm9NbMhNZzTS8Qgil8N2IBUxtRS64Q117gY/