{"id":705372,"date":"2022-06-17T21:18:42","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T21:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=400046"},"modified":"2022-06-17T21:18:42","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T21:18:42","slug":"nancy-pelosi-rebukes-aipac-ads-against-donna-edwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/06\/17\/nancy-pelosi-rebukes-aipac-ads-against-donna-edwards\/","title":{"rendered":"Nancy Pelosi Rebukes AIPAC Ads Against Donna Edwards"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest foray<\/u> into Democratic Party primaries by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is targeting former Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards: a progressive who is running to represent Maryland\u2019s 4th Congressional District, a seat she held from 2008 to 2017.<\/p>\n

The contest between Edwards and corporate attorney Glenn Ivey had been relatively quiet. This week, the race was upended when United Democracy Project, an AIPAC-aligned super PAC that has spent millions to thwart the campaigns<\/a> of progressive women of color, put big money behind an ad<\/a> accusing Edwards of poor constituent services during her previous tenure in Congress.<\/p>\n\n

On Friday, Edwards\u2019s campaign held a press conference outside the headquarters of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 \u2014 one of several local labor unions that have endorsed her bid \u2014 where Edwards blasted Ivey for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in outside spending from \u201ccorporate interests that are fueled by AIPAC.\u201d After Edwards condemned AIPAC and its allies\u2019 intervention, a number of her supporters \u2014 including elected officials, labor leaders, and constituents \u2014 also rebuked the ad\u2019s content. One critic, in particular, stood out: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.<\/p>\n

In a video<\/a> recorded this week in response to AIPAC\u2019s attacks, Pelosi dismissed the new ad\u2019s claims against Edwards. \u201cShe was one of the most effective members in Congress,\u201d Pelosi says in the video. \u201cDonna fought hard for Prince George’s County \u2014 for jobs and investments in her community, to help constituents in need and to deliver results.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"IMG_3089-donna-edwards1\"\n

Former Rep. Donna Edwards hugs constituent Joyce Moyer Williams, who says Edwards saved her home from foreclosure during the Great Recession in Forestville, Md., on\u00a0June 17, 2022.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Austin Ahlman<\/p><\/div>\n

Pelosi, a Maryland native who endorsed Edwards in May, is a long-standing ally of AIPAC and aligned pro-Israel forces. She attends the group\u2019s yearly conferences<\/a> and rarely departs from its hawkish pro-occupation stances.<\/p>\n

In a spate of competitive Democratic primaries between progressives and moderates this election cycle, AIPAC has reliably weighed in<\/a> on the side of the moderate \u2014 including those with spotty records on abortion and gun rights. Pelosi had declined to weigh in on some of the races and, in others, supported the AIPAC-backed moderates.<\/p>\n

Liberal pro-Israel group J Street, which has supported Edwards in past elections, identified at least $1.5 million in upcoming ad spending over the next week \u2014 nearly $200,000 a day. They expect that number to increase dramatically in the run-up to the July 19 primary. If that happens, Edwards may face more outside spending from pro-Israel groups than any other candidate this cycle.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

AIPAC and its allies Democratic Majority for Israel and Mainstream Democrats PAC<\/a> previously spent millions against the campaigns of Summer Lee<\/a> in Pennsylvania, who prevailed anyway, and Jessica Cisneros<\/a> in Texas, whose race to unseat Rep. Henry Cuellar remains too close to call. Democratic Majority for Israel is already running ads<\/a> supporting Ivey, but the full extent of their spending remains unclear until updated Federal Election Commission reports are filed.<\/p>\n

The AIPAC ad\u2019s attacks on Edwards\u2019s constituent services echoed accusations that arose<\/a> during her run for U.S. Senate against fellow Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen in 2016. In that race, Edwards was accused of not being a reliable supporter of Israel for eschewing many AIPAC-backed efforts on the Hill<\/a>, including resolutions and letters in support of AIPAC\u2019s agenda and sanctions against Iran being pushed by the group. Edwards was also criticized for joining nearly 60 other Democrats \u2014 including then-Vice President Joe Biden \u2014 in a boycott of a 2015 Capitol Hill speech by then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where the right-wing politician asked Congress to reject the Iran nuclear deal that President Barack Obama had just struck.<\/p>\n

The contest between Edwards and Van Hollen, who both represented Maryland in the House at the time, was in many ways a preview of Israel debates roiling the Democratic Party\u2019s nominating contests this cycle. In the 2016 race, AIPAC endorsed and supported Van Hollen, who ultimately won the Senate seat. J Street, which supported Edwards during her original congressional run, backed Edwards. Now the two groups appear set to clash yet again.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In an interview with The Intercept Friday, Edwards highlighted AIPAC\u2019s support for Republicans who voted against<\/a> certifying Joe Biden\u2019s election victory, and she criticized Ivey for accepting the outside spending from the group. She called on Ivey, a former state\u2019s attorney for Prince George\u2019s County, to disavow the new ads.<\/p>\n

In an email to The Intercept, a representative for the Ivey campaign defended the contents of UDP\u2019s ad. \u201cThe facts are clear cut and well-documented,\u201d the statement said. \u201cMs. Edwards has publicly acknowledged on multiple occasions her poor constituent services.\u201d Ivey\u2019s campaign did not respond to questions about AIPAC\u2019s support for election deniers or their repeated targeting of marginalized candidates.<\/p>\n

Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for UDP, defended his group\u2019s entrance into the race in a statement provided to The Intercept: \u201cDonna Edwards has a lengthy track record of hostility to the U.S.-Israel relationship, and on top of that was one of the worst members of Congress in terms of constituent service. We are looking at races where there is a clear contrast between a pro-Israel candidate and a detractor of Israel, and there is no doubt that Donna Edwards would undermine the U.S-Israel relationship at every turn should she get the opportunity.\u201d AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

In a statement from J Street, spokesperson Kevin Rachlin condemned AIPAC\u2019s latest ad blitz and lauded Pelosi for pushing back. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see Speaker Pelosi standing with Donna Edwards to fight back against disingenuous smears funded by a right-wing group.\u201d he said. \u201cAIPAC has been attacking Democrats who stand for human rights and the rule of law on the one hand, while endorsing insurrectionist Republicans on the other. They shouldn\u2019t be in the business of telling Democrats who to vote for, and Glenn Ivey should be disavowing these misleading ads.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Nancy Pelosi Rebukes AIPAC Ads Against Donna Edwards<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on The Intercept<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The response is a shift for the House speaker, a stalwart supporter of Israel and longtime ally of the flagship Israel lobby group.<\/p>\n

The post Nancy Pelosi Rebukes AIPAC Ads Against Donna Edwards<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7800,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7800"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705372"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":709979,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705372\/revisions\/709979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}