Democrat Who Disavowed AIPAC After Launching Senate Campaign Had Reportedly Begged for Its Endorsement

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) “spent months” seeking an endorsement from AIPAC, the pro-American-Israeli alliance lobbying organization, before denouncing it upon launching his campaign for the Senate, according to a new report from Jewish Insider.

From the report:

Before making public denunciations and rejections of AIPAC an early pillar of his Senate campaign against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) spent months seeking a promise that the group would endorse him upon the announcement of his Senate campaign, a source familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.

The source said that Moulton — who has been endorsed by AIPAC in previous races — began courting AIPAC leaders in Massachusetts in the spring this year and then made multiple explicit requests for an endorsement throughout the summer.

AIPAC leaders were ultimately unwilling to provide such a guarantee before the race began, the individual said.

On the second day of his nascent primary campaign, Moulton released an announcement rejecting AIPAC and saying that he would return any donations he had received from its members.

Moulton’s campaign did not deny the reporting around his initial requests for the organization’s endorsement. His statement breaking with the group explained he would be returning any prior and refusing any further donations from AIPAC, knocking the organization for having “aligned itself too closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government.”

AIPAC had responded by declaring that Moulton was “abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction.”

“His statement comes after years of him repeatedly asking for our endorsement and is a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them,” continued spokesperson Marshall Wittmann.