Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

March 19, 2026

A Defeat for the Israel Haters in the Illinois Primaries

And a partial victory for AIPAC.

On Tuesday, the Illinois Democratic party held several primary elections, a few of which were contests between more moderate establishment candidates and radicals. AIPAC—which in 2021 created a political action committee so that it could contribute to electoral campaigns—invested heavily in supporting candidates friendlier to Israel. As the political analyst Geoffrey Skelley put it, AIPAC batted .500, which suggests that Zohran Mamdani’s victory has not ushered in a rash of successes by likeminded politicians. 

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