how much?
$2.7 million
Who benefited from it?
State Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland)
Who gave it?
314 Action Fund (Washington, DC) and Voters for Responsive Government (Los Angeles)
Why is it important?
When Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) announced his retirement after 14 terms in the House on Oct. 30, three relatively even Democrats came forward to run for his seat. . State Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland), now former Multnomah County Commissioner Sushila Jayapal and Gresham City Councilman Eddie Morales. All three have been in office long enough to have built up a sizeable following, and by March they had each raised a similar amount of money.
But Congress is evenly divided (critical military aid is at stake), and Jayapal’s sister, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Speculation began last fall that a pro-Israel political action committee might seek it. This will have an impact on the battle for Blumenauer’s successor. As Jewish Insider first reported in December, Sushila Jayapal’s failure to fully support Israel after the October 7 Hamas attack put a target on her back. .
Starting around April 10, the 314 Action Fund spent $1.66 million in four separate disbursements in support of Dexter, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
To put this amount into context, 314 Action had spent a total of just $8.6 million supporting hundreds of pro-science Democrats since its founding in 2016. (Dexter is a Kaiser pulmonologist.) That means 314 Action’s support for Dexter is completely out of proportion to his previous spending.
On May 3, the online investigative publication The Intercept reported: It reported that two MPs speaking about the background stated the real source of the funding. American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
314 act is the use of the funds for so-called independent expenditures, which must be done without the candidate’s knowledge or cooperation for the candidate’s benefit. Nevertheless, Mr. Morales and Mr. Jayapal are furious that 314 Action is heavily involved in the race for Democrats to win the seat, as the district is overwhelmingly blue.
“While Maxine Dexter claims to want transparency in politics, she and 314 Action are supporting her campaign until the day before the primary,” Morales and Jayapal said in a joint statement. “They are engaging in a dishonest and cynical ploy to hide their donors.”
A new PAC, Voters for Responsive Government, spent an additional $1,041,000 on Sushila Jayapal.
