By Ryan Grim and Julian Andreone – Drop Site News
A surge of last-minute support from major pro-Israel donors, including AIPAC’s former president Bob Cohen, has flooded into the campaign of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who faces a formidable primary challenge from local community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th congressional district.
On a single day, June 4, 2026, Espaillat raised just under $112,000 from 69 wealthy donors at an average of $1,623 per contribution. Not a single donor listed an address inside Espaillat’s district, which encompasses Harlem and surrounding areas, and 48 of the donors have also given large amounts of money to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) since 2023. That number goes up to 67 out of the 69 contributors if you include donations to AIPAC-adjacent organizations like Democratic Majority for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition. At least 44 of the new Espaillat donors have given heavily to Republicans.
The pro-Israel money comes amid a multimillion-dollar push to rescue Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in the waning days of a campaign that ends on June 23. Espaillat and the New York Post have teamed up over the past week to hammer Avila Chevalier, who has the support of the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter as well as Justice Democrats, for a series of unapologetically leftist tweets, as well as for her attendance at a rally on October 8, 2023, for a ceasefire in Gaza, which her critics say came too early.
As AIPAC’s money has grown increasingly toxic, the organization has relied heavily on funneling money through shell PACs or directing donors straight to a candidate. When reporters then identify the link between the donors and the candidate, AIPAC cries foul, saying it’s unfair to single them out. If the numbers at play were small, or the contributions themselves were not from major AIPAC donors, they might have a point. But the cavalry coming to rescue Espaillat is not a collection of modest AIPAC donors—it’s major funders of the organization. Cohen, a national AIPAC board member, has raised tens of millions for the group and led the push against President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. His real estate firm, R.A. Cohen & Associates, often clashes in New York City with local activists. Six of the donors have given $428,000 to AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project. Since 2023, the few dozen donors have given nearly a million dollars directly to AIPAC and another half million to GOP candidates.
The financing helps explain why Espaillat continues to take politically toxic positions in his campaign even as he faces an ignominious defeat at the hands of a previously unknown activist.
At a recent debate, Espaillat once again refused to describe Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide, instead describing it vaguely as a “horrific situation,” and avoided acknowledging Israel as the culprit, saying, “whoever perpetrated that action should be held to the highest standard of accountability.” The congressman dodged debate questions about pro-Israel Super PAC spending on his behalf and the more than $676,000 in direct contributions he has accepted from AIPAC, saying, “my values are those of the people that I represent. They tell me how to vote.”
Espalliat has taken contributions directly from AIPAC as recently as March 18, and has joined congressional delegations to Israel on the lobby’s dime. Through Democracy Engine—a payment processor used by AIPAC that allows donors to route money directly to multiple candidates at once—his campaign has received an additional $376,398.
Since early May, Espaillat has benefitted from more than $3.3 million in outside spending from three super PACs that brand themselves as advocates for issues facing the Latino community.