Who runs this, and why

Full methodology: the methodology page lists every tracked committee with its FEC ID, the committees we left out and why, and every scored vote.

Source. Every amount comes from the groups' own reports to the Federal Election Commission, using the latest amended version of each report, for the 2016 through 2026 election cycles (January 2015 through August 31, 2026). AIPAC PAC was created in December 2021 and United Democracy Project in 2022, so their money starts then. Earlier years reflect the other PACs.

AIPAC reaches candidates two ways, and we count both:

• AIPAC PAC (C00797670): its own direct contributions, plus earmarked contributions. Those are donations from individuals that the PAC collects and passes on to the candidate.
• United Democracy Project (C00799031), AIPAC's super PAC: money spent on ads, mail and phone calls supporting a candidate. This money is spent independently rather than given to the campaign.

Other pro-Israel PACs we track. For DMFI PAC (Democratic Majority for Israel), NORPAC and Pro-Israel America PAC and its Action Fund we count contributions, including earmarked ones, and any supporting outside spending. For JACPAC, U.S. Israel PAC and the regional pro-Israel PAC network we count direct contributions only: Washington PAC, Desert Caucus, Heartland PAC, Maryland Association for Concerned Citizens, Citizens Organized PAC, To Protect Our Heritage PAC, Mid Manhattan PAC, Friends of Israel PAC, Bi-County PAC, Grand Canyon State Caucus and Committee for Israel PAC. These come from OpenSecrets' "Pro-Israel" category, except J Street, which backs conditions on aid to Israel, and the Republican Jewish Coalition, which funds only Republicans. We checked each PAC's giving pattern and left out any we couldn't confirm. When one of these PACs sends a gift through AIPAC PAC, we count it once, for the PAC that gave it.

Indirect UDP money. United Democracy Project also funds other super PACs, such as BOLD America, Elect Chicago Women and EDW Action Fund. When UDP supplied at least 10% of a PAC's itemized money, we show that PAC's spending for or against a candidate as indirect, along with UDP's share. The same rule applies to super PACs funded by DMFI PAC. Indirect money is never added to totals.

Weapons makers' PACs (Lockheed Martin, RTX/Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris, BAE Systems and Elbit Systems of America) are shown on each entry, apart from the totals, as context for the arms-sale votes. This money is not pro-Israel PAC money. We never add it to totals.

AIPAC-funded trips. AIPAC's charitable affiliate, the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), pays for congressional trips to Israel. We list trips members reported on their own gift-travel disclosures from 2017 on: House filings through what the House Clerk had posted by September 2026, and Senate filings from the Senate’s gift-travel database (2022 on) and archived copies of the official forms on the Internet Archive (2017–2021, thin for 2020–2021). Each trip links to the filing or its archived copy. 2017–2019 House filings come from the scans archived by the University of Maryland’s Howard Center. Trips taken only by staff aren’t counted.

AIPAC's donor network. Many AIPAC-aligned donors also give straight to candidates. We list every individual who gave to AIPAC PAC or United Democracy Project in those groups' FEC reports, then total what those same people gave directly to each Democrat's campaign from 2021 to 2026. People are matched by name and ZIP code, so a few matches may be different people with the same name. Donations AIPAC's PAC forwarded as earmarks are excluded (they're already counted above), and so are duplicate entries from amended reports. We publish only totals, never donors' names. This money is shown separately and not added to the pro-Israel PAC totals.

Affiliated committees. Money these PACs sent to a member's joint fundraising committee or leadership PAC is not in their total, because it doesn't go straight to their campaign. When the FEC or the committee's name clearly ties it to the member, we list it separately on their entry.

Campaign funding shows where each member's campaign money came from in 2023–2026, using the FEC's candidate totals. The groups are small donors (under $200), larger individual donors, and PACs and party committees.

Co-sponsorships and committees. Co-sponsorship lists come from congress.gov. Profiles group two kinds of bills. Palestinian rights and conditions on aid: the Block the Bombs to Israel Act, the Palestinian children's human rights bills, the resolution recognizing genocide in Gaza (which AIPAC campaigned against), the October 2023 ceasefire resolution and the Senate request for a human-rights report on Israel. Bills AIPAC backed: the U.S.-Israel Defense Partnership Act (AIPAC), the ICC sanctions bill (AIPAC), the IGO Anti-Boycott Act (Sludge), the Antisemitism Awareness Act (Jewish Insider) and the Stand with Israel Act (AIPAC listed as an endorser by the sponsor). Committee seats come from the congress-legislators project, limited to committees that handle foreign policy, the military, defense and foreign-aid spending, and intelligence.

Beyond AIPAC (a separate page). Crypto and AI super PAC money comes from the same FEC method as above, applied to Fairshake, Protect Progress, Defend American Jobs, Fellowship PAC, Coinbase Innovation PAC and Stand With Crypto PAC (crypto), and Leading the Future, Think Big and American Mission (AI). It's shown separately and never added to the pro-Israel totals. Stock trading counts the individual trades listed in the periodic transaction reports House members filed with the House Clerk, 2023–2026 (trades on paper-filed reports aren't counted). For senators it counts reports, not trades: the number of periodic transaction reports each filed on efdsearch.senate.gov, since Senate trades can't be itemized the same way. Medicare for All and stock-trading-ban co-sponsorship comes from congress.gov for the 119th Congress. The other-issues voting score uses the votes listed on the Beyond AIPAC page, scored the same way as the main voting score, and is shown separately.

2028 presidential hopefuls are the people Wikipedia lists as having expressed interest or been speculated about in the media, as of September 30, 2026. Governors show little PAC money because these PACs can only give to federal candidates.

Spending against someone is never added to their total. Any spending against a person is shown on their entry.

What the numbers don't show. Being backed by these groups is a public fact; it doesn't prove that a member's votes were caused by the money. We show the money and the votes side by side so you can judge for yourself.

What's not counted. Money given to party committees (like the DCCC) can't be tied to one candidate, so it's left out. Contributions from individual donors who were not routed through these PACs are also not counted.

Who's listed. Every Democrat currently serving in the House or Senate, plus all 24 Democratic governors. These PACs can only give to federal candidates, so a governor shows an amount only if they were backed during an earlier run for Congress. Independents who caucus with Democrats (Sens. Bernie Sanders and Angus King) are included and labeled as independents. The non-voting delegates (D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) are listed for their money, but they can't vote on most bills, so they have no voting score. For governors who never served in Congress, money isn't tracked, so no amount is shown. "Up in 2028" means their seat is on the ballot in 2028: every House seat, senators whose terms end in January 2029, and governors elected in 2028.

Challengers. We list declared 2028 Democratic primary challengers from FEC filings and public announcements. A challenger is marked Also backed by pro-Israel PACs if any of the PACs above gave to their campaign or ran ads for them, Not backed by pro-Israel PACs if their FEC filings show none, and No FEC filings yet if they haven't filed with the FEC, so there is nothing to check. Challengers endorsed by DSA (the national organization or a local chapter) are badged and listed first. We aren't affiliated with DSA or any campaign, and listings aren't coordinated with candidates. Most challengers won't declare until after the November 2026 election.

Check it yourself. Each entry links to the underlying FEC records. Totals are net of refunds and corrections the groups reported. Each entry's split between earmarked and direct AIPAC PAC money is approximate; the totals are exact.

Any member of Congress or governor listed here can send a response to their entry. Use the contact form and choose “A response from a member’s or governor’s office,” with a way for us to confirm it came from the office.

We publish responses of up to 300 words unedited on that person’s page, with the date. If a response points out a factual error, we correct it and log the change in the change log.