103 House Democrats Voted to Cut Israel Aid — Their Party’s Biggest AIPAC Recipients Voted No.
On July 15, 2026, the House took Roll Call 243 on Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) amendment to strike $3,300,000,000 in annual U.S. military aid to Israel — the ninth year of the ten-year Obama-era U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding. It failed, 104–314, but the party breakdown inside that number is the actual story: 103 Democrats voted yes, more than a third of the entire House Democratic Caucus, against just one Republican.
Washington Examiner cross-referenced that list against campaign-finance records and found the 103 have collectively received roughly $11,000,000 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee since AIPAC began contributing to candidates in the 2022 cycle — some of it AIPAC’s own PAC money, most of it earmarked or bundled contributions routed through AIPAC’s platform. But the money is concentrated, not evenly spread: only 48 of the 103 have ever solicited AIPAC’s support at all.
And the cleanest version of “AIPAC money bought a no vote” doesn’t hold up at the top of the list. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) — AIPAC’s single largest House Democratic recipient in the 2024 cycle — voted no. So did Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA-33). The 103 who voted yes are a distinct, generally lower-dollar cohort from the party’s biggest AIPAC beneficiaries.
- 104–314 (Present: 10) — final tally on Massie's amendment to strike Israel aid — Roll Call 243, House Clerk
- 103 Democrats voted yes — vs. 98 Democrats no and 10 present; Republicans went 1 yes, 215 no
- $3,300,000,000 — in annual Foreign Military Financing to Israel the amendment targeted — year 9 of the 10-year U.S.-Israel MOU
- $11,000,000 — AIPAC has given the 103 Democrats who voted yes since 2022 — but only 48 of the 103 have ever solicited that support
- $866,425 — AIPAC's 2024-cycle total to Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) — the top House Democratic recipient — who voted no
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) offered “Part A Amendment No. 8” to H.R. 8595, the FY2027 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill, which would have struck $3,300,000,000in annual U.S. military and foreign aid to Israel — funding for the ninth year of the ten-year Obama-era U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding. Massie told reporters ahead of the vote he expected almost no Republican support and suspected leadership allowed the vote precisely because it would split Democrats.
“I don't anticipate getting many Republican votes on it. I suspect one of the reasons why leadership allowed the vote on it was because it will split Democrats down the middle.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
He was right. The amendment failed 104–314, with 10 members voting present, per the House Clerk’s official Roll Call 243. Republicans held almost perfect unity against it: 215 no, 1 yes. Democrats did the opposite of unity — 103 yes, 98 no, 10 present, splitting the caucus down the middle exactly as Massie predicted. H.R. 8595 itself passed the full House later that evening, 217–209.
Jewish Insider cross-referenced Roll Call 243 against AIPAC’s own endorsee list and found at least 18 sitting Democrats who had previously taken AIPAC-facilitated money and still voted to cut Israel aid. House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA-05) is the largest figure on that list: AIPAC is her single largest donor organization, $321,659 for the 2025–2026 cycle — $311,659 in individual and earmarked contributions plus the $10,000 legal maximum from AIPAC’s PAC itself. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY-18) is close behind, with AIPAC as his top donor organization at $218,238 — $208,238 individual plus the $10,000 PAC max. Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA-09) took $16,791 from AIPAC, his fifth-largest organizational donor, all of it individual and earmarked money.
Several more sitting AIPAC-endorsed Democrats voted yes, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-11), who is retiring; Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA-01); Adam Smith (D-WA-09); Steven Horsford (D-NV-04); Seth Magaziner (D-RI-02); Glenn Ivey (D-MD-04); and two more retiring members, Julie Johnson (D-TX-32) and Julia Brownley (D-CA-26). That is 11 named Democrats with a documented AIPAC-money history who nonetheless voted to strike the aid — a real, on-the-record contradiction between fundraising and floor vote, even before accounting for the other 92 yes votes who make up the rest of the 103.
Federal law caps AIPAC’s own political action committee at $10,000 per candidate per election cycle — the same limit every federal PAC faces. The larger six-figure totals reported for members like Clark ($321,659) and Ryan ($218,238) are not PAC checks; they are earmarked and bundled individual contributions that AIPAC’s fundraising platform helps route to a candidate. Both are real, disclosed support AIPAC facilitated — but conflating “AIPAC gave $300,000” with a single PAC check misstates how the money actually moved.
Here is where a simple “AIPAC money bought the vote” narrative breaks down. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) — AIPAC’s single largest House Democratic recipient in the 2024 cycle, at $866,425 — voted no on Massie’s amendment. So did Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA-33). If AIPAC dollars were a reliable predictor of a no vote, the party’s two most AIPAC-funded leaders are exactly where you’d expect to find one. They did.
The 103 who voted yes are a genuinely different cohort — younger, more junior, and by Washington Examiner’s count, less than half of them (48 of 103) have ever taken AIPAC-facilitated money at all. Several of the highest-profile yes votes had no AIPAC financial relationship to break from in the first place. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) voted yes without a prior AIPAC endorsement to weigh against it. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08) voted yes too; his largest donor organization this cycle is J Street, at $27,285, a group that positions itself as AIPAC’s pro-Israel, pro-negotiated-settlement counterweight — not AIPAC money at all.
Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García (D-IL-04), as Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, announced he would vote yes on the Massie amendment and urged colleagues to do the same.
AIPAC responded publicly within hours. Its statement, posted to X the evening of the vote, praised the 314 who voted no and named the 103 directly.
We are deeply appreciative of the 314 Republicans and Democrats who voted to reject Thomas Massie's latest anti-Israel effort and are disappointed by the 103 Democrats who voted with Massie to weaken America and our ally Israel. This so-called messaging vote on Israel's security sends a dangerous signal to both our allies and our enemies around the world. The Rules Committee allowed this vote at the behest of Rep. Massie, who is seeking every opportunity to undermine the U.S.-Israel relationship in the wake of his primary defeat in May. We remain committed to strengthening support in Congress among Democrats and Republicans for America's partnership with Israel.
Behind that statement, AIPAC took a quieter, more concrete step. Jewish Insider found that AIPAC removed the fundraising option for 18 named endorsed House Democrats who had voted yes from its donor-giving portal — the page where supporters route money to AIPAC-endorsed candidates — without formally rescinding any of their endorsements. An AIPAC spokesperson declined to comment on the change; an AIPAC source told Jewish Insider the lawmakers remain endorsed even though they will no longer receive money through the platform. The New York Times independently corroborated the portal change.
Did: quietly removed the individual donor-routing option for 18 named endorsed Democrats who voted yes; issued a public statement naming and criticizing the 103.
Didn't: formally rescind any endorsement, according to an AIPAC source. The 18 remain listed as endorsed even without a working donation link.
Roll Call 243 does not support the simplest version of either partisan story. It is not true that AIPAC money reliably bought a no vote — 11-plus Democrats with a documented AIPAC-money history, including House Whip Katherine Clark and retiring former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voted yes anyway. And it is not true that the 103 who voted to cut aid are simply “AIPAC-funded Democrats voting against Israel” — the party’s two biggest AIPAC-dollar leaders, Hakeem Jeffries and Pete Aguilar, voted no, and fewer than half the 103 have ever taken AIPAC money at all. What Roll Call 243 does show, cleanly: a House Democratic Caucus split almost exactly down the middle on U.S. aid to Israel, an AIPAC willing to publicly name the defectors and quietly cut off their fundraising portal without pulling its endorsement, and a party where the fault line runs less along donor rolls than along generation and ideology.
