Left-wing candidates, including several members of the Democratic Socialists of America, rode a wave of anti-Israel sentiment — and donor cash — to victory in primaries in New York and New Jersey in June.

The latest fundraising filing period highlighted the diverse donor bases backing some of the most outspoken critics of Israel and capitalism, with candidates raking in hundreds of thousands from executives and entrepreneurs in tech, medicine and finance:

Here’s a round-up of how some of the most prominent figures got that windfall — and what they did with it:

• Darializa Avila Chevalier, the radical grad student who defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), reported nearly $350,000 in donations in the last three weeks of June. Among the many medical professionals to cut checks to Avila Chevalier was Dr. Mohammed Hadi, a Long Island-based physician charged in 2015 with conspiring to defraud Medicare and distribute oxycodone. Hadi ultimately pleaded guilty in 2024 to misdemeanor theft of government funds. Another filing the former Columbia encampment leader submitted on Wednesday lists among the campaign’s expenses $7,000 in compensation to Avila Chevalier herself on June 1. Federal law allows for candidates to pay themselves salaries out of their donor dollars.
• Another candidate getting revenue from their campaign is Adam Hamawy, who in early June became the Democratic nominee to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). The candidate paid $23,700 of the $504,855 his campaign brought in during the latest filing period to his own plastic surgery practice, continuing a pattern Jewish Insider first reported on in May. The Federal Election Commission also allows candidates to purchase goods, services and working space from themselves and family members so long as the transactions are market-rate. The Hamawy campaign — which has leaned into the candidate’s military record and fierce criticism of Israel while downplaying his past ties to Islamist figures — told JI in May that an outside consulting firm arrived at the $7,900 monthly rent paid to Princeton Plastic Surgeons.

• Assemblymember Claire Valdez reported just shy of $293,000 in campaign contributions for her bid to succeed Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). One of her most notable donors was Shanti Singham, the sister of Shanghai-based Maoist tech mogul Neville “Roy” Singham, currently under federal investigation in connection to his bankrolling of far-left nonprofits that promote pro-Iran, pro-Russia and pro-Chinese propaganda. Shanti Singham — who gave Valdez $2,000 in the most recent filing period, bringing her total contributions to her fellow DSA member to $3,500 — has her own ties to China, having held a post at state-run East China Normal University and promoted the country’s controversial Confucius Institutes in Africa. The Marxist academic’s daughter, Alicia Singham Goodwin, served as political director for the anti-Zionist group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and is a leading activist in DSA’s electoral efforts, having even helped shape New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s platform in 2025.

• A key cash-raising tool for both Avila Chevalier and Valdez has been their joint fundraising committee, which raised $165,551 in less than a month, and disbursed most of it to their campaigns. One of its largest contributors was prominent Jewish Democratic donor Morris Pearl, chairman of Patriotic Millionaires, a group that advocates heavier taxes on high earners such as himself. The former BlackRock managing director, who has in past years advocated for peace processes in the Middle East, donated $7,000 to the fundraising committee.

• The biggest winner of all this cycle may be Mamdani himself: not just for getting his slate of House candidates elected, but for raising more than $300,000 for his reelection campaign, even though he is three years away from a reelection bid. The haul was big enough that the campaign told local outlet City & State that it will abstain from the city’s matching funds program, which provides public cash to amplify small-dollar donations but caps donation size and spending. And Mamdani is already spending his war chest, contributors to which include tech investor Omer Hasan, who also underwrote his 2025 super PAC and new anti-AIPAC super PAC American Priorities. On July 10, the campaign paid more than $9,500 to longtime DSA activist Nadia Tykulsker. In 2023, it fell to Tykulsker to defend her organization’s decision to promote a celebratory rally in Times Square one day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks — a gathering even Mamdani, then a state lawmaker, condemned.