Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) said that he no longer wants AIPAC’s endorsement and would be “returning the funds” the group’s PAC had sent his campaign, following his vote on Wednesday, along with 102 other Democrats, to cut off all aid to Israel. The New York Democrat also said he would refund individual donors who had previously supported his campaign if they made the request.

“I expect groups like AIPAC will not support me in my future elections and frankly, I don’t want their support,” he wrote in a social media post explaining his vote, saying he would no longer back $3.3 billion in annual military aid to “a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime.” 

In a separate post responding to a question from AIPAC Tracker, an extremist account accused of fomenting antisemitism, Ryan confirmed he did not want AIPAC’s endorsement and would be “returning the funds” sent to his campaign. 

A spokesperson for Ryan clarified that Ryan is returning AIPAC’s “PAC funds.” Ryan added, “I am grateful for any individual donor who has supported my campaign. My position is clear and if an individual requests a refund, I will happily provide it.”

Ryan, a mainstream Democrat who holds a swing seat in New York’s Hudson Valley home to a sizable Jewish voting constituency, has cultivated a profile as a moderate economic populist. At the same time, he has been building ties to a growing range of leading left-wing Israel detractors such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and congressional nominee Brad Lander, who last month defeated a pro-Israel House Democrat in a district spanning Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.

Ryan’s about-face, and his broader recent evolution on Middle East policy, illustrates the extent to which even moderate Democrats are now spurning Israel as well as AIPAC amid a marked shift in voter sentiment against the Jewish state in the wake of the Gaza war. It also demonstrates the rising popularity of the far-left flank of the Democratic Party scoring several notable victories in a string of congressional primaries this election cycle.

Deryn Sousa, a spokesperson for AIPAC, said on Thursday it was “unfortunate” that “Ryan has turned his disagreement with this Israeli government into an attack on American citizens, vilifying their beliefs and participation in our democracy.”

“We trust he’ll uphold his word and immediately refund all the support he has received from many individual AIPAC members since he first ran for Congress,” she told Jewish Insider in a statement.

In a statement to JI, Ryan said his vote “does not represent an abandonment of the state of Israel or the Jewish people. It does not deny the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization. It does not neglect the profound grief of Oct. 7, nor the devastation in the years that followed.”  

“What this vote does represent is a reset,” he continued. “An opportunity to step back and rebuild towards a better future for Israelis, Palestinians and the Middle East and to send a message to Netanyahu’s government that the status quo is unacceptable. I stand ready to work with an allied Israeli government that recommits itself to democratic values and meaningful progress toward a two-state solution.”

Ryan was still listed as an AIPAC endorsee on the group’s online political portal as of Thursday night, but the option to donate to his campaign had been deactivated.