Before making public denunciations and rejections of AIPAC an early pillar of his Senate campaign against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) spent months seeking a promise that the group would endorse him upon the announcement of his Senate campaign, a source familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.

The source said that Moulton — who has been endorsed by AIPAC in previous races — began courting AIPAC leaders in Massachusetts in the spring this year and then made multiple explicit requests for an endorsement throughout the summer.

AIPAC leaders were ultimately unwilling to provide such a guarantee before the race began, the individual said.

On the second day of his nascent primary campaign, Moulton released an announcement rejecting AIPAC and saying that he would return any donations he had received from its members.

He has continued to hammer the group since then, saying in a recent interview that his break with AIPAC was “a long time coming.”

“AIPAC has made clear to all in Congress that it intends to use its significant resources to influence U.S. elections, and Seth believes that’s all the more reason to engage and push for change from within,” the Moulton campaign said in a statement. “He’s never been afraid to disagree with AIPAC, both privately and in public, but he’s been increasingly and particularly focused on getting them to distance themselves from the Netanyahu government. When it became clear that they would not do so, Seth made the decision to return their contributions.”

The campaign did not deny JI’s reporting that Moulton had made repeated requests for a guarantee of an AIPAC endorsement before announcing his Senate run.

Asked for comment on the situation, AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann referred JI to the group’s original statement on Moulton’s break with AIPAC. That statement highlighted his past relationship with and requests for an endorsement from the group — though it did not explicitly mention outreach in connection with the Senate campaign.

“Rep. Moulton is abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction,” Wittmann’s original statement reads. “His statement comes after years of him repeatedly asking for our endorsement and is a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them.”

The revelation of Moulton’s recent and unsuccessful efforts to secure a guarantee of AIPAC’s support may cast his rejection of the group in a new light.

Many strategists involved in Massachusetts politics said Moulton’s move is an odd strategic choice for a lawmaker known more as a moderate — especially when running against Markey, who holds a strong progressive record and has a deep well of support among progressive voters.

Moulton’s strategy is “all a little head scratching,” a state Democratic official told JI. In some ways, the official said, Moulton’s campaign mirrors his successful line of attack — focused on a generational and anti-establishment argument — against then-Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) in 2014, whom he unseated.

But, the official continued, “on the face of it, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense as a political strategy” for Moulton to try to out-flank Markey from the left. “Maybe he sees something other people [don’t], but it’s an odd thing to make as your signature opening move.”

Moulton, the official continued, would probably be more successful once again focusing on a generational argument and “frankly staying far away from issues like Israel,” which is not likely to be a particularly salient issue in the race.

Anthony Cignoli, a longtime Massachusetts political consultant, said that “it’s clear Moulton is looking for the base of voters that he would need in a primary” — a voting population that’s generally to the left of Moulton’s own track record.

“But here you’ve got the long-standing champ of a lot of these issues, Ed Markey, and Moulton is really trying to find a way to muscle in here,” Cignoli said. “These are not issues he has a track record on.”

In the primary, Cignoli said Moulton needs to “reinvent and reintroduce himself” as a more progressive figure. “It’s hard to change in mid-course from his congressional track record … [and] that’s going to take an awful lot of money.”

He said that he thinks many voters, particularly in the Jewish community, will find Moulton’s sudden U-turn on AIPAC to be disingenuous. And he said that Markey is well-known and highly popular among key Democratic primary constituencies, particularly among the progressives who make up the base of the primary electorate. 

One leader in the Boston Jewish community told JI that Moulton’s rejection of AIPAC has been largely overlooked outside of a highly engaged constituency of Jewish voters.

But, the leader agreed, Moulton’s strategy does not seem to make much sense. In a head-to-head race, they said, Markey will clearly own the left flank of the electorate. Moulton has “actively and aggressively” sought AIPAC’s endorsement in past races, the leader continued, and it’s not likely that many anti-Israel voters will see his recent turn as authentic.

Moulton’s strong rejection of AIPAC could lead Jewish pro-Israel voters in Massachusetts to give a second look to Markey, local observers say.

Particularly in recent years, Markey has been one of the most vocal and consistent critics of Israel in the Senate. He voted in favor of every resolution to block arms transfers to Israel that has come before the chamber in the past year and faced boos for a call for de-escalation between Israel and Hamas at a Jewish communal gathering immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. 

He was also a frequent critic of Israeli policy prior to the war in Gaza.

But despite his record, Markey has a long-running relationship with the state’s Jewish community and has been popular among Jewish Democratic voters during his long career.

“He does have a multi-decade well of support and goodwill. That’s been challenged in recent years … but he’s got a deep well of relationships to call upon and credibility from the past,” the Democratic official said. “That could potentially open an opportunity for new conversations.”

Moulton’s anti-AIPAC blitz is “almost pushing that community into Markey’s arms,” the official continued.

Cignoli said that while Markey may face some challenges in the Jewish community, Moulton appears to be effectively surrendering that territory.

It remains unknown whether other candidates, such as Squad member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), will join the race. A Pressley candidacy in particular could prompt Jewish voters to unite around an alternative to block her ascension.

How strong supporters of Israel end up voting remains an open question, the Boston Jewish leader said — highly dependent on the ultimate shape of the race.

The Democratic official said that whether Pressley enters the race is currently one of the most-watched dynamics in Massachusetts politics — “the person that everybody is waiting for is Ayanna” — and that she is believed to be considering a campaign, though time could be running short.

“If Ayanna is in, that definitely changes the calculus for the [pro-]Israel community. Maybe people would rather have Markey at that point,” the official said.

Cignoli was somewhat skeptical that any others would enter the race, given that they’d likely split the anti-incumbent vote with Moulton, potentially to Markey’s benefit, and might struggle to qualify for the ballot.

“Pressley against the incumbent is one thing, but Pressley with another challenger out there who’s aggressive in his election style, campaign style, it makes it more difficult,” Cignoli said. “She would be a more significant candidate [against Markey] but with Moulton in, not as much.”

Pressley, he added, might have a stronger chance of winning a Senate seat if she waits until one of the incumbents retires. She could retain her safe House seat until then, or potentially find herself in line for a House Democratic leadership position, gain a spot in a future Democratic administration or run for another office.

Another potential challenge for Moulton could be locking down the necessary 15% support at the state’s Democratic convention — from local Democratic activists and officials, who are well to the left of the average Democratic voter and not Moulton’s natural constituency — to appear on the ballot next year.

Markey already has sufficient support and Pressley would likely be able to rally it, but “I don’t see where Seth gets his 15% from,” the official said.

Cignoli also said he’s unclear on how Moulton plans to meet that 15% threshold.

Jewish Insider’s Congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed reporting.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who recently announced a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), said this week that his break with AIPAC was “a long time coming.”

A day after entering the Senate race, Moulton announced that he would reject any further donations from AIPAC and would return more than $30,000 from the group, a move that has continued to be a major talking point and feature of his early campaign. 

Coming from an outspoken moderate like Moulton, the move has also raised strategic questions in a race against a committed Israel critic like Markey.

In an online interview with a progressive commentator published on Tuesday, Moulton reiterated comments he made in his public announcement rejecting AIPAC.

“Israel is our most important ally in the Middle East, but I have strong disagreements with the Bibi Netanyahu government, and I’ve been very public about those disagreements for a long time,” Moulton said. “The problem is that AIPAC is aligned with that government, so I’ve been pushing them privately to separate themselves, but they wouldn’t do that. And so ultimately, it was my decision to distance myself from the organization.”

AIPAC has a history of supporting Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship regardless of who is in power.

Asked whether he thinks debates about AIPAC will play a continued role in the campaign, Moulton said it “depends a lot on what happens in Gaza and Israel.”

He didn’t address the host’s argument that the group, whose supporters and leadership are U.S. citizens, should register as a foreign lobby group. 

“There’s a long way to go to actually having a peaceful settlement where both peoples can live side by side with the same rights, the same freedoms and the same safety that everybody in the world deserves,” Moulton said. “So we’re a long way away from that goal, and I certainly hope that we continue moving towards it, and we don’t resort to more violence. And if that’s the case, I think we’ll be able to talk about other issues in this campaign. Sadly, if it’s not, then I’m sure this will keep coming up.”

Jeremy Burton, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Boston, said many in the community were disappointed by Moulton’s initial statement disavowing AIPAC.

“People in our community will disagree with AIPAC and about AIPAC and some of their strategic choices and that includes myself, as a supporter of AIPAC. That said, AIPAC’s commitment to the state-to-state allyship of the United States and Israel has not changed between the time that the congressman actively sought their endorsement as recently as a year ago and his decision in recent weeks,” Burton told Jewish Insider. “So I would say that from my perspective, turning his back on yesterday’s supporters in order to pursue prospective voters of tomorrow says far more about the congressman than it does about AIPAC.”

Burton added that while some in the community support AIPAC and others support different groups, Moulton’s comment in his initial statement backing only “Israel’s right to exist” failed to “meet the minimum expectations that members of our community have for the kind of support for Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state that we hold, regardless of our views about AIPAC.”

David Frum, a columnist for The Atlantic, responding to the video of Moulton’s interview this week, accused the congressman of pandering to antisemites.

“Moulton is a moderate who is hoping that by opening the door *just a little* to anti-Jewish feeling, he can borrow some of that Mamdani energy to win his primary — then wedge the door, thus far and no farther. He hopes to control the hatred he wants to use. But it will use him,” Frum wrote on X, referring to New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has regularly criticized Israel and for months refused to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada.”

Moulton also defended and praised Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner after the revelation that Platner for decades had a tattoo of a Nazi symbol on his chest. Jewish Insider reported at the time, and CNN has since confirmed, that Platner indicated to acquaintances years ago that he was aware of the tattoo’s meaning, which he has more recently denied.

“He should certainly be in the race. Primaries are good, they’re healthy, and he represents a new generation of leadership that’s not just cut from the same cloth, part of the old playbook, frankly, that hasn’t been serving Democrats well,” Moulton said in a CNN interview last week. 

He said he’s “certainly considering” endorsing Platner.

“He’s made mistakes in his life — we all have — he deserves an opportunity to explain those mistakes, and he’s doing that,” Moulton continued, praising Platner for “owning this mistake, correcting it. … As someone who served in the Marines myself, he’s far from the first Marine I’ve seen who got a tattoo that he didn’t understand.”

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who on Wednesday announced a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), announced Thursday that he will return donations he has received from AIPAC and will reject further donations from the group.

Massachusetts is a solidly Democratic state but has also a large population of Jewish pro-Israel voters who might be inclined to support the more-moderate Moulton. Though his record on Israel policy is somewhat mixed, Moulton’s record on the issue is more pro-Israel than that of Markey, who is a prominent critic of Israel and has voted repeatedly against weapons transfers to the Jewish state.

“I support Israel’s right to exist, but I’ve also never been afraid to disagree openly with AIPAC when I believe they’re wrong. In recent years, AIPAC has aligned itself too closely with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government,” Moulton said in a statement. “I’m a friend of Israel, but not of its current government, and AIPAC’s mission today is to back that government. I don’t support that direction. That’s why I’ve decided to return the donations I’ve received and will not be accepting their support.”

According to campaign finance watchdog group Open Secrets, Moulton received around $43,000 from AIPAC and its supporters in the 2024 election cycle, out of a total of $2.8 million raised. The Boston Globe reported that Moulton plans to return $35,000 in donations from the current election cycle.

AIPAC issued a blistering statement in response to Moulton.

“Rep. Moulton is abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction,” spokesperson Marshall Wittmann said in a statement. “His statement comes after years of him repeatedly asking for our endorsement and is a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them.”

Moulton’s stance echoes those taken by other prominent Democratic candidates across the country seeking to appeal to the progressive Democratic base increasingly hostile to Israel.

Moulton’s changed stance on accepting support from AIPAC is a sign of how even more-moderate Democrats are facing pressure from the party’s activist base to distance themselves from embracing Israel. The Massachusetts congressman had been endorsed by AIPAC prior to declaring his Senate campaign.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that the recent breakthrough in Gaza will move us closer to ending the horrific violence in the region,” Moulton added in the statement. “A political resolution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace is exactly the kind of framework I’ve been calling for from the beginning.”

Barry Shrage, the longtime former president of the Combine Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and a professor of practice in Brandeis University’s Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program said it’s tough to predict where pro-Israel Jewish voters will land.

“I think a lot of people will remember what Markey has been doing and where Markey was coming from — kind of a leader of the anti-Israel ‘progressive’ Democratic faction,” Shrage said. “But then people are going to want to know, really, what Moulton really thinks.”

“He made a decision that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is more important to him than the Jewish community — or he thinks that the Jewish community has also turned against Israel, which, by the way is not the case, not in Boston,” Shrage said, of Moulton’s denunciation of AIPAC. “It’s kind of a cop-out for him to say, ‘I disagree with Netanyahu and that’s why I won’t take any AIPAC support.’”

Shrage noted that he saw Markey aligning himself more closely with anti-Israel figures and groups during his 2020 campaign, pointing to an op-ed in which he wrote, “his campaign … has made a concerning shift by welcoming and featuring support from individuals and organizations with highly divisive and polarizing approaches to Israel, our country and our world and all that goes with it, socially, politically, and economically.”

Shrage supported then-Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) against Markey in 2020.

He told JI that Markey’s leftward shift on Israel issues has continued in the ensuing six years, noting that Markey “won the race, in a way, by selling himself” to the left wing of the party.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) announced on Wednesday that he plans to mount a challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), grounding his campaign in an argument for generational change.

“I just don’t believe Sen. Markey should be running for another six-year term at 80 years old,” Moulton said in his Senate race announcement. “Even more, I don’t think someone who’s been in Congress for half a century is the right person to meet this moment and win the future. Sen. Markey is a good man, but it’s time for a new generation of leadership.”

But unlike many of the younger challengers taking on older Democratic incumbents in the current election cycle, Moulton, 46, is generally more moderate, including on foreign policy issues, than Markey, an outspoken progressive. While Moulton has been strongly critical of Israeli operations in Gaza, his record as a whole leans more pro-Israel than Markey’s.

Markey faced a similar challenge from former Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) in 2020 — ahead of the current anti-gerontocracy push in parts of the Democratic Party. Young progressives rallied around Markey, who won the race by 10 points. In that campaign, Kennedy sounded more supportive of Israel than the senator he was attempting to unseat. 

A recent Fiscal Alliance Foundation poll of the Senate race found that 63% of Massachusetts voters think Markey should not run for another term. In that same survey, Moulton led Markey, 38-30% among Democratic primary voters.

Markey is a prominent progressive voice in the Senate and voted seven times in the last year in favor of resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to block various weapons transfers to Israel. He memorably faced boos at a pro-Israel rally just days after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks when he called for de-escalation between Israel and Hamas.

He also joined a letter accusing Israel of violating U.S. arms sales conditions imposed by the Biden administration, and pushed to incorporate those conditions into the supplemental aid package for Israel and other allies.

Markey called the U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear program “illegal and unconstitutional” and said the attack “holds dangers for all Americans.” 

“This attack may set back but will not stop Iran’s efforts to get a nuclear bomb. The regime can rebuild its program and will now be highly motivated to do so. A diplomatic solution remains the best way to permanently and verifiably prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Markey continued. “Trump’s illegal actions raise the risk of escalation into a wider regional war with grave risks for U.S. troops and personnel and civilians in the region.”

During a committee markup of the Antisemitism Awareness Act earlier this year, Markey led an amendment opposing the revocations of visas, detentions and deportations of students and faculty based on “protected conduct under the First Amendment,” one of a series of amendments that helped torpedo the bill.

Markey appeared on the streaming show of Hasan Piker, a far-left commentator who has repeatedly faced criticism for antisemitic rhetoric and support for terrorism, during last year’s Democratic National Convention. 

While Moulton, a Marine veteran, has been critical of Israel’s war operations in Gaza and called for increased humanitarian aid, he has not backed congressional efforts to condition, withhold or end U.S. aid to Israel since Oct. 7. He voted — with most House lawmakers — in favor of supplemental aid to the Jewish state last year.

After a meeting in May 2024 with then-Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, Moulton said he opposed Israel’s plans to launch a full-scale invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah and backed President Joe Biden’s threat to withhold weapons if Israel proceeded with that operation. In 2019, prior to the recent war in Gaza, Moulton offered support for a bill that would have placed restrictions on the use of U.S. military aid to Israel.

In July 2025, Moulton said in a statement that it is “a moral imperative for the Netanyahu government to alleviate this suffering” in Gaza and that “Hamas bears primary responsibility, but Israel has the ability and the obligation to help.”

“I want Israel to succeed in defeating Hamas and bringing the hostages home. But that won’t happen if its policies undermine its own mission, and you cannot win a war against terror by allowing civilians to starve,” Moulton continued, citing his own experience serving in Iraq. He said he told the Israeli ambassador directly that “what’s happening in Gaza is unacceptable.”

Weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks, Moulton cautioned Israel against launching an operation in Gaza without a robust plan for what would come after the war.

Moulton voted against several Republican-led measures — which split the Democratic caucus — that would have tightened U.S. sanctions on Iran and limited presidential authority to waive such sanctions, as well as against sanctions on the International Criminal Court.

At the same time, he voted in favor of redesignating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, having previously led a letter to the Biden administration supporting such action, and was a lead co-sponsor of a bill to expand funding for a cooperative counter-tunneling program with Israel.

Moulton stopped short of the blanket condemnation that many Democrats expressed for the U.S. strikes on Iran, saying, “One of the reasons I was reticent to just immediately condemn the strikes is because anything that gets us back to the negotiating table is helpful — that’s where we need to be at the end of the day,” though he said he would not have voted to provide congressional approval for those strikes.

He subsequently accused administration officials of “outright lying about things that we just don’t know yet” for declaring shortly after the strikes that the U.S. had completely “obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear facilities.

On antisemitism, Moulton voted in favor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, as well as for resolutions describing anti-Zionism as antisemitic, calling for college presidents to resign over their testimony to Congress on campus antisemitism and for a GOP-led resolution condemning the firebombing of a hostage advocacy rally in Boulder, Colo., which also praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, when a coalition of Harvard University student groups issued a statement condemning and blaming Israel for the event, Moulton, a Harvard alumnus, said that he “cannot recall a moment when I’ve been more embarrassed by my alma mater” and later condemned then-Harvard President Claudine Gay’s comments at a House hearing on antisemitism.

Both Markey and Moulton have supported expanded funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help protect Jewish and other nonprofit institutions.

Following Elizabeth Magill’s resignation as the president of the University of Pennsylvania, public attention is now focusing on Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which are facing calls to unseat their own presidents. But Harvard’s Claudine Gay and MIT’s Sally Kornbluth are thus far facing less in-state political pressure for their resignations.

Pressure from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro played a role in Magill’s ouster; other Pennsylvania political figures, such as Senate candidate David McCormick and Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) were also critical of the former Penn president. But such calls have been less prevalent so far from within Massachusetts.

“Strong, moral leadership should be qualification number one for the president of the world’s leading university, but as a tireless advocate for ending the ‘cancel culture’ so pervasive at Harvard over the past decade, I’m not going to rush to cancel the president,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a Harvard alum, said in a statement to Jewish Insider on Monday. “That’s a decision the university’s governing boards should consider carefully.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said Friday, “I would say that in the last two months, Dr. Gay has been making a lot of second and third statements when she should have gotten it right the first time. Genocide is unacceptable, period,” but said he’d leave the decision of her resignation to the school’s board.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said last week, “If you can’t lead, if you can’t stand up and say what’s right and wrong — very much in the extreme cases, and these are the extreme cases — then you’ve got a problem,” but didn’t respond to a question from JI on Monday about whether the schools’ boards should ask their presidents to resign.

Neither did Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) or Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat.

Gay came under increased scrutiny over the weekend over accusations she plagiarized portions of her doctoral thesis, which she has denied.

Several prominent Harvard alums in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), also did not respond to requests for comment.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who led the questioning at a House hearing last week that fueled outrage toward the three college leaders, renewed her calls on Monday for Gay and Kornbluth to be fired.

“As clear evidence of the vastness of the moral rot at every level of these schools, this earthquake has revealed that Harvard and MIT are totally unable to grasp this grave question of moral clarity at this historic moment as the world is watching in horror and disgust. It is pathetic and abhorrent,” Stefanik said in a statement. “The leadership at these universities is totally unfit and untenable.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who led a letter with Stefanik and other Republican Harvard alums in October raising concerns about the treatment of Jewish students on campus, said on his podcast on Monday, “I think we could easily see all three of these college presidents lose their jobs because of this testimony.”

“Both those institutions are hoping this just blows over,” Cruz continued. “They’re defending them in essence by not firing them right away after they witnessed this testimony.”