Jordan Wood, a Maine Democrat who dropped his Senate bid on Wednesday to run for the seat held by retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), said in a recent podcast interview that he would reject contributions from AIPAC, the pro-Israel advocacy group, joining a growing crop of Democratic candidates who have made similar pledges.

In the conversation with Kaivan Shroff, a Democratic activist, released last week, Wood pointed to what he called “a tremendous amount of distrust right now among Democratic primary voters that the money that AIPAC has put into our political system has affected our priorities when it comes to foreign aid to Israel.”

Graham Platner, a leading far-left candidate in the Democratic Senate primary facing Maine Gov. Janet Mills, has been a particularly hostile critic of AIPAC, which he has made a central focus of his anti-Israel messaging.

In a statement to Jewish Insider, Wood clarified that he does not “take money from AIPAC for the same reason I don’t take money from corporate PACs or lobbyists — because it guarantees voters trust that my policy positions and votes in Congress are not influenced by any campaign contributions.”

A spokesperson for AIPAC, Marshall Wittmann, dismissed that logic. “It’s outrageous to discriminate against pro-Israel Americans,” he said in a sharply worded statement to JI. “Ostracizing and making false accusations about fellow citizens’ democratic engagement to strengthen the U.S.-Israel partnership is contrary to American values and interests.”

“Our six million members will not be deterred by anti-Israel extremists, and their voices will be heard in the 2026 elections,” Wittmann said.

During the podcast interview, Wood stated that, even as he pulls away from AIPAC, “I do also still support aid to Israel,” albeit alongside “conditions on the continuation” of U.S. assistance, including “restrictions on offensive military weapons” to the Jewish state.

Wood, a former congressional staffer who was trailing his rivals in what has increasingly solidified into a two-person Senate race, declared on Wednesday that he was jumping into the open primary to succeed Golden, a moderate Democrat who has represented a GOP-leaning district for three consecutive terms.

The congressman said last week he would not seek reelection, writing he had “grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness” of American politics and that he and his family had faced “frequent threats” that ultimately contributed to his decision. 

Golden, a retired Marine, has been a dependably pro-Israel voice in the House and was endorsed by AIPAC before he announced he was stepping down.

“With Jared not running, it leaves open one of the most competitive House races in the entire country, and so I’m stepping up to take that on,” Wood said on Wednesday.

Matt Dunlap, the Maine state auditor, was already challenging Golden from the left before Wood, who embraced progressive stances as a Senate candidate, said he would enter the race. 

The primary field is expected to grow in the coming weeks as other potential candidates are floated, including Troy Jackson, the former president of the Maine Senate currently running for governor, and Kirk Francis, chief of the Penobscot Nation.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, looking for more-moderate candidates in the field, is still recruiting even with Wood and Dunlap in the race, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the swing district, which backed President Donald Trump by a double-digit margin in 2024. 

Like many progressives now running for Congress, Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, has made opposition to Israel a central part of his messaging.

He frequently accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza, advocates for blocking U.S. aid to Israel and is an outspoken critic of AIPAC. During a campaign event last month, Platner, a 41-year-old former Marine who runs an oyster farm, also said he believes that Israel is a terrorist state.

But more so than many candidates, the political newcomer seems particularly invested in engaging on Middle East policy, even if his views have drawn scrutiny, according to audio of a recent private discussion in which he debated about Israel with some attendees at a fundraising event in Maine for nearly 20 minutes.

Speaking at the August fundraiser, Platner defended his stances on Israel and shared previously undisclosed details about his personal ties to the region, according to the audio, recently shared with Jewish Insider.

Despite his hostile criticism of Israel, Platner said he believed that the country “has the same right to exist that every nation has to exist,” though he did not confirm whether he recognizes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. 

While he said he agreed that Hamas is a terrorist organization, Platner claimed that Netanyahu had “publicly stated that” Israel was “funding Hamas to make sure that there was going to be no non-radical leadership within Gaza in order to keep a Palestinian state from happening.”  

While members of Netanyahu’s coalition have made this argument — Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich referred to the terrorist organization as “an asset” as it serves as an obstacle to Palestinian statehood — the prime minister has never personally made such a claim. New York Times reporting from shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks alleged that the Israeli prime minister had allowed the Qatari government to send money into the Gaza Strip for several years in order to “maintain peace in Gaza.” Netanyahu called allegations that he was empowering Hamas “ridiculous.”

“It is difficult for me to lay the onus of everything only at the feet of the Palestinians,” he explained, “and not include the Netanyahu government.”

Platner also quibbled with an attendee who said that 1,200 Israeli civilians had been killed during the attacks, noting that a percentage of those who had died on Oct. 7 were soldiers in the Israeli military.

“It wasn’t 1,200 civilians. It was 600 military members,” Platner countered, using a number that far exceeded the approximately 300 soldiers who were killed in the attacks. 

“Who were taken sleeping, unarmed, out of their beds, I’ve met families,” the attendee responded, likely referring to the tatzpitaniot, unarmed female observer soldiers, and others, who were famously killed and kidnapped in their pajamas.  

“When you are wearing a uniform and carrying a gun in the service of a cause, it is difficult for me to feel that you can be called a civilian,” said Platner, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. “There is a one-way street on this,” he continued, “that I find to be disingenuous.”

The private comments suggest that Platner is not merely paying lip service to such issues on the trail, as he runs in a competitive primary against Maine Gov. Janet Mills for the Democratic nomination to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). 

Platner’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Platner’s views on Israel and Gaza have received limited attention in recent weeks as his campaign has weathered controversy over his past incendiary Reddit posts and faced questions over when he first became aware that a skull tattoo on his chest he had for nearly 20 years resembled a Nazi symbol known as a Totenkopf.

Platner, who covered the tattoo this month, has insisted he did not know what the skull signified until recently, though reporting from JI and CNN has contradicted that claim.

He has also argued that members of his family are Jewish and never objected to the skull tattoo when he took his shirt off around them. “Eighteen years,” he told The Atlantic recently. “It’s never come up.”

In the conversation about Israel at the fundraiser, which took place before controversy ensnared his campaign, Platner noted his stepbrother is Seth Frantzman, an Israeli author, journalist and security analyst who has long worked for The Jerusalem Post and lives in Jerusalem, saying they are “very close,” according to the audio.

Frantzman, who has previously written admiringly about Platner without mention of their familial ties, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Platner also said that he had “multiple friends in B’Tselem,” the left-wing Israeli human rights group that has described Israel as an apartheid regime and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza — as he argued that Israel is not fully a democracy.

He cited his friends from B’Tselem “who have showed me videos, who have introduced me to former soldiers, who have introduced me to Palestinians, who have laid out a very clear and, frankly, well-sourced case that Palestinians living within the borders of the occupied territories do not live in a democracy, that they do not have equal rights, that they do not have equal access to areas.”

He said that, “as an American taxpayer,” he was uncomfortable with sending continued U.S. aid to support Israel’s military.

But even as he has been deployed to the Middle East, Platner confirmed that he had never visited Israel.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) became the first elected Democrat to call on scandal-plagued Democrat Graham Platner to drop out of the race for Senate in Maine amid controversy over a tattoo on his chest with Nazi origins and other controversies.

Jewish Insider earlier reported that Platner had on at least one occasion identified the tattoo on his chest as a Nazi SS symbol, known as a “Totenkopf,” to a former acquaintance and had been fully aware of the tattoo and its meaning well before jumping into the race to replace Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), even bragging about having it. 

Auchincloss urged Platner to abandon his Senate bid on Sunday, telling Politico that he finds the progressive candidate’s conduct “personally disqualifying.” 

Platner has dismissed wrongdoing and claimed he had no idea the tattoo symbol was a Nazi insignia when he got it with fellow Marines while in Croatia in 2007. 

“I am not a secret Nazi. Actually if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism,” Platner said on the “Pod Save America” podcast last week.

Auchincloss expressed dissatisfaction with Platner’s defenses, in which the progressive candidate has said his actions aren’t a “liability.”

“I think it’s a liability, and I think we should have high standards for United States senators and one of them is: you don’t have a Nazi tattoo on your body,” Auchincloss told WCVB Channel 5 Boston on Sunday. 

“I hope that Maine voters would agree with me,” Auchincloss said to Politico. “Democrats would be united in condemning a Republican candidate who has this episode, and we should be consistent.”

Platner is running against Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Collins in what is expected to be a hotly-contested race.

Some progressive members of Congress, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have defended Platner amid his numerous scandals. 

“He sounds like a human being to me,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said of Platner’s tattoo in a CNN interview on Sunday. “A human being who made mistakes, recognizes them, and is very open about it.”

Graham Platner, the scandal-plagued Democrat running for Senate in Maine, continued to insist he only recently became aware that a black skull tattoo on his chest resembles a Nazi SS symbol, even amid mounting evidence suggesting he was aware of what the image represented long before he announced his campaign this summer.

A new investigation published on Friday by CNN confirmed Jewish Insider’s earlier reporting that Platner had on at least one occasion identified the tattoo as a Nazi SS symbol, known as a Totenkopf, to a former acquaintance more than a decade ago.

The former acquaintance spoke with CNN, which also interviewed a second person who said that the acquaintance had mentioned Platner’s tattoo years ago. In addition, CNN reviewed a more recent text exchange from several months ago in which the acquaintance discussed the tattoo, before Platner himself revealed he had the tattoo in an interview last week, in an effort to preempt what he described as opposition research seeking to damage his insurgent Senate campaign.

Both JI and CNN also cited deleted Reddit posts in which Platner, a 41-year-old Marine veteran and an oyster farmer, defended the use of Nazi tattoos, including SS lighting bolts, among servicemembers. In one thread, a user had mentioned the Totenkopf, further indicating that Platner had been aware of its symbolism before he entered the race in August to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

While Platner has apologized for some recently unearthed Reddit posts in which he had described himself as a “communist,” called all cops “bastards” and downplayed sexual assault in the U.S. military, he has otherwise dismissed JI’s reporting about the tattoo, which he said he had gotten with a group of “very inebriated” Marines while they were on shore leave in Croatia in 2007. 

Platner said the group had no idea it was a Nazi insignia and chose it simply because “skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” as he put it in an interview with the “Pod Save America” podcast.

He has also dismissed claims by a former political director — who recently resigned from his campaign over objections to his past posts — who said last week that Platner had an “antisemitic tattoo on his chest” that he acknowledged “could be problematic” at the beginning of his campaign.

Platner said on Wednesday he had covered up the tattoo with a dog-themed Celtic knot, displayed in a video he posted to social media soon after JI published its story.

“The amount of money and time it takes to dig through somebody’s entire past who has not lived a very public life is extensive, and yet they are willing to expend those resources,” Platner told a crowd of supporters during an event in Ogunquit, Maine, last week. “They are not trying to organize people. They are trying to destroy my life,” he said, alluding to his perceived political enemies.

Progressives also continued to rally behind Platner, who is facing Gov. Janet Mills and other candidates in the Democratic primary next year — a prelude to what party leadership views as a key race to regain a majority in the Senate.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is backing Platner and campaigned with him in Maine last month, was among top progressives who stood by the embattled Democrat hoping to withstand the ongoing scrutiny over his tattoo and now-deleted Reddit comments.

And not one Democratic senator has yet to say that Platner’s tattoo or his other controversies disqualify him from running, according to a recent NBC News report.

“He sounds like a human being to me,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said of Platner’s tattoo in a CNN interview on Sunday. “A human being who made mistakes, recognizes them, and is very open about it.”

Some polling has shown that Mills, a two-term governor who landed an endorsement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is trailing Platner by double digits — even among respondents surveyed amid the controversy over his past Reddit remarks.

A more recent survey released Saturday, however, showed Platner behind Mills by five points with 36%. But while his deficit broadly increased after voters were informed of his Nazi-linked tattoo, according to the poll conducted by SoCal Strategies, younger voters ages 18-29 still favored the former Marine.

Another recent poll, screenshots of which were shared with JI on Friday, included questions that had inaccurately described Platner’s tattoo as an “anti-Israel tattoo” and asking if such a tattoo “is disqualifying for a candidate seeking public office.”

It was unclear who had commissioned the poll. A spokesperson for Platner said he was not behind it. And the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which also released a poll late last week that showed Platner ahead of Mills, did not respond to a request for comment from JI on Friday.

Meanwhile, Jordan Wood, a former congressional aide also running in the Democratic primary, wrote last week that Platner’s “Reddit comments and Nazi SS Totenkopf tattoo are disqualifying.”
And another Democratic candidate in the primary, Daira Smith-Rodriguez, announced on Friday that she was ending her bid and endorsing Mills, citing her concerns over Platner’s past Reddit comments “as a survivor of military sexual assault.”

Graham Platner, a far-left Democratic candidate running for Senate in Maine who has captured the enthusiasm of the party’s grassroots base, sought to preempt rumors circulating in recent weeks that a black skull-and-cross bones tattoo on his chest is a Nazi symbol.

Speaking with Tommy Vietor on the “Pod Save America” political podcast, released on Monday night, Platner, 41, confirmed the existence of the tattoo, seen in video he shared displaying his bare chest, but suggested that his opponents in the race have been spreading claims that the symbol is affiliated with Nazism, which he forcefully denied.

“I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general,” said Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer in Maine who has faced scrutiny over past online posts. “I would say a lifelong opponent.”

But according to a person who socialized with Platner when he was living in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, Platner had specifically acknowledged that the tattoo was a Totenkopf, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit that guarded concentration camps in World War II.

“He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” the former acquaintance told Jewish Insider recently, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue. “He said it in a cutesy little way.”

The exchange occurred in 2012 at Tune Inn, a popular dive on Capitol Hill where Platner later worked as a bartender and was a frequent patron while he attended The George Washington University on the G.I. bill, according to the former acquaintance. He would often take his shirt off drinking with friends late at night at the bar, and on at least one occasion had stated he knew what the tattoo represented, the former acquaintance recalled.

Platner gave varying accounts of the image during this time, saying at one point he was aware it was a Totenkopf when he had first gotten the tattoo several years prior and at another time claiming he had not known, according to the former acquaintance.

The mixed accounts indicate that Platner has at least long been aware of the symbols’s connection to Nazism, even as he said in the podcast interview he was not familiar with any such association when he chose to get the tattoo.

Platner, who is running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said he had gotten the tattoo in Split, Croatia, in 2007, when he and a group of “very inebriated” fellow Marines had time off while on deployment and decided to step into a parlor. “We chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall, because we were Marines, and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” he explained on the podcast.

“We got those tattoos, and then we all moved on with our lives,” he added, emphasizing he had later served in the Army and received a security clearance to work as a contractor for the State Department in Afghanistan. “I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it,” he continued, “I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”

In a statement shared with JI on Tuesday, Platner said he did not know about the tattoo’s connection to Nazi imagery until recently. “It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” he said. “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that  — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed.”

Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who resigned from his campaign last week over her objection to his recently unearthed incendiary Reddit comments, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that “Graham has an antisemitic tattoo on his chest.”

“He’s not an idiot, he’s a military history buff,” McDonald wrote in the post, which was reviewed by JI. “Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”

McDonald said that Platner’s campaign “released it themselves to some podcast bros, along with a video of him shirtless and drunk at a wedding to try to get ahead of it.”

A spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement to JI that Platner’s tattoo “appears to be a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, and if true, it is troubling that a candidate for high office would have one.”

“We do understand that sometimes people get tattoos without understanding their hateful association,” the ADL spokesperson added. “In those cases, the bearer should be asked whether they repudiate its hateful meaning.”

Platner, a political newcomer who is facing Gov. Janet Mills and other candidates in the Democratic primary, launched his campaign in August and has raised more than $4 million while promoting a left-wing populist message — including staunch criticism of Israel and opposition to “fascists” — that garnered a high-profile endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). 

The Senate race is widely viewed by Democratic leadership as a major pickup opportunity in the midterm elections, as the party works to regain a majority in the upper chamber.

But Platner’s campaign has lost momentum in recent days amid the revelations that he had made several controversial comments while posting in Reddit forums. In a range of comments published anonymously, Platner, who has acknowledged that he wrote the posts and apologized for some of them, described himself as a “communist,” called all cops “bastards” and dismissed sexual assault in the military, among other remarks facing backlash.

In previously unreported posts reviewed by JI, Platner defended a man with a Nazi SS lightning bolt tattoo who later admitted to impersonating a federal officer at a Black Lives Matter protest in Las Vegas in 2020. “I will be sure to inform the black guys I know with bolts that they’re Nazis now and not USMC Scout/Snipers,” Platner said in a deleted Reddit post, referring to the Marines.

“Bolts were a STA icon since the ’80s at least, if not longer,” he wrote in another, using military jargon. “It was never official, but it sure as shit was tattooed on almost every HOG I knew between 2004-2012.”

Platner has also drawn scrutiny for appearing in a photo this summer with a white supremacist agitator in Maine, Richard Ward, who is running for a Bangor City Council seat.

Ward, a far-right activist who frequently spreads neo-Nazi rhetoric and imagery, wrote on Facebook in late August that he met and shook hands with Platner during an encounter at a Maine fair, posting a photo in which they are both seen standing side by side.

“Shaking hands with Graham Platner today at Blue Hill Fair,” Ward said. “Check out Graham Platner for U.S. Senate. We have a lot in common.” 

In the photo, Ward is pictured wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the number “88,” an apparent reference to a widely recognized neo-Nazi code for “Heil Hitler.” The post, a screenshot of which was obtained by JI, has since been deleted from Ward’s Facebook page.

A spokesperson for Platner’s campaign confirmed the encounter had taken place but said that he had quickly ended the conversation. “Graham promptly told Richard to f*** off and get the f*** away, like he would tell any Nazi,” the spokesperson told JI last month.

The Democratic Senate primary in Maine is shaping up to be among the most significant proxy battles over Israel in the upcoming midterm elections, pitting the state’s moderate two-term governor against a left-wing populist upstart who has vocally embraced an anti-Israel platform.

Gov. Janet Mills, who announced her campaign to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Tuesday and is backed by Senate Democratic leadership, is set to face a well-funded challenge from Graham Platner, a veteran and oyster farmer who boasts high-profile support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

In contrast with Mills, who has criticized anti-Israel divestment efforts in her state and warned against a “deeply troubling” rise in antisemitic incidents after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Platner has promoted more hostile views on Israel and its alliance with the United States.

Since entering the race in August, Platner has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and endorsed measures to block U.S. arms sales to Israel. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding the recently brokered ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas.

Platner has also been an outspoken critic of the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC, whose affiliated political arm is supporting Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republicans now seeking reelection — in a state President Donald Trump lost by seven points in 2024.

“We are focused on helping to re-elect Senator Collins, who has long been a leader and champion of strengthening the partnership between the U.S. and Israel,” Marshall Wittmann, a spokesperson for AIPAC, told Jewish Insider on Thursday.

Wittmann did not address whether AIPAC has plans to get involved in the primary. Collins, a five-term senator, has defended her relationship with AIPAC, which has faced growing criticism from Democratic candidates in recent months as intraparty tensions over Israel have intensified.

It remains to be seen if the Maine Senate race will draw outside spending from other pro-Israel groups including Democratic Majority for Israel, which has engaged in a number of recent primaries. The group did not respond to requests for comment from JI.

The primary also includes Jordan Wood, a former congressional aide whose campaign says that he has raised $3 million since April. Dan Kleban, a brewery owner in Maine, dropped out of the race on Tuesday and endorsed Mills, who was aggressively recruited by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 

Mills’ campaign said this week that she had raised $1 million in the 24 hours after she announced her bid. Platner’s team reported a $4 million haul since entering the race over the summer, with prominent contributors ranging from Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to President Joe Biden, to the billionaire donors Donald Sussman and Chris Hughes, according to campaign filings.

While Platner, 41, has drawn scrutiny over his views on Israel — which he has made a central component of his campaign messaging and national fundraising appeals — the political newcomer has more recently weathered controversy surrounding past comments in which he identified as a “communist,” called “all” police “bastards” and said rural Americans are racist and stupid, among other incendiary statements.

Platner has said that such views, unearthed in a CNN investigation published on Thursday, do not reflect his current thinking. Still, the deleted posts underscore how a previously untested candidate is likely to navigate additional vulnerabilities in a race that Democrats view as one of their top priorities as they seek to win back the Senate majority next year.

Following Mills’ launch this week, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a top elections forecaster, said that it had changed its ranking of the Maine Senate race from “leans Republican” to “toss-up” — a rating also echoed by The Cook Political Report.

Mills — who, at 77, would be the oldest freshman senator in history if elected — has won praise from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The two-term governor also formed a joint fundraising committee with the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm earlier this week, according to a new campaign disclosure.

Mills’ campaign team features veterans of her 2022 bid for governor, a person familiar with the matter told JI on Thursday, including Eric Adelstein of the communications consultancy AL Media and Jefrey Pollock of the polling firm Global Strategy Group — which has conducted a number of surveys on Israel and the Jewish vote. 

Chelsea Brossard, a Democratic strategist who recently advised Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) in his bid for governor of New Jersey, is also joining Mills’ team as campaign manager, according to the source, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss undisclosed details.

Mills’ campaign did not respond to requests for comment from JI on Thursday. Pollock declined to comment.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is slated to appear with Graham Platner, a Democrat running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), at a rally in Portland, Maine, on Labor Day, as the progressive leader from Vermont steps up his efforts to boost left-wing candidates who have been outspoken in their criticism of Israel and its ongoing war in Gaza.

Platner, a first-time candidate and Marine veteran who launched his campaign last week, has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and backed Sanders’ recent resolutions to block arms sales to Israel. Platner’s rhetoric has faced criticism from Collins, a moderate Republican seeking her sixth term.

Sanders, who announced the rally on Monday, has not officially endorsed Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer whose past social media activity indicates he is a longtime admirer of Vermont’s democratic socialist senator. 

The Portland event on Sept. 1, the next stop on Sanders’ nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, follows a rally in Michigan on Saturday at which the senator sought to boost Abdul El-Sayed, a staunch critic of Israel who is vying to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) in a crowded primary next year. 

In remarks over the weekend, Sanders, an early backer of El-Sayed’s campaign for the Democratic nomination, highlighted his efforts to restrict U.S. military aid to Israel and spoke out against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, claiming that Washington is “way out of touch with where the American people are” on what he called “clearly a moral issue.”

“We are paying for the starvation of children in Gaza,” Sanders said to the crowd gathered at the Miller Auditorium at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. 

El-Sayed, for his part, echoed those remarks, saying that party leadership “is still pulling its punch on the fact that we are subsidizing a genocide in Gaza.”

“Maybe we should be using our taxpayer dollars, I don’t know, to build schools for our kids, rather than sending blank checks to foreign militaries who drop bombs on other kids,” El-Sayed said in his speech last weekend.

El-Sayed, a former health director in Michigan, is facing progressive state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a leading pro-Israel voice in the House who is favored by party leaders.