Obscure PAC that spent heavily on attacks on Oregon congressional candidates finally reveals its donors – one month after the election

A shadowy political group that spent $3.25 million attacking congressional candidate Susheela Jayapal during the May primary has finally revealed its donors, a month after the former Multnomah County commissioner lost her bid to represent Greater Portland in Congress.

The group Voters for Responsive Government received its largest donation, $1.3 million, from a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), federal records show. The records show that Voters for Responsive Government also owes the powerful pro-Israel group $20,000 for “administrative services.”

The political action committee, founded in April, received the remainder of the nearly $4 million it raised from donors in May from one corporation and seven individuals, most of whom had publicly disclosed ties to pro-Israel causes and groups.

The PAC funded numerous negative ads and mailers that identified Jayapal as the main culprit for rampant homelessness and open drug use in the Portland area, as well as for something that never happened — the county’s provision of drug pipes and other meth and fentanyl paraphernalia. The inflammatory smear pieces attempted to pin the failings of the Multnomah County Commission and its powerful chairwoman solely on Jayapal, when in reality she was one of five commissioners in charge of county affairs between 2019 and her resignation in late 2023.

Anthony B. Davis, co-founder and president of Chicago-based private equity firm Linden Capital Partners, donated $1 million to Voters for Responsive Government. According to an article in Classic Chicago Magazine, Davis was once president of AIPAC Illinois. The American Jewish Committee Chicago awarded him a human rights award in 2017.

Maryland-based Edgewater Partnership LP, which is affiliated with Maryland-based real estate developer Reed Cordish, whose father served on AIPAC’s national board, donated $650,000. Jonathan Jacobson, former CEO of Boston-based Highfields Capital Management and former chairman of the International Board of Trustees of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, donated $350,000.

Neil L. Cohen, chairman of investment firm Emerald Development Managers, donated $253,000, while investment banker Kenneth Moelis gave $200,000. Both Cohen and Moelis have previously donated to an affiliate of AIPAC.

Responsive government voters did not begin accepting donations until May, allowing the party to shield the donors who funded its multimillion-dollar campaign against Jayapal until after the Oregon primary on May 21.

Jayapal said she expects pro-Israel groups to speak out against her, as they have in other elections across the country.

Jewish Insider magazine wrote last year that Jayapal was criticized by pro-Israel politicians after she refused to sign a district commission statement condemning Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack because it failed to acknowledge the number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s brutal response. She later explicitly condemned Hamas and called for a ceasefire. Jayapal’s sister, Pramila Jayapal, is a congresswoman for the Seattle metropolitan area and chair of the House Progressive Caucus, which is more critical of Israel than House Democrats as a whole.

State Rep. Maxine Dexter won the hotly contested Democratic primary for Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District in May, taking 47% of the vote to Jayapal’s 33%. Dexter is expected to score a clear victory in November when she seeks to replace retiring Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who represented the overwhelmingly Democratic 3rd District for nearly three decades.

Dexter benefited from a last-minute surge in donations from pro-Israel donors and from outside money, including from the 314 Action Fund, which aims to elect progressive politicians with science backgrounds to Congress. The 314 Action Fund, which spent $2.2 million to support Dexter, received two-thirds of its April donations from three donors, two of whom are strong supporters of Israel.

But Dexter also benefited from key endorsements and her track record in the state legislature. Both the Oregonian and Willamette Week editorial boards endorsed Dexter.

“Maxine has the support of Oregon’s labor unions, gun violence prevention activists, the Oregonian’s editorial board and dozens of Democratic leaders who know she has a history of progressive records,” said Nathan Clark, Dexter’s campaign manager, during the primary.

Oregonian reporter Sami Edge contributed to this report.

— Jamie Goldberg oversees The Oregonian/OregonLive’s coverage of politics, education and homelessness. She can be reached at [email protected] or 503-221-8228. You can find them on X under @jamiebgoldberg

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