The United Democracy Project (UDP) is the super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). For most of AIPAC’s history, the organization did not engage directly in candidate elections; it shifted strategy in late 2021 and 2022, establishing both a traditional PAC and a super PAC to support candidates seen as supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
UDP describes itself as bipartisan, and its formal mission is to support candidates aligned with strong U.S.-Israel ties regardless of party. In practice, the great majority of UDP’s spending has gone into Democratic primaries against incumbents and candidates seen as critical of Israeli government policies — particularly members of the progressive “Squad.” UDP played a decisive role in the 2024 primary defeats of Representatives Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri, spending more than $14 million against Bowman alone. The Bowman race became the most expensive House primary in U.S. history.
UDP’s largest donors include WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, hedge-fund founder Paul Singer, and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. The PAC’s strategy of intervening heavily in Democratic primaries has made it a focus of intense intra-party debate.
Website: uniteddemocracyproject.org · OpenSecrets profile: United Democracy Project