DSA Candidates Face Onslaught of Pro-Israel Spending in Final Weeks of NY’s Democratic Primaries

As the June 23 Democratic primary nears, pro-Israel funding is once again filling the coffers of candidates for the New York legislature facing NYC DSA-backed contenders. 

Two years ago, Solidarity PAC—a New York version of AIPAC—spent over $100,000 in support of Israel-aligned candidates in state races. This time around, that entity has been mostly dormant (as of May 27), making only one sizable contribution ($3,000), which went to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s PAC. Solidarity’s funders, however, are still quite active. 

Scarsdale resident Adeena Rosen, a leading figure in Solidarity PAC, has taken a particularly strong interest in Harlem incumbent assemblymember Jordan Wright’s effort to repel NYC DSA challenger Conrad Blackburn. In early May, Rosen dropped $25,000 into the account of Moving Harlem Forward, a PAC supporting Wright. She also added a contemporaneous $3,000 direct contribution to the incumbent.

In addition to Wright, Rosen also doled out $3,000 to the campaign of Erik Dilan, the Bushwick assemblymember seeking a seventh term. Dilan hopes to fend off DSA insurgent Christian Celeste Tate. Hedge funder David Rosen matched his wife Adeena’s contribution, and they were joined by Solidarity supporter Alice Tisch, aunt of the anti-reform NYPD commissioner. 

In 2024, the DSA’s Eon Huntley made Gaza a leading issue in his campaign to unseat Bed-Stuy assemblymember Stefani Zinerman, who famously equated billionaire funding for her campaign with “reparations.” Along with AIPAC donor Daniel Lowy—who also gave $25,000 to the pro-Jordan Wright PAC—Tisch kicked in $3,000 to Zinerman’s current effort to repel Huntley for a second time. Other notable maximum contributors to both the Dilan and Zinerman campaigns include Rodneyse Bichotte, the Brooklyn Democratic Party boss. 

Because of her role as a ubiquitous sidekick for Mayor Eric Adams, Glendale’s Jenifer Rajkumar is the most high-profile of the assembly incumbents squaring off against a DSA contender (David Orkin). Rajkumar has thus far taken in $7,500 from the Rosens, $6,000 from Lowy and $4,500 from Tisch. The incumbent’s other notable backers include prominent ultra-Zionist Bill Ackman, who delivered $3,000 on May 18.

None of the four assembly incumbents—Wright, Dilan, Zinerman and Rajkumar—currently mention Israel or Gaza/Palestine on their websites. Although all DSA-backed candidates can be expected to support legislation including the Not on Our Dime act previously championed by Zohran Mamdani, the platforms of Huntley (“No Genocide, No War”) and Tate (“Stand with Palestine”) make direct reference to the conflict. 

The final weeks of the primary campaign likely will see a significant surge in pro-Israel funding. From early April through mid-May, a PAC named Next NYC hauled in nearly $800,000. Los Angeles-based businessman Peter Lowy, who has longstanding ties to AIPAC, contributed $100,000 to the new entity.

As reported by Nick Garber in New York Focus, in late April Next NYC sent $175,000 to a group spending on behalf of Carl Wilson in his successful city council race against Lindsey Boylan. The group still has over $600,000 that it can dole out in the June primary races. 

Although much of the pro-Israel funding currently targets DSA candidates, at least one other leading leftist—Yuh-Line Niou—is also encountering it. Endorsed by Bernie Sanders, the Working Families Party, and DSA elected officials including Alexa Avilés and Tiffany Cabán, Niou is challenging her nemesis Grace Lee for a state senate seat in Lower Manhattan.

Lee has currently raised over $350,000 for her campaign, bolstered by $10,000 from Israel-oriented donors Lori and Zachary Schreiber, $7,500 from Adeena and David Rosen, $5,800 from David and Michelle Kroin, and $4,500 from Alice Tisch. Lee has also received $5,000 from Hakeem Jeffries PAC. 

As of late May, Niou had raised about one-third of Lee’s total.