Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said Thursday he will not accept further donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and will return donations he has already received from the group.
“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,” Moulton said in a statement he posted to the social platform X.
“I’m a friend of Israel, but not of its current government, and AIPAC’s mission today is to back that government,” he added. “I don’t support that direction.”
Moulton also said that he is “cautiously optimistic” the peace deal Israel and Hamas agreed to last week will bring the conflict to an end.
“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 right from the beginning.”
According to OpenSecrets, individuals affiliated with AIPAC donated $32,850 to Moulton’s campaign in 2023 and 2024, while the group itself donated $10,000, totaling $42,850. That makes AIPAC the top contributor to Moulton’s campaign over the previous two years.
Moulton’s campaign is in the process of returning $35,000 in AIPAC donations, a campaign official told The Hill. According to a quarterly Federal Election Commission finance report the campaign filed on Wednesday, $15,560 in AIPAC donations from the third quarter of 2025 will be returned.
All refunds will be reflected on the campaign’s 2025 report, due Jan. 31, 2026, the official added.
On Wednesday, Moulton announced he is challenging Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary for the 2026 Senate race. The 46-year-old said that Markey, 79, is not “the right person to meet this moment and win the future.”
Markey, according to OpenSecrets, did not receive campaign donations from AIPAC from 2019 to 2024. The Hill has reached out to Markey’s campaign for comment on Moulton’s pledge.
