How much money does Hakeem Jeffries get from AIPAC? What we know

As U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., announced his bid to serve as the next speaker of the House following Democrats’ sweeping congressional victories in the 2026 midterm elections, social media users were quick to claim he received money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — a pro-Israel lobbying group.

Posts on X, Instagram and Facebook accused Jeffries of working for Israel’s interests as a major recipient of AIPAC funding. Snopes readers also searched the site and emailed us seeking the truth about the matter.

A petition circulated online, garnering more than 930,000 signatures as of this writing, asking Democrats to select someone else as speaker. “Picking our own speaker who does not represent Israel first, is where we start,” one of the top comments on the petition read.

The claim was true — Jeffries has received money from AIPAC. He has an extensive history with the lobbying group, and they have publicly expressed mutual support. 

We looked at the official Federal Election Commission record (archived) of Jeffries’ campaign funding, and found AIPAC had given many thousands of dollars to Jeffries over the years.

OpenSecrets, a nonprofit aimed at tracking money in U.S. politics, estimated Jeffries had received approximately $1,74 million through 2024 from pro-Israel donors generally, putting him slightly ahead of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. TrackAIPAC, an organization focused specifically on AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbyists, connected $1.5 million in such donations to Jeffries.

AIPAC identified Jeffries by name in a congratulatory post on Nov. 4, writing on X (archived) that “AIPAC members are determined to expand their political activism in the cycles ahead.”

Jeffries has a long history of support for Israel, telling a crowd in 2014: “Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever.” He told the American Jewish Committee in June 2023 that he’d been to Israel six times, more than any other country he’d visited. “I’m from New York City, where we consider Jerusalem to be the sixth borough,” he reportedly said.

The Times of Israel reported on Nov. 6: “While some in that younger generation have pushed for a tougher US stance on Israel, Jeffries does not belong to that camp and is likely to toe the line set by his predecessor Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and US President Joe Biden, who have long made a point of boasting their pro-Israel bona fides.”

As U.S. voters, particularly younger constituents, signal increasing opposition to U.S. support for Israel amid its war in Gaza — which the U.N. declared a genocide — it remains unclear how this will shape Jeffries’ stance on Israel.

Sources