In the private home of a supporter Sunday evening, former Rep. Tom Malinowski, now a congressional candidate in New Jersey’s 11th district, mused about the target now on his back.
On Saturday, the political spending arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the country’s most influential and well-funded pro-Israel lobbying firm, launched an attack ad against Malinowski, who faces 10 other Democrats next month in the race to succeed Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill. The United Democratic Project, the group airing the spot, has already reserved at least $350,000 in ad space; “You’re going to see it 100 more times between now and February 5th,” Malinowski said.
At a meet-and-greet in Hanover on Sunday, the former congressman called the move bizarre. Much of AIPAC’s energy goes toward progressives who loudly critique Israel, but Malinowski doesn’t fit that mold. He held a pro-Israel voting record while representing the 7th congressional district, and AIPAC’s political action committee listed him as a featured candidate in 2022. But, he told the small group of his supporters, he is not willing to pledge fealty, which he thinks led to the attacks.
“I committed one sin in their minds,” Malinowski said. “I was not willing to tell them that I would unconditionally, unquestionably, blindly support any request for assistance that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel might make. That position puts me in the mainstream, not just of all Americans, but of the Jewish and pro-Israel community in this country. They’re not willing to say, ‘I’ll do anything without thinking.’”
In a statement to the media on Sunday, a UDP spokesperson said Malinowski is not the best pro-Israel option in the primary.
“There are several candidates in this race that are far more supportive of the US-Israel relationship than Tom Malinowski,” UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton said in a statement to the New Jersey Globe on Sunday. Dorton did not respond to a follow-up question asking which candidates he was referring to.
Malinowski’s top opponents for the nomination include Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, and former Bernie Sanders staffer Analilia Mejia. (Mejia criticized AIPAC for spending against progressives in 2024.)
Malinowski said UDP will spend $2 million on its attack ads against him, a figure that, should it come to fruition, could reshape the race. Malinowski, one of the top fundraisers in the race, announced raising $1 million earlier this month. UDP’s ad push could be more expensive than Malinowski’s entire campaign. (The fundraising aspect of the race is somewhat murky until Jan. 24, when candidates are finally required to file reports.)
Malinowski said the ad itself is “the most disgusting version” of American politics. Despite being launched by a pro-Israel group for pro-Israel reasons, the ad focused on immigration enforcement, accusing Malinowski of approving funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a 2019 vote. That year, House Democratic leaders reached a deal with GOP Senate leaders and President Donald Trump to pass a funding bill that included money for both humanitarian aid and law enforcement at the southern border. Some progressive Democrats objected to the legislation, but Malinowski and most other Democrats voted yes. Now, with the Democratic base angry at the behavior of ICE agents, the ad argues that Malinowski would not stand up to Trump.
“For that reason, they concocted this ad suggesting I support Trump and ICE,” Malinowski told the group.
Malinowski said he continues to support border security, but as congressional Democrats debate whether they should attempt to cut federal funding for ICE, Malinowski would support such an effort. He promised to vote against Department of Homeland Security funding bills that don’t require ICE to change their practices and argued that funding for “real law enforcement agencies” like the FBI should be walled off so those agents aren’t required to perform “petty immigration enforcement.”
“I would absolutely not vote for a DHS funding bill without restrictions on what ICE is doing right now,” he told the New Jersey Globe. “I would defund any operations with masked agents, any operations where they’re picking people up without warrants, branding people based on their ethnicity or their accent, any operations at schools, churches, hospitals.”
Malinowski said Congress should do more to reclaim the power of the purse. After an attendee asked about federal science spending, the former congressman said Congress is quietly restoring some of the spending that the executive branch had cut.
“Another reason why I’m running for Congress is that I want there to be one,” he said. “I want there to be not just a co-equal branch; it’s supposed to be the preeminent branch.”
Malinowski is confident that he’s the frontrunner, pointing to the negative ads as evidence. The former congressman said he hopes the ad could backfire. The ICE-related content is unconvincing, and tuned-in voters will reject it, he argued. But he acknowledged it could still prove harmful to his campaign, given the money behind the ads and the wealth of choices in the primary. He argues other Democrats should consider the ad a warning.
“My goal before two days ago was to win this race and hopefully convince you that I’m the best of many good Democrats to send to Washington,” Malinowski said. “The stakes have just gotten higher, because if these assholes get away with doing this to me … they will do it to every Democrat they want to target in the country in the midterms.”
And now Malinowski, who has long touted his refusal to accept donations from corporate PACs, has rededicated his campaign against dark money and outside spending in campaigns.
“You know what? They should be scared, in the sense that I will be influential in Congress, and I will use my influence to fight the corrupting influence of dark money in politics.”
