A field guide to the organizations, PACs, and coalitions whose endorsements and money show up across the roster — sorted along the same spectrum the roster runs on, from the pro-Israel pole (Tier 1) to the anti-Zionist pole (Tier 6). For each: what it is, where it sits on Zionism / BDS / the arms question, its endorsement criteria, and — the operational part — what a logo or a check from it actually tells you about a candidate.
How to read this — signal, not placement
Endorsements and money are signal, not placement. Nothing here sets a tier. A group's politics tell you what backing from it correlates with — never what the individual candidate has personally said or done. The roster's rule holds in both directions: a 5/6 (Palestinian-rights-pole) placement comes from the candidate's own record, and the money rule (current-cycle money from AIPAC, DMFI, CUFI or the rest of the pro-Israel lobby's military-aid committees means a candidate cannot sit more critical than the 2/3 edge; J Street money is not counted, and money that has stopped does not hold a tier) is an upper limit, not a verdict. Samantha Kattan, an NYC-DSA-slate winner, sits at NR for lack of an individual statement — even after a primary win and a JVP Action endorsement layered on top of the DSA slate, none of which substitutes for a position she has personally stated. Use this to know what an affiliation is worth — then verify the person.
The bands and the tiers are two different rulers — and both are interpretive. The eight endorser bands here and the six-tier roster spectrum are separate orderings; they don't map one-to-one, and the tier ranges shown in each card and in the cheat-sheet are editorial estimates of what an affiliation is consistent with, not measured correlations. Several groups have few or no actual endorsees in the roster — IfNotNow's only 2026 candidate is Abdul El-Sayed — so a range often describes an org's politics rather than where its real-world endorsees land. The order of the bands themselves is a defensible judgment, not a fact: whether "broad progressive" sits nearer the pole than "Jewish-left anti-occupation," or exactly where any single group or candidate falls, is the kind of call reasonable people draw differently. Treat the whole spectrum as one considered reading of the field, not a measurement of it.
How this links to the roster. This is a standalone page meant to live on the same site as the roster, not be folded into it. Every card has a stable anchor id (e.g. #aipac, #jvp-action, #jstreet), so once both are deployed together, each org name and money tag in a candidate's card can deep-link straight here — ./endorser-reference.html#dmfi — and back. Wiring those links into the roster's data is a quick follow-up after the candidate-endorsement pass.
1
Pro-Israel PACs — contributions
strengthen US–Israel ties · oppose conditioning aid & BDS
The Tier 1–2 pole, and the groups that trigger the roster's money rule: money from any of these in the current cycle means a candidate cannot sit more critical than the 2/3 edge, whatever their rhetoric. Their criterion is the inverse of the anti-Zionist pole's — unconditional US support for Israel.
AIPAC + United Democracy Project
American Israel Public Affairs Committee · super PAC
The largest and most powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington, historically bipartisan. After decades of lobbying-only, it formed a PAC and the United Democracy Project (UDP) super PAC in 2022 to spend directly in elections.
Position
Unconditional US support for Israel. Opposes conditioning military aid; opposes BDS. AIPAC says it bases its support “only on a candidate's support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” and backs both Democrats and Republicans (including many who voted to overturn the 2020 election).
Spending
UDP spent ~$26M in 2022 and bankrolled the two most expensive Democratic House primaries in history in 2024, defeating Squad members Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. Increasingly routes money through less-obvious affiliated PACs.
2026 slate
Its candidate portal lists 325 “Pro-Israel Incumbent Members of Congress” (September 2026): 249 active and 76 paused — still listed, but closed to donations. The pauses include 15 Democrats switched off after they voted for the 15 July 2026 Massie amendment to strip Israel's military financing (among roster members Amo, Auchincloss, Horsford, Ivey, Magaziner, Pat Ryan and Adam Smith); House members now running for the Senate, “endorsed as a member of the House”; and two with a public rebuke — Quigley, whose April 2026 statement AIPAC says “deliberately misrepresented AIPAC’s views,” and Moulton, who “no longer wants support from AIPAC members.” 84 roster candidates appear on it. Challengers have separate pages; Ed Gallrein is the only roster challenger found.
Roster signalThe defining money-rule trigger. AIPAC money in the current cycle means a candidate cannot sit more critical than the 2/3 edge; money that has stopped does not hold the tier, and only a public break with the lobby plus a real record of withholding weapons lifts a recipient past 2/3, to the 3/4 edge at most. A pause is AIPAC's own move, not the candidate's break. Being targeted by UDP is the opposite signal — it tends to mark a critic, and money spent against a candidate never holds a tier.
The Democratic-side pro-Israel PAC (founded 2019, led by Mark Mellman). Works inside Democratic primaries to back pro-Israel Democrats and blunt the party's Israel-critical wing. Its 2026 slate lists 73 endorsees, 30 of them on this roster.
Position
Pro-Israel within the Democratic Party; supports the US–Israel alliance and security aid; opposes conditioning aid and BDS. In its words it “works to elect pro-Israel Democrats up and down the ballot and defeat those few anti-Israel Democratic candidates in federal election primaries.”
2026
In late July 2026 it paused nine endorsees who voted for the Massie amendment — Friedman, Harder, Houlahan, Ivey, Mullin, Neal, Neguse, Pettersen and Pat Ryan. Two others, Dave Min and Andrea Salinas, dropped off its list in May, before that vote; DMFI has not said why.
Roster signalDMFI money in the current cycle means a candidate cannot sit more critical than the 2/3 edge, under the same rule as AIPAC's. Its endorsement sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from a JVP or PAL PAC endorsement.
The political arm of CUFI, the largest pro-Israel organization in the US by membership and the flagship of Christian Zionism (it claims millions of evangelical members).
Position
Theology-driven, unconditional support for Israel; lobbies against any pressure on or conditions for Israel. Right end of the pro-Israel spectrum.
Roster signalThe Christian-Zionist ideology is a Tier 1 marker on the Republican side. CUFI Action Fund publishes no candidate endorsements; its money, like any Band 1 contribution, counts under the money rule — current-cycle money means a candidate cannot sit more critical than the 2/3 edge.
Sources: CUFI Action Fund (cufiactionfund.org)
Republican Jewish Coalition
RJC · GOP-aligned
The GOP-aligned pro-Israel advocacy and political organization. Backs Republican pro-Israel candidates and frames support for Israel as a partisan dividing line.
Position
Unconditional pro-Israel, fused with Republican politics; opposes the party's Israel-skeptical (and the Democrats') Israel-critical wings.
Roster signalA pro-Israel sign, and a partisan one. It endorses only Republicans — 48 in 2026, 20 of them on this roster, every one at Tier 1 or 1/2 — including against a pro-Israel Democrat: in FL-25 it backs Scott Singer against Jared Moskowitz while calling both “strong supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship.” It calls J Street “the anti-Israel lobbying organization.” On its own it tells you little beyond party, and it is not leadership.
Sources: RJC PAC (rjcpac.com) · RJC (rjchq.org)
Pro-Israel America & NORPAC
bundling PACs · bipartisan
Two of the bundling PACs that channel pro-Israel contributions to candidates of both parties — Pro-Israel America (a national online-bundling PAC in the AIPAC lane) and NORPAC (a New Jersey-based bipartisan pro-Israel PAC).
Position
Pro-Israel, pro-security-aid, bipartisan; same lane as AIPAC/DMFI with smaller footprints.
Roster signalSame money-rule trigger as AIPAC and DMFI: current-cycle money means a candidate cannot sit more critical than the 2/3 edge. Neither publishes a 2026 endorsement list — NORPAC's last endorsement page dates from August 2024 and its 2026 activity is fundraisers, and Pro-Israel America's site does not load.
Sources: Pro-Israel America · NORPAC (org sites)
2
Liberal Zionist
pro-Israel · anti-occupation · inside the Zionist frame
Pro-Israel but critical of the occupation and the current government. J Street affirms a Jewish state and a two-state solution, yet its endorsement marks no limit: in 2026 it backs two Tier 5 candidates. It neither lifts nor limits a candidate — the record does.
J Street
liberal-Zionist · "pro-Israel, pro-peace" · PAC
The major liberal-Zionist PAC; endorses and funds Democrats — 200 candidates in the 2026 cycle.
Position
Affirms Israel as a Jewish and democratic homeland and backs a two-state solution. In April 2026 it called for “a responsible and relatively rapid phase-out of all financial assistance, including for ballistic missile defense,” while the US “should continue to sell” Israel its interceptors, and it backs the Ceasefire Compliance Act. In July 2026 its PAC dropped the requirement that endorsees back the ten-year aid agreement and Iron Dome: its first criterion now reads “support for a strong US-Israel relationship and for US security assistance to Israel that adheres to US law.” It has opposed the global BDS movement; its most recent statement on it dates from 2017, and its current criteria don't mention it.
Roster signalA mainstream liberal Zionist group. Its endorsement does not set a tier, and it marks no outer edge either. Its 90 endorsees on this roster run from Tier 1 (Auchincloss, von Wilpert) to Tier 5 — Troy Jackson in Maine and Frederick Haynes III in TX-30, who also carries JVP Action's endorsement — clustering at Tier 2 (21) and 3/4 (26). Its PAC's 2026 money is mostly donors' contributions it passes on: of what went to sitting members, about three-fifths went to those who cosponsored Block the Bombs or voted to block an arms sale in the Senate, while nearly half of all its candidate money went to challengers with no votes yet. It does not tell you an endorsee backs the aid package, opposes BDS, or even affirms the Jewish state: García and Khanna cosponsored the May 2026 right-of-return resolution. Conduct sets the tier.
These groups endorse on a wide progressive platform — affordability, labor, climate, anti-militarism, democracy — where Palestine is a real but partial input. Their endorsees skew Israel-critical because the same coalition opposes AIPAC, but the endorsement certifies "progressive," not a Palestine position.
Justice Democrats
progressive PAC
A national PAC that recruits and backs insurgent primary challengers. It has become strongly supportive of Palestinian rights and anti-AIPAC, but its endorsement bar is broad-progressive.
Position
Frames Gaza as ethnic cleansing/genocide and opposes "bottomless budgets" for Israel — but endorses on a full platform (no corporate PAC money, Medicare for All, abolish ICE). Palestine is a major axis, not the sole litmus.
2026
24 candidates, 20 of them on this roster — challengers such as Haynes, McKinney, Rabb, Kiros and Hamawy, and incumbents including Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Omar, Summer Lee and Jayapal.
Roster signalSignals strong-progressive + Palestine-critical — its 20 roster endorsees run from Tier 3/4 (Mai Vang) to 6 — not on its own a rejection of Israel as a Jewish state. Verify where the candidate’s own record lands.
Sources: Justice Democrats (justicedemocrats.com/candidates) · The Hill · The Intercept · Al Jazeera · American Prospect
Peace Action
anti-war / disarmament
A legacy anti-war and disarmament organization; its "Peace Voter" endorsements run on conditioning aid, cutting Pentagon waste, and opposing "the genocide in Gaza" through an anti-militarism lens.
Position
Conditioning/ending military aid and an anti-war foreign policy — broad, not a BDS/embargo or Jewish-state stance.
2026 (sample)
36 endorsees, 33 on this roster, among them Abdul El-Sayed 5/6, Chris Rabb 5/6, Summer Lee 5, Ro Khanna 4/5, Mai Vang 3/4, Jon Ossoff 3 and Sherrod Brown 2.
Roster signalAn anti-war credential (≈ "conditions aid" lens). Its slate spans Tier 2 (Sherrod Brown) to Tier 6 — which is exactly why the endorsement alone doesn't fix a tier.
Reject-AIPAC member groups whose core missions sit elsewhere: the Working Families Party (a progressive ballot-line party that cross-endorses Democrats), Our Revolution (Bernie-founded; pushed "Uncommitted" in 2024), Sunrise (youth climate), NIAC Action (Iranian-American, anti-war), MPower Change (Muslim-American advocacy). Indivisible — the national pro-democracy grassroots network — sits in the same broad-progressive lane: it cross-endorses Democrats and has leaned pro-ceasefire, but its mission is democracy and anti-authoritarianism, not Palestine.
Position
None carries a BDS/embargo/Jewish-state org position; each has criticized AIPAC and leaned pro-ceasefire, but endorses on its home issue.
Roster signalWeak-to-moderate Palestine signal on their own. A WFP, Sunrise, or Indivisible logo certifies a progressive coalition credential; it says little specific about where a candidate sits on this scale.
Sources: Reject AIPAC coalition listings · ABC · In These Times
4
Jewish left / progressive — anti-occupation (big tent)
left of J Street · no Zionism litmus
Jewish-led, to the left of J Street/T'ruah, and unambiguous about ending the occupation — but, unlike JVP, they don't make a position on Zionism a membership or endorsement test.
IfNotNow
big-tent anti-occupation · Jewish movement
A progressive Jewish anti-occupation movement (founded 2014) built on protest and direct action more than candidate endorsements. A Reject AIPAC member.
Position
Big-tent by design. It deliberately declined to make BDS, one-state/two-state, or Zionism itself a litmus, in order to hold liberal Zionists and anti-Zionists together. In practice it has moved left — it uses apartheid/genocide language, runs a 2026 "stop the weapons" arms-embargo campaign, and is now described by some as an anti-Zionist Jewish space — but it doesn't impose that as a test the way JVP does.
Focus
Ending the occupation; conditioning and halting US weapons; confronting the Jewish establishment and AIPAC.
2026
No endorsement slate. Its one 2026 candidate is Abdul El-Sayed 5/6, for whom it held its first-ever virtual fundraiser and ran canvass weekends in Michigan; its only published endorsements are from 2024 (Tlaib, Bowman, Omar, Bush, Summer Lee).
Roster signalStronger than J Street, looser than JVP. INN backing reads as anti-occupation + anti-AIPAC + (now) arms-embargo energy — real criticism, but on its own not a rejection of Israel as a Jewish state. Verify the individual.
Sources: Wikipedia · Jewish Currents · IfNotNow (ifnotnowmovement.org)
JFREJ
Jews for Racial & Economic Justice · NYC
A long-running progressive Jewish organization in New York, racial- and economic-justice first, with a broad-left rather than Palestine-single-issue identity. A Reject AIPAC member; Julia Salazar got her organizing start here.
Position
Progressive-Jewish; coalition-oriented across housing, immigration, policing, and Palestine. Its 2025 endorsement criteria name “an arms embargo” and say “we cannot stay silent in the face of a genocide carried out and defended in our name as Jews”; they ask candidates to oppose codifying the IHRA definition, and JFREJ rejects AIPAC and supports Not on Our Dime. Not framed as an explicit anti-Zionist or BDS org, but well to the left of the Jewish establishment.
Tool
Endorses as “The Jewish Vote” — 18 candidates in 2026, 16 of them on this roster, from Brad Lander 3/4 to Salazar, Brisport, Kawas and Orkin T6 — and publishes an NYC voter guide whose ✔️ marks are recommendations, not endorsements.
Roster signalA progressive-Jewish + anti-occupation credential. Its voter guide is a cross-reference data tool (like AJP's scorecards), not an anti-Zionist endorsement — useful for sourcing, not for setting a tier.
Genuinely aligned with Palestine and built as AIPAC counterweights — but framed around Palestinian human rights, conditioning or ending military aid, and accountability, rather than an explicit BDS-by-name litmus (CAAC's published criteria do name a total arms embargo, though its endorsees don't all hold one). Their endorsees cluster near the Palestinian-rights pole, but the minimum they guarantee is "conditions aid," not a rejection of Israel as a Jewish state.
PAL PAC
Peace, Accountability & Leadership PAC
A Palestinian-rights federal PAC founded February 2026 by Margaret DeReus (executive director of the IMEU Policy Project). Self-described as the only PAC "exclusively committed" to Palestinian justice; built as a direct AIPAC counterweight. 18 endorsees by September 2026, 15 of them on this roster.
Position
Mission: end Israel's human-rights abuses and US complicity in "apartheid… and genocide." Criteria center on Palestinian human rights, conditioning/restricting military aid, accountability, and international law — a range from strong criticism to outright anti-Zionism, not an explicit BDS litmus.
2026
Rashida Tlaib T6, Ilhan Omar 5/6, Abdul El-Sayed 5/6, Summer Lee 5, Connie Chan 5, Justin Pearson 4/5, Delia Ramirez 4, and others.
Roster signalStrong Palestinian-rights signal — its first four endorsees are total-arms-embargo backers. But because the public criteria are human-rights/aid-conditioning framed, treat a PAL PAC endorsement as ≥ Tier 4, often nearer the anti-Zionist pole; check whether the individual takes a position that rejects Israel as a Jewish state, which 5/6 requires.
Sources: PAL PAC (pal.vote) · Zeteo · TRT World · The Intercept
AJP Action
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action · 501(c)(4)
The 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (launched 2021) of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the grassroots org founded in 2006 and chaired by Hatem Bazian, a co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine. The parent is explicitly anti-Zionist and pro-BDS; AJP Action runs the annual Palestine Advocacy Days and publishes the Palestine Congressional Scorecards. Both AMP and its educational foundation came under DOJ and IRS pressure in early 2026 — a repression backdrop, not a rating.
Position
Genuinely Palestine-aligned and anti-Zionist at the parent level ( BDS, right of return, "the Nakba never ended"); lobbies to end the US weapons and diplomatic support enabling Israeli oppression. It endorsed six candidates in 2026: Junaid Ahmed (IL-8), Adam Hamawy, Chris Rabb, Cori Bush, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Abdul El-Sayed.
Scorecard '26
Third edition (May 2026), and the first to grade both parties. Scores 17 bills + 18 letters on a simple point sum — cosponsorship ±3, floor vote ±2, letter ±1 — across measures like Block the Bombs (H.R.3565), the H.Res.876 genocide-recognition resolution, the S.J.Res arms-sale disapprovals, and the §502B human-rights review. Two scales per chamber (118th+119th vs. freshman) so new members aren't structurally locked out. House: 30 A / 26 B / 89 C / 73 D / 215 F; Senate: 4 A / 13 B / 22 C / 7 D / 54 F. It does not grade members sworn in during 2026 (Menefee, Mejía, Fuller Clay).
Roster signalThe scorecard is a cross-reference data tool, not a tier — and its "Palestinian-rights" axis is humanitarian access + arms-disapproval + genocide-recognition, not the positions that reject Israel as a Jewish state. So an A grade corroborates a strong-criticism record (roughly Tier 3–5 here) but never certifies Tier 6 on its own: AOC, Balint, Carson, Pressley, and McGovern all earn AJP A's yet sit at Tier 4 on their own records — an Iron Dome vote or statement, a two-state frame, no legitimacy-line position. Use a grade to confirm direction; the candidate's own words set the tier.
American Priorities & Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption
Palestinian-rights super PACs
Outside-spending and endorsement vehicles built to counter AIPAC's UDP. American Priorities pledged $10M+; its FEC filings show 2026 spending for 13 candidates and against 6 (e.g., $844,250 for Avila Chevalier, $427,875 for Valdez). CAAC — Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, the group behind Track AIPAC — is small in spending (≈$14k vs. Wasserman Schultz in 2024; ~$35k for Mejía) but endorses widely: 56 candidates in 2026, 34 of them on this roster.
Position
American Priorities publishes no criteria and picks races; like UDP, its ads avoid the Israel topic. CAAC publishes six: candidates who “reject support from AIPAC & their allies,” call for “an immediate & permanent ceasefire,” “support a total arms embargo & conditioning all aid to Israel,” support Palestinian rights and statehood, oppose lobbying by unregistered foreign agents, and support overturning Citizens United. Its endorsees nonetheless run from Tier 3/4 to 6 on this roster — among them incumbents such as Khanna, Grijalva and Merkley, who do not back a total embargo.
Roster signalSpending in a candidate's favor, or a CAAC endorsement, places them in the Palestinian-rights lane, but neither is a position. Context column, never a tier.
anti-Zionist · BDS · full embargo · right of return
The Palestinian-rights pole: these groups hold, by name, the positions the roster treats as Tier 5/6 markers, and USCPR and DSA make BDS support an endorsement test. An endorsement here is the strongest single correlate of a Palestinian-rights-pole candidate — but the groups' tests for candidates are narrower than their own politics, and their endorsees run from Tier 4 to 6, so it confirms a likely lean, not the record itself.
JVP Action
Jewish Voice for Peace Action · 501(c)(4)
The electoral/lobbying arm of JVP, the largest Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the US (32,000+ members). Now operates publicly as "JVP"; JVP Lab holds the 501(c)(3) educational work.
Position
The organization is explicitly anti-Zionist (declared 2019), has endorsed BDS since 2015, and backs a comprehensive two-way arms embargo and the Palestinian right of return; it frames Gaza as genocide and Israel as apartheid. Its PAC's stated test for candidates is narrower: it backs those who “unapologetically and consistently support Palestinian rights and who are working toward an end to U.S. complicity in Israeli apartheid,” and describes its 2026 endorsees as running on “an end to military funding and an arms embargo.” It publishes no anti-Zionist, BDS or right-of-return test for candidates.
2026
22 endorsees, 15 of them on this roster: El-Sayed, Rabb, Valdez, Larkin and Moreno 5/6; Hamawy, Avila Chevalier, Kiros, Kawas and Orkin T6; Haynes, McKinney and Bush 5; Angie Nixon 4/5; Kattan NR — plus Ruwa Romman (GA) and others.
Roster signalA strong correlate — 13 of its 15 roster endorsees sit at Tier 5 or 6 — but its stated test is support for Palestinian rights and an end to US complicity, with an arms embargo named, not the full anti-Zionist package JVP itself holds. Still verify the person's own words; the endorsement confirms the lean, the statements set the tier.
Sources: JVP Action 2026 endorsements (jewishvoiceforpeace.org) · JVP Action PAC page (Wayback, Jun 2026) · JVP FAQ · Wikipedia
DSA / NYC-DSA
Democratic Socialists of America
Largest US socialist organization (~78,000 members; 250+ elected officials). Endorses and field-organizes for candidates — mostly on the Democratic line — prioritizing "cadre" and "labor" candidates with deep ties to the org.
Position
Formally anti-Zionist since August 2025 (Resolution 22, passed 56%). Affirms the Thawābit — the PLO red lines including right of return and Jerusalem. BDS support is now an endorsement litmus test: its endorsement page requires candidates to “Support the BDS movement”; material support for Israel, ties to AIPAC or J Street, or saying "Israel has a right to defend itself" are designated expellable offenses. Also passed "Labor for an Arms Embargo" (80%). Endorsed BDS back in 2017.
Caveat
It stopped short of formally aligning with the BDS National Committee (that amendment failed) and voted down a one-state resolution. It conditionally endorsed then revoked AOC (2024) and censured her (2025) for being too soft.
2026
National DSA lists 41 candidates, seven of them federal (Rabb, Kiros, Bush, Tlaib, McKinney, Larkin, Gonzales-Torres). NYC-DSA slate: Mamdani (mayor) + Valdez 5/6, Avila Chevalier T6, Aber Kawas T6, Moreno 5/6, Sairitupac 5/6, Kattan NR, and more.
Roster signalPost-2025, a DSA endorsement implies at least nominal BDS support — a stronger anti-Zionist signal than almost any other. But individual variance is real and documented: AOC revoked and censured nationally yet listed by NYC-DSA; Kattan at NR for lack of an individual statement; Gonzales-Torres at 4 and Mai Vang, endorsed by the Sacramento chapter, at 3/4. Slate alignment ≠ a position.
Sources: DSA electoral site (electoral.dsausa.org) · NYC-DSA (socialists.nyc) · 2025 DSA Convention results · Left Voice · Jacobin · Wikipedia
USCPR Action
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action · 501(c)(4)
The advocacy and electoral arm of USCPR, a national coalition rooted in hundreds of Palestinian-rights groups and a backbone of the US BDS movement; a founding member of the Reject AIPAC coalition. It is a 501(c)(4) housed at Tides Advocacy — not a PAC, and by its own account it won't try to match AIPAC dollar-for-dollar. Its leverage is mobilization plus two concrete instruments: a candidate slate and a congressional scorecard. Led by Ahmad Abuznaid (executive director) and Iman Abid-Thompson (advocacy/political director).
Position
The parent USCPR stands against Zionism by name — "a political system and racist ideology" — and backs the Palestinian right of return, total liberation, and an end to all US military funding to Israel. The full anti-Zionist set.
Criteria
Its endorsement is an explicit litmus, not a vibe. In its words, endorsees commit to “block U.S. weapons transfers and military funding to Israel,” to support “the BDS movement,” and to “refuse to take any money from AIPAC.” BDS-by-name as an endorsement test puts it alongside DSA, not in the softer human-rights lane.
2026 slate
17 endorsees, which USCPR still calls its first round: the nine of 14 May 2026 — Cori Bush 5, Rashida Tlaib T6, Delia Ramirez 4, Claire Valdez 5/6, Darializa Avila Chevalier T6, Donavan McKinney 5, Saikat Chakrabarti, Adam Hamawy T6, Chris Rabb 5/6 — then Abdul El-Sayed 5/6, Angie Nixon 4/5, Oliver Larkin 5/6, Nila Devanath 4/5 and Justin Pearson 4/5, plus state candidates Aber Kawas, Ruwa Romman and Abbas Alawieh.
Scorecard
Also publishes a 2026 Congressional Scorecard (arms embargo, votes, Dear Colleague letters) — a cross-reference data tool. Highest-rated as of May 2026: Tlaib, Omar, Ramirez, Al Green, Summer Lee.
Roster signalA strong correlate — the criteria name BDS support and an end to military funding. Still verify the person: its 14 roster endorsees run from Tier 4 to 6, so it confirms the lean while the candidate's own words and conduct set the tier. Two of them, Delia Ramirez (4) and Justin Pearson (4/5), have no BDS position of their own on the record, so their cards don't carry the endorsement.
A communist party (founded 2004) that runs its own independent candidates rather than endorsing Democrats. Explicitly anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist.
Position
Anti-Zionist; calls to end all US aid and "all occupations, military interventions" immediately; backs Palestinian liberation. Anti-Zionist by ideology.
Form
Not a Democratic endorser — it fields its own line (e.g., Andre Easton, NY-15 5; a 2024 presidential ticket).
Roster signalA PSL candidacy is explicit anti-Zionist-party alignment, pointing toward Tiers 5–6; Easton sits at 5 on his own record. It rarely appears as an "endorser" because it runs against Democrats.
Sources: PSL National · Easton (NY-15) coverage
7
Anti-AIPAC accountability
cross-cutting · a criticism signal, not a stance
Cross-cutting tools for opposing AIPAC's money — not positions on Zionism or BDS. Refusing AIPAC now spans the spectrum (even centrists like Seth Moulton and Mallory McMorrow have done it), so reading "rejects AIPAC" as proof a candidate rejects Israel as a Jewish state is the classic error this band exists to prevent.
Reject AIPAC
2024 coalition · 20+ groups
A coalition launched in 2024 spanning Justice Democrats, WFP, JVP Action, IfNotNow, Sunrise, DSA, Our Revolution, USCPR Action, Peace Action, NIAC Action, MPower, Gen-Z for Change, JFREJ and more. Its instrument is a pledge, modeled on the anti-NRA pledge: “I pledge not to take endorsements or contributions from AIPAC and/or any aligned PACs.”
Position
An anti-AIPAC vehicle, not a Zionism/BDS stance; the pledge asks only that candidates refuse AIPAC's endorsements and money.
Note
Its only published signer list — 13 members of Congress, unchanged from August 2024 — went offline in July 2026, and the rejectaipac.org address now serves an unrelated copy of the site; don't cite it. The coalition looks dormant in 2026, though refusing AIPAC money is common across the party.
Roster signal"Rejects AIPAC" is a moderate criticism data point — necessary-not-sufficient for a Palestinian-rights-pole placement. Plenty of Tier 2–3 candidates now refuse AIPAC money. Do not read it as a rejection of Israel as a Jewish state.
Sources: Reject AIPAC pledge and “Rejecters” page (Wayback, 2024–26) · Common Dreams · The Hill · Al Jazeera · American Prospect · IfNotNow
Track AIPAC
grassroots tracker / scorecard
A volunteer-run accountability project that documents officeholders' and candidates' ties to AIPAC and the wider pro-Israel lobby — per-member contribution totals, voting records, and Palestine positions — from an explicitly anti-AIPAC, Palestine-accountability vantage. Its per-state pages tally the lobby money flowing to each member of a state's congressional delegation (e.g., it tallied ~$3M in Israel-lobby money to Valerie Foushee).
Position
A transparency/data project that tracks and scores. As Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, the same organization also endorses: its endorsements page lists 56 candidates for 2026 (see the CAAC card above). Its lens is critical of AIPAC, but the underlying figures are contribution and voting data.
Roster signalUsed here as the standing counter-reference for sitting federal pro-Israel members who otherwise carry only neutral or pro-Israel sourcing — it documents the lobby money behind a Tier 1–2 placement from a critical vantage. It covers sitting members of Congress, not state-level officials or non-incumbents, and its money lens fits Democrats (AIPAC dollars) better than Republicans (whose pro-Israel stance is ideological more than transactional). A corroborating data source on the "money" axis, never a tier-setter on its own.
Sources: Track AIPAC (trackaipac.com) · The Intercept · American Prospect · INDY Week
8
Advocacy — not endorsers
shape the climate · don't hand out endorsements
Influential organizations that shape the political climate around Palestine and Israel but don't issue electoral endorsements — listed so they're documented and not mistaken for PACs whose "backing" sets a signal. They are grouped here by what they do (advocacy, no endorsements), not by where they stand: this band spans the spectrum, from right-wing Zionist climate-setters, through liberal-Zionist human-rights advocacy, to Palestinian-led groups that reject US electoral politics on principle — the two ends of the force question, both outside the endorsement game.
ADL · AJC · ZOA · StandWithUs
pro-Israel / Jewish communal advocacy
Pro-Israel advocacy organizations that shape the climate but don't issue endorsements. Three of them are close kin on the right — the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), ZOA (Zionist Organization of America), and StandWithUs — right-wing Zionist groups that brand criticism of Israel and anti-Zionist organizing as antisemitism; the ADL and StandWithUs are widely criticized for smear campaigns against Palestinian-rights, progressive, and even mainstream-liberal groups and individuals. The AJC (American Jewish Committee) sits closer to the mainstream pro-Israel establishment, focused on diplomacy and advocacy.
Role
Lobbying, education, climate-setting, and reputational attacks on critics — not candidate endorsements.
Roster signalNone directly — these aren't endorsers, and an ADL or AJC mention is not a money-rule trigger. They matter as the right-wing-Zionist and establishment backdrop the anti-Zionist pole defines itself against; an ADL "antisemitism" designation of a candidate or group is a political attack, not a neutral rating.
The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights · liberal-Zionist advocacy, not an endorser
A network of ~2,300 rabbis and cantors that frames its advocacy in the language of human rights. Zionist, but firmly opposed to the occupation, annexation, settlement expansion, and settler violence. An advocacy and rabbinic-organizing body, not a candidate PAC — it issues no electoral endorsements, and no candidate on this roster carries one. Politically it is the opposite number of the ADL/ZOA cluster above, not its kin; it sits here because of what it does, not where it stands.
Position
Its November 2024 letter, as edited on 20 November 2024, objects to the US “supplying Israel with offensive weapons without transparency” about their use and without insisting that Israel meet its international obligations — conditioning rather than a halt — while holding that “the U.S. can and should continue to provide support for Iron Dome and other defensive military aid.” It has since called the war “no longer justifiable” (a joint statement, August 2025) and described Israeli policy in the West Bank as “ethnic cleansing” (September 2026). Does not use “genocide.” Opposes a blanket boycott while defending the right to boycott. Does not call for a full embargo, and keeps a two-state, Jewish-state frame.
Roster signalNone — it endorses no one. Read against J Street, the two now differ more in instrument than in distance: J Street wants US financing of Israel's arms phased out entirely, missile defense included, while Israel keeps buying; T'ruah keeps defensive aid but asks that offensive transfers be conditioned on transparency and international law. Both sit near the conditioning line and short of 4/5: neither names the genocide, calls for an embargo, or crosses the legitimacy line. Checked September 2026.
Sources: T'ruah — "Rabbis Call on U.S. to Stop Transfer of Offensive Weapons to Israel" (Nov 15, 2024, edited Nov 20, truah.org) · T'ruah on the UK, France and Canada settlement-goods ban (Sep 9, 2026) · Religion News Service (Nov 18, 2024)
Within Our Lifetime
Palestinian-led · rejects electoralism · not an endorser
A Palestinian-led NYC organization (formerly NY4Palestine), led by Nerdeen Kiswani. It appears nowhere on this roster — no endorsement, no candidate tie — and that is deliberate: it rejects candidate endorsements and US electoral politics on principle. Listed here because its position marks one far end of the force question, and its absence from every tier is itself a statement about the electoral field this roster measures.
Position
Its Points of Unity defend "the right of Palestinians as colonized people to resist the zionist occupation by any means necessary," naming armed struggle a legitimate form — while saying nothing about the targeting of civilians. That is further on force than anything this roster measures.
On elections
Rejects electoralism by name: progressive endorsements "siphon the rage, energy, and resources of disaffected young people… into the Democratic Party and nonprofit industrial complex," a "demobilizing and disillusioning force"; "fascism is a bipartisan affair"; the goal is "to take power, not just elect people." It has criticized Mamdani, not backed him.
Roster signalNone — it endorses no one, and won't. Its non-participation is a reasoned verdict that the two-party system cannot deliver on Palestine, not apathy. It also rejects the frame this roster is built on, arguing that to "essentialize the role of AIPAC is to fundamentally misapprehend our enemy." Its position on force can't reach a tier because it never touches a candidate.
Sources: wolpalestine.com — Points of Unity · "Genocide is Not the Lesser of Two Evils" (June 29, 2024)
Palestinian Youth Movement
Palestinian diaspora · rejects electoralism · not an endorser
A transnational Palestinian diaspora organization. Like WOL, it appears nowhere on this roster and endorses no candidate — by conviction, not omission. Listed for the same reason: to document where the force question runs past the edge of electoral politics, and why these voices sit outside it.
Position
Affirms Palestinians "will continue to forcefully reclaim [freedom] by any means necessary" and calls resistance "just and true" — but, unlike WOL, keeps Palestinian defense at "popular resistance" and "steadfastness," naming no armed means. Silent on the targeting of civilians.
On elections
"The people will bring an end to this genocide… not through moral appeals to imperialist politicians, but through mass mobilization… a people's arms embargo." Change comes from recognizing "the futility of traditional vehicles for alleged change." Its instruments are boycott and mobilization — e.g., its campaign against Maersk for shipping military cargo "to the Zionist entity."
Roster signalNone — it endorses no one. As with WOL, the non-endorsement is the point: a considered judgment that the US electoral system fails the issue. It transmits no signal to any candidate.
Sources: palestinianyouthmovement.com — Statement on the 2024 election (Nov 6, 2024) · "On Sharpening Contradictions" (Nov 13, 2023) · About
Non-endorsement as a verdict. The organizations that go furthest on the force question — WOL and PYM — are precisely the ones that endorse no one and reject electoral politics on principle. That is not a coincidence to route around; it is a finding. The positions the US two-party system can absorb stop well short of these groups, and these groups say so in as many words. Their absence from every tier reflects a limit of the electoral field this roster measures, not a gap in the roster — and it is the mirror image of the far pro-Israel pole, whose maximal-force voices (see the tier rules) do hold office and vote the weapons through. The endorsement game runs between those two silences.
Not on this list: crypto PACs. Fairshake and its affiliated crypto super PACs funded several AIPAC-preferred candidates this cycle (e.g., Christian Menefee in TX-18), so their money co-occurs with the pro-Israel lane — but they are not pro-Israel organizations. Their throughline is crypto regulation, not Israel. Keep the two money trails distinct: crypto-PAC money is not a money-rule trigger on its own.
§
Individual endorsers
a different object — what their backing signals × how far it reaches
Individuals aren't a spectrum band — they're a different object. An organization endorses by published criteria; a person's backing blends two things: where they sit on the spectrum, and how far their name actually moves a race. So each entry carries a type — Type A (Palestine-signal): Palestine is central to their identity, so their backing carries position information (Tlaib, Sanders, AOC, Mamdani); Type B (power/partisan): the endorsement signals factional or machine alignment, and their Israel stance is incidental to why they endorse (Trump). Listed for reach or power, not for completeness. Where a person is also a roster candidate, the tier is the roster's call (shown here and kept in sync); otherwise it's an editorial estimate. Endorsee lists appear only where a published, finite slate exists — see the celebrity/influencer note at the end for why most individuals get a signal read but no list.
Donald Trump
Type B · own position T1
President and the dominant force in Republican primaries. By record the pro-Israel pole — moved the embassy to Jerusalem, recognized the Golan, brokered the Abraham Accords, the 2025 Gaza “ownership” plan, UNRWA cuts — but his posture is transactional and idiosyncratic, not AIPAC-money or Christian-Zionist-theology driven.
2026
Ballotpedia lists 364 endorsements for 2026 (its summary table says 346). Roster candidates he has backed include Ken Paxton, Tom Cotton, Bill Hagerty, Ashley Moody, Mike Rogers, Mike Collins, Julia Letlow, Michael Whatley and Kevin Hern — plus nearly every GOP Senate incumbent. He endorsed Lindsey Graham for the primary; Graham died in July 2026.
What backing signalsMAGA / GOP loyalty, not an Israel position. A Trump endorsement marks a candidate as Trump-aligned; their Palestine tier is incidental and set by their own record. The cleanest illustration of a Type B power endorsement — enormous reach, near-zero Palestine signal.
The most popular figure on the American left and its largest small-dollar network. Has fought for years to block US arms sales to Israel, yet still affirms Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state and backs a two-state solution — the record the roster reads as Tier 4, short of the anti-Zionist line. (Not a 2026 candidate, so he has no roster row of his own.)
Slate
Publishes his own list (berniesanders.com/endorse): 76 candidates in 2026, 26 of them on this roster. Our Revolution (Band 3), which he founded, runs a separate slate.
What backing signalsStrong-progressive, arms-conditioning — a Type A signal with huge reach. But by the roster's own rule his nod can't certify a Tier 5: he sits at 4 himself, so the endorsement confirms a left lean, not an anti-Zionist record.
Among the highest-reach progressive endorsers in the country. She sits at 4 on this roster: she reversed a long pro–Iron Dome record in 2026 and backs conditioning arms, but stops short of the anti-Zionist markers.
Publishes no list of her own; her Courage to Change PAC's site carries no slate, so her 2026 endorsements are compiled from reporting (Ballotpedia, City & State) and the candidates' own sites.
What backing signalsStrong-progressive + arms-conditioning, big reach — but, like Sanders, she sits at 4 herself, so her endorsement confirms the lean without certifying Tier 5.
Sources: Ballotpedia — Endorsements by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez · roster (NY-14)
Rashida Tlaib
Type A · roster Tier 6
The only Palestinian-American woman in Congress and the strongest individual Palestine-signal endorser on this list. Backs a full arms embargo, names the genocide, supports BDS — a clean roster Tier 6.
Ad hoc; no single canonical slate, though her backings are well reported.
What backing signalsThe gold-standard Palestinian-rights-pole correlate among individuals — a Tlaib endorsement is the closest a person's nod comes to the JVP Action / USCPR signal. Still verify the candidate's own words: the endorsement confirms the lean, the record sets the tier.
Sources: roster (MI-12) · widely reported
Zohran Mamdani
Type A · est. Tier 5
Mayor of New York City since January 2026 — the highest-profile Muslim and Palestinian-rights elected official in the country, with a national small-dollar and youth following. Lifelong BDS record: co-founded an SJP chapter at Bowdoin, backed academic BDS, called the Palestinian cause “central to my identity,” and on his first day as mayor revoked the city's IHRA antisemitism definition and its anti-BDS restrictions. (Citywide office, so not a House/Senate roster row.)
Slate
Ad hoc; no canonical slate — his backing is a reach instrument more than a list.
Why 5, not 6
The BDS-by-name record and day-one anti-IHRA / anti-BDS actions read as Tier 6 — but the roster's no-hedging rule keeps him from a clean 6, and Mamdani has hedged under Zionist and establishment pressure: he walked back “globalize the intifada” to a closed-door room of 140+ business leaders, and in March 2026 publicly condemned Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa as “reprehensible” and distanced his wife, illustrator Rama Duwaji, after her work in Abulhawa's Gaza anthology drew fire — moves that Abulhawa, Nerdeen Kiswani, and Mohammed El-Kurd each called a capitulation to Zionist power. Strong markers, real hedging → Tier 5.
What backing signalsA high-reach Palestinian-rights credential, especially with young and Muslim voters. Reads as near the Palestinian-rights pole, but the hedging is the point: confirm the candidate's own record rather than treating a Mamdani nod as a Tier-6 stamp.
Sources: Al Jazeera · The Hill · JTA · Times of Israel
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Cross-reference cheat-sheet
Endorser
Band
What backing signals
Affected band
AIPAC / UDP
Pro-Israel $
Unconditional pro-Israel — current-cycle money caps at the 2/3 edge
T1–2/3
DMFI
Pro-Israel $
Dem-side pro-Israel — current-cycle money caps at the 2/3 edge
T1–2/3
CUFI Action Fund
Pro-Israel $
Christian Zionist; money only, no endorsements — caps at the 2/3 edge
T1
RJC
Pro-Israel $
GOP pro-Israel, and partisan — endorses only Republicans
T1–1/2 (R)
Pro-Israel America · NORPAC
Pro-Israel $
Bundled pro-Israel money — caps at the 2/3 edge
T1–T2
J Street
Mainstream
Mainstream liberal Zionist. Endorsement sets no tier and marks no edge — endorsees span T1–T5 — and does not certify aid support, no BDS, or Jewish state
T1–T5
Justice Democrats
Progressive
Strong-progressive + Palestine-critical
T3/4–T6
Peace Action
Progressive
Conditions aid / anti-militarism lens
T2–T6
WFP · Our Rev · Sunrise · NIAC · MPower
Progressive
Progressive credential; weak Palestine signal
T2–T6 (varies)
IfNotNow
J. prog (big tent)
Anti-occupation + anti-AIPAC; no Zionism litmus; one 2026 candidate (El-Sayed)
T4–T6
JFREJ
Jewish left
Progressive-Jewish; names an arms embargo and the genocide; voter-guide tool
T3/4–T6
PAL PAC
Pal-rights
Palestinian human rights + conditioning aid
T4–T6
AJP Action
Pal-rights
Anti-Zionist parent (AMP); six 2026 endorsees; scorecard = data tool, not a tier
T5–T6
American Priorities · CAAC
Pal-rights
Spends for (American Priorities) or endorses (CAAC, whose criteria name a total arms embargo) Palestinian-rights candidates — neither is a position
T2/3–T6
JVP Action
Anti-Zionist
Palestinian rights + an end to US complicity, arms embargo named; the organization itself is anti-Zionist and pro-BDS
T4/5–T6
DSA / NYC-DSA
Anti-Zionist
≥ nominal BDS support (post-2025 litmus); verify person
Not an endorser — endorses no candidates. Its own position: condition offensive arms, keep Iron Dome (near the conditioning line)
—
Within Our Lifetime · PYM
Advocacy
Not endorsers — reject electoralism on principle; furthest on force ("by any means necessary"); zero roster reach by conviction
—
ADL · AJC · ZOA · StandWithUs
Advocacy
Climate-shapers — not endorsers
—
Reading the spectrum. The clean test for placing any endorser is the Jewish-state question. The pro-Israel bands (AIPAC, DMFI, CUFI, RJC) treat it as non-negotiable and oppose conditioning aid; J Street affirms it while backing two states, and its endorsement moves a candidate toward neither pole — its endorsees run from Tier 1 to 5 — while T'ruah, which endorses no one, holds a liberal-Zionist conditioning position; the anti-Zionist pole (JVP, DSA, USCPR, PSL) rejects it by name; and everything in between — IfNotNow's "end the occupation," JFREJ's racial-justice frame, Justice Democrats' "ethnic cleansing," PAL PAC's "human rights," Reject AIPAC's "no AIPAC money" — describes criticism of conduct or aid without necessarily rejecting Israel as a Jewish state. An affiliation narrows the range; it never fixes the point. The candidate's own words still do that.
Placing a pro-Israel candidate: Tier 1 vs 1/2 vs 2. Endorsements narrow the range; they never fix the tier. The split turns on the two questions in §5 of the tier rules. Does the candidate lead — write Israel legislation themselves, run a marquee pro-Israel fundraising operation, build a brand on hardline rhetoric, or personally drive anti-BDS enforcement? And do they express concern for Palestinian civilians in their own words, without invoking Israel's need to defend itself in the same statement? Leadership makes a clean Tier 1; no leadership and no such concern is a 1/2; no leadership with that concern is a flat 2. Taking money, having money spent for you, cosponsoring and being endorsed are going along, not leading. Netanyahu criticism and two-state support are not daylight.