Meet the newest potential 'Squad' member AIPAC accidentally got elected
Another progressive, anti-Israel Democrat is set to be sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives after the pro-Israel lobbying firm AIPAC accidentally boosted her campaign.
Democrat Analilia Mejia won the New Jersey special election last week to replace former Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who was elected governor in November 2025. Mejia is expected to be sworn in Monday afternoon, allowing Democrats to regain one seat after being down a vote following Sherrill's resignation last fall.
This miscalculation was unprecedented for the lobbying group.
In the lead-up to the race, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee dumped millions of dollars into the Democratic primary against former Rep. Tom Malinowski for criticizing the Israeli government. The campaign attempted to liken Malinowski's track record to President Donald Trump's immigration policy, successfully ousting the congressional hopeful.
But in eliminating Malinowski's candidacy, AIPAC inadvertently boosted Mejia, whose criticisms of the Jewish state go much further.
RELATED: Did AIPAC accidentally elect the next Squad member?
AIPAC likely calculated that its ad campaign would boost Democratic Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, a staunchly pro-Israel candidate in the overcrowded primary. Instead, the group elevated Mejia, who echoed the criticisms of Congress' most progressive members and accused the state of Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
"Congress must end the blank check for Trump and Netanyahu," Mejia said in a post on X on April 10. "The United States must include Lebanon in a real ceasefire and stop giving Israel a blank check to escalate. From Cuba to Venezuela to Lebanon, we must end wars of choice. This war must end now."
This miscalculation was unprecedented for the lobbying group. AIPAC has enjoyed a string of successful primaries, booting candidates who did not sufficiently support Israel or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This includes several former "Squad" members like Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, who both lost their primaries to AIPAC-funded candidates.
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Did AIPAC accidentally elect the next Squad member?
The most powerful pro-Israel lobby may have accidentally boosted a progressive rising star who has accused the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza.
The New Jersey Democrat primary is in dead heat between former Rep. Tom Malinowski and Analilia Mejia, who has secured the backing of prominent Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the race to replace Mikie Sherrill, who was just elected to serve as New Jersey's governor, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is once again putting its thumb on the scale.
'AIPAC has historically enjoyed a winning streak of ousting anti-Zionist Democrats.'
Malinowski criticized aid to Israel, prompting a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against the Democrat funded by AIPAC.
The campaign hammered Malinowski for his track record on immigration, attempting to frame the Democrat as a pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement candidate who approved President Donald Trump's deportation funding in 2019.
RELATED: One Republican's rhetoric is even starting to spook pro-Israel groups
AIPAC likely projected the ad targeting Malinowski would boost pro-Israel Democratic Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way in the overcrowded primary, but polls show they may have massively underestimated Mejia.
AIPAC has historically enjoyed a winning streak of ousting anti-Zionist Democrats, including Squad members like former Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri.
This time around, the race remains too close to call, with the latest poll results putting Mejia at a razor-thin advantage of less than 1%.
New Jersey's 11th congressional districts used to be staunchly Republican but flipped to a deep-blue district in 2018, when Sherill defeated GOP candidate Jay Webber. Given the district's newly Democratic affiliation, a primary victory for Mejia would likely guarantee her a seat in the House of Representatives.
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Cori Bush's husband accused of stuffing his pockets with taxpayer cash intended for struggling businesses
Before Cori Bush's Democrat voters denied her a third term in Congress, the former Squad member and Black Lives Matter activist talked a big game about fighting corruption. It turns out her household may have been a good place to start.
The former Missouri congresswoman's husband, Cortney Merritts, was charged Thursday with two counts of wire fraud for allegedly filing bogus applications with the Small Business Administration in order to fill his pockets with cash intended for struggling businesses.
According to the federal indictment, from July 2020 to April 2021, Merritts allegedly "devised, intended to devise, and participated in a scheme and artifice to obtain money and property, in connection with [the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loans program] and [Paycheck Protection Program] funds, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, with the intent to defraud and with the knowledge of the scheme's fraudulent nature."
Over this period, Merritts allegedly collected over tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds "for his own benefit and enjoyment."
The Department of Justice indicated that the alleged scheme started in earnest when Merritts received a $8,500 EIDL loan from the Small Business Administration on July 7, 2020, for a moving business he ran called Vetted Couriers. Bush's husband allegedly claimed in his application for the loan that he had six employees and made $32,000 in gross revenue between January 2019 and January 2020.
'We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom.'
The next day, Merritts allegedly filed another application for an EIDL loan in the name of a sole proprietorship called "Cortney Merritts." This time, he claimed to have a business that employed 10 people and made $53,000 in gross revenue the previous year. Merritts apparently even asked for a $10,000 advance on the loan. This application was rejected because the SBA indicated it was virtually identical to Merritts' previous submission.
According to the indictment, Bush's husband — evidently undeterred by the SBA growing wise to his efforts — tried hitting the government up for more cash in April 2021, applying for a PPP loan in the name of his sole proprietorship.
The indictment alleged that in his application, Merritts falsely claimed that he created the business in 2020 and that it generated $128,000 in gross income that year. He ended up with with a $20,832 PPP loan, which was ultimately forgiven by the SBA because Bush's husband allegedly stated he spent the money on payroll costs for his supposed 10 employees.
An attorney for Bush's husband said he plans to plead not guilty, reported the Washington Post.
"We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom," said attorney Justin Gelfand.
While Bush was not mentioned in the indictment, she has previously faced accusations of misusing federal and campaign funds — in some cases for Merritts' benefit.
The "defund the police" Democrat used her congressional campaign budget to blow $812,000 on suspicious private security services and paid over $150,000 to her husband, reported the Washington Free Beacon. Bush continued paying her husband $5,000 in campaign funds monthly for "security services" even after the DOJ launched an investigation into her expenditures.
A complaint filed against Bush alleged that despite receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from her for security services, Merritts had not bothered to acquire private security licenses in the St. Louis or Washington, D.C., regions. The complaint was ultimately dismissed by the Office of Congressional Ethics.
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