This House Democrat may lose her primary over past support for Israel

This House Democrat may lose her primary over past support for Israel The primary of Rep. Valerie Foushee, a North Carolina Democrat, is putting a spotlight on the shifting politics of Israel within the party. Rep. Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., speaks with constituents at Rivals Barbershop in Durham, N.C., on March 1, 2026. | Allen G. Breed/AP Photo By Elena Schneider and Andrew Howard 03/02/2026 05:40 AM EST Four years ago, Valerie Foushee’s support of Israel helped get her to Congress. On Tuesday, it could send her home. The politics surrounding Israel have shifted so much since the war in Gaza began in 2023 that a candidate who benefited from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spending more than $2 million to shore up her 2022 primary win has now disavowed the group entirely. Now, Foushee has spent her reelection bid fending off well-funded attacks from the left over her former ties to the group. And that was before this weekend’s joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran cast an even brighter spotlight on the issue. Foushee is locked in a tight and expensive rematch of her 2022 race with Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a Bernie Sanders-backed progressive who is the first Muslim woman to hold political office in the state. This time, Allam is backed by heavy spending from a coalition of groups, led by a new super PAC founded to counter AIPAC’s influence, and supporters of both candidates say the race is vanishingly tight. The election is being fought over a whole slew of issues and interests, including cryptocurrency and AI, but it’s Israel as a political issue that has fueled the big spending against Foushee. The new anti-AIPAC group, American Priorities PAC, is the single largest spender in the race, and it makes up the majority of pro-Allam advertising spending. And Allam and her allies have leaned into the topic: Every single ad supporting her over the last week has mentioned AIPAC. The joint attack on Iran has pushed the U.S.-Israel relationship into th...