Following criticism, Andy Levin moves corporate PAC money to abortion rights initiative
Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) speaks during a press conference with. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) about their new bill called the EV Freedom Act on Capitol Hill on February 6, 2020 Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh May 11, 2022
Rep. Andy Levin, a Jewish congressman from Michigan, is pledging to take donations he has received from corporate PACs and industry groups that also back Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election, and to send them to an initiative that supports abortion rights. Levin is competing with Rep. Haley Stevens in a rare incumbent-vs.-incumbent primary to represent Michigan’s redrawn 11th Congressional District.
The move comes following a report that a number of political action committees representing major auto, insurance and financial services companies have contributed a total of $55,500 to the Levin campaign since he filed for re-election last year.
Levin had slammed Stevens for accepting the endorsement of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee after it announced its backing of more than 100 Republicans who refused in 2020 to certify President Joe Biden’s election. AIPAC’s political action committee raised $300,000 in earmarked contributions to boost Stevens, who is not Jewish.
The Stevens campaign highlighted the report to suggest Levin is hypocritical in his criticism. “Andy Levin has taken thousands of dollars in corporate PAC money from organizations that have made the same bipartisan donations over which he is desperately and hypocritically attacking Haley Stevens,” Larkin Parker, a spokesperson for the Stevens campaign, told Jewish Insider. Each of these groups have also funneled funds to the Stevens campaign, according to the report.
Levin campaign spokesperson Jenny Byer pushed back, saying the amount does not compare with the $300,000 in contributions bundled by AIPAC in just one Democratic primary.
Levin pledged Wednesday not to accept any corporate PAC money and said he would send the donations that have already been raised to Michigan Reproductive Freedom for All, a ballot initiative to preserve abortion rights.
“This is a critical moment for democracy and for human rights,” Levin said.
He also called on his rival to do the same and reject the $450,000 she has received from AIPAC and other corporate PACS.
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