JTA — US Senator Bernie Sanders has urged Democratic leaders to ban super PAC spending in primaries, focusing on the efforts of pro-Israel lobbyists to influence a crucial Michigan Senate race.

Sanders, in an open letter on Sunday, called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin to end a “corrupt system” of super PAC funding.

His main target was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which spent $32 million in an unsuccessful bid to tank the Democratic primary campaign of Abdul El-Sayed, a critic of Israel, for a Michigan Senate seat. El-Sayed last week defeated Rep. Haley Stevens, a pro-Israel moderate.

Sanders cited reports that the pro-Israel lobby is now weighing another surge of funds to buoy Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee who will face El-Sayed in what is expected to be a tight general election in November.

“It is absurd that they spend tens of millions of dollars to try to determine who the Democratic nominee is and, if they fail, then proceed to support the Republican candidate in the general election,” said Sanders. He added that corporate PACs, including “crypto, AI and other online betting special interests,” have spent a record $517 million this election cycle.

Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont who frequently caucuses with Democrats,........

© The Times of Israel