Democratic Senate candidate says he rejected $20M offer to challenge Tlaib

A Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan said Wednesday he rejected a $20 million offer to drop out of his race and challenge Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her House seat.

“I didn’t intend for a private phone call to turn public,” Hill Harper posted Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, linking to a Politico report on the offer.

“But now that it has, here’s the truth. One of [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s] biggest donors offered $20m if I dropped out of the U.S. Senate race to run against @RashidaTlaib. I said no. I won’t be bossed, bullied, or bought.”

Politico named Michigan businessman Linden Nelson as the person behind the reported offer in mid-October. 

Nelson has been involved with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the past. However, in an emailed statement to The Hill, AIPAC said it “was absolutely not involved in any way in this matter.” 

“Also, our records indicate that this individual has not contributed to AIPAC in over a decade,” it added.

AIPAC has been critical of Tlaib and other progressives who have called for an immediate ceasefire to protect Palestinian civilians.

“Hamas spends $350 million every year trying to kill Israelis instead of helping Palestinians,” a late October post on X by AIPAC reads. “Building rockets and tunnels instead of schools and hospitals. So why are you trying to keep Hamas in power, @AOC @RashidaTlaib @IlhanMN @JamaalBowmanNY @MarkPocan @CoriBush? No truce with terrorists. No ceasefire with Hamas.”

Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, has been among the loudest critics in Congress of Israel in its current war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Earlier this month, the House voted to censure Tlaib for some of her most controversial remarks, such as using the slogan “from the river to the sea,” which is seen by many as a call to eliminate Israel.