A viral claim dogging former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams in Utah’s 1st Congressional District says he’s taken “hundreds of thousands” from the pro-Israel lobby. That number comes from an extremely loose accounting of campaign donations, and the group behind it is now changing how it counts.
What’s actually true: McAdams has one $5,000 donation from a pro-Israel PAC six years ago. The rest of the six-figure total came from counting any individual who has ever donated to a pro-Israel PAC, whether or not their donation to McAdams had anything to do with Israel.
TrackAIPAC.com, which launched in 2024 to oppose the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), produces shareable graphics claiming to show how much “pro-Israel money” a candidate has received from PACs and donors.
For McAdams, Track AIPAC’s card put the total above $250,000—and by last week, the number had swelled to $293,122.
That’s misleading.
The only direct donation to McAdams from a pro-Israel PAC came in 2020 from Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), which calls itself “the home for pro-Israel Democrats.” DMFI gave $5,000 to McAdams and reported no independent expenditures on his behalf that cycle, according to OpenSecrets.
The rest of Track AIPAC’s tally came from individual donors who had, at any time, given to a pro-Israel PAC, a definition broad enough to tag a donation to McAdams as “pro-Israel” even if the donor gave for unrelated reasons. By last week, the number had ballooned to $293,122.
Utah Political Watch asked Track AIPAC to explain its methodology and did not receive a reply.
Amid criticism of its bookkeeping methods, Track AIPAC on Monday said it is changing how it counts contributions.
“Some of our recent work incorporating tracked contributions created confusion and, at times, muddied the waters,” the group said in a post. “The goal is clarity and accountability.”
— AIPAC Tracker (@TrackAIPAC) April 28, 2026
As of Wednesday, TrackAIPAC’s lists only the 2020 DMFI donation for McAdams. He is still included on Track AIPAC’s page of “pro-Israel” candidates for Congress. The McAdams card is gone from the site but lives on via the Internet Archive.
Even with the walk-back, the damage is done. Track AIPAC has endorsed state Sen. Nate Blouin in the CD1 Democratic primary, and the inflated number keeps popping up in social posts and comment threads.
A McAdams campaign spokesperson declined to comment.
That single $5,000 donation from six years ago pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from pro-Israel PACs to the six Republicans currently representing Utah in Congress.
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