Rep. Rashida Tlaib raises an astounding $3.7 million in last 3 months

Those reports last year that pro-Israel supporters were casting around for someone to run against U.S. Rep Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, but had so far failed to find a taker?

Here's one likely reason why.

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American currently in Congress and a harsh critic of Israel's tactics in Gaza and the West Bank even before the war began last year, has always been able to raise campaign money, but she outdid herself in the last three months of 2023.

Her campaign filed finance reports with the Federal Election Commission by Wednesday's deadline showing that during that time — all of which was after Israel counterattacked Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7 — Tlaib raised an astounding $3.7 million.

To put that in context, consider that U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, another prodigious fundraiser who is running for a competitive U.S. Senate seat in a campaign that will cost tens of millions, raised $2.8 million in the last three months of 2023. And Tlaib, running for a fourth two-year term overall and her second in a redrawn but still predominately Democratic district that includes parts of Detroit as well as Dearborn and Southfield, has no Democratic competition.

This at a time when she was censured by the U.S. House — with practically all Republicans and 22 of her Democratic colleagues voting against her — in large part for her defense of a phrase, "from the river to the sea," a pro-Palestinian phrase that others see as an antisemitic call for Israel's destruction. Tlaib, however, argued that she intended its use to call for a homeland for the Palestinians in peaceful coexistence with their neighbors and a denunciation of a long Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

As of the previous campaign finance reporting deadline, Tlaib had raised just over $880,000 total for her 2024 reelection race and had about $620,000 cash remaining in her bank account. As of Dec. 31, that total raised had swelled to nearly $4.6 million and she had $3.8 million left to spend as contributions poured in from across the U.S.

Tlaib, meanwhile, along with progressive colleagues has continued to demand the Biden administration insist on an Israeli cease-fire to end the killing in Gaza — a move the administration has so far failed to do. Biden did send campaign aides to Michigan last week to meet with angry Arab American leaders and Tlaib as well as others demanding a cease-fire.

But some leaders refused to meet with the campaign officials and, on Wednesday night, Arab Americans crowded into a Dearborn high school in protest of Biden's visit to Michigan on Thursday, urging people not to vote for him because of the support he has shown Israel and his failure to call for a cease-fire.

Tlaib, while denouncing Israeli retaliation in Gaza, has also criticized Hamas' attacks on southern Israel, calling both "war crimes" in comments last fall to the Free Press.

In a statement on the fundraising numbers, Tlaib said the contributions will allow her to "keep standing up to corporate greed and fighting for affordable housing, clean air and water, good jobs, public schools" and more. But she also noted the importance of her stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

“The polling has shown time and time again that a majority of Americans want to stop funding endless wars, they want an end to violence at home and abroad, and they want our government to invest in life, not death,” she said. “I’m so inspired by the diversity and strength of our supporters who are standing up to send me back to Washington to continue speaking the truth about the issues at home and abroad.”

Last year, two candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat against Slotkin said they were offered millions in campaign backing by Israeli supporters to drop out of that race and run against Tlaib. Detroit actor Hill Harper and Dearborn businessman Nasser Beydoun both said they turned down the offer. In both cases, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — a group that has helped funnel support to pro-Israeli candidates — said it had nothing to do with any such offers, neither of which was ultimately independently verified by the Free Press.

In 2022, Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey challenged Tlaib in the Democratic primary in the newly drawn 12th Congressional District, attracting some pro-Israel support in her effort, but those contributions never amounted to as much as some other congressional candidates received. Tlaib handily defeated Winfrey in that year's Democratic primary, 64%-22%, and went on to win reelection.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Rashida Tlaib, without challenger, raises astounding $3.7 million