Posts claiming that AIPAC "has been rebranded as the United Democracy Project" have spread across social media, but the American Israel Public Affairs Committee still exists under its own name, and on election night it posted on X that "AIPAC members are determined to expand their political activism in the cycles ahead."

The United Democracy Project is AIPAC's super PAC, which can spend unlimited money on adverts for and against candidates, and its first filing with the Federal Election Commission is dated 3 January 2022. AIPAC's own PAC, which gave money directly to candidates, filed three weeks earlier. The two have run side by side for five years.

What changed was announced on 21 October. In a letter to members, AIPAC said it would stop endorsing candidates, stop giving through its PAC and stop earmarking donations for candidates, but would "continue operating United Democracy Project". Its spokesperson, Deryn Sousa, said "We're looking to dramatically expand our political involvement as a community."

The money did not stop, it moved further from AIPAC's name. By the middle of October, the United Democracy Project had passed $13.1 million to other committees this cycle, more than three times its 2024 total, including $4 million to Elect Chicago Women, $2.8 million to BOLD America and $2.4 million to Elect Democratic Women. Groups funded that way spent against candidates in Illinois, New York, Colorado and California under names that say nothing about AIPAC or Israel.

Across the midterms, AIPAC and its super PAC spent about $84 million on 333 of the 473 seats on the ballot, and about $55 million of it went to candidates who lost. In Michigan, the United Democracy Project spent more than $30 million in the Democratic Senate primary to stop Abdul El-Sayed. He won the seat on Tuesday and told AIPAC in his victory speech, "who spent $42 million against us: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to beat you twice."

A belief that AIPAC has been replaced helps AIPAC. If voters think the name is retired, any future mention of it can be brushed off as old news, while the same donors keep funding candidates through committees whose names give nothing away. AIPAC's own website still runs under its name, and its letter to members promised more political giving, not less.