NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
May 5, 2024: Susheela Jayapal, who is running for Congress in Portland’s 3rd Congressional District has accused her rival of dishonestly benefitting massive amounts in campaign funds from undisclosed donors.
In a joint statement with commissioner Eddy Morales who is also running for the seat, Jayapal accused her opponent, state Rep. Maxine Dexter, a local doctor, of hypocrisy, and said, “Voters deserve to know who is trying to buy this seat for a centrist candidate who doesn’t even live in the district.”
The 314 Action Fund, a group that supports Democrats with a background in science, has spent $1.66 million to support Dexter. “This is by far the largest spender in this race, its largest investment in a primary to date, and one of the largest investments by the group, ever,” Jayapal and Morales’s statement points out.
“Maxine Dexter claims to be for transparency in politics, but she and 314 Action are engaged in a dishonest and cynical ploy to obscure the donors propping up her campaign until just one day before the primary.”
“We should all be united behind the need for clean and transparent elections and should decry the use of MAGA money in a Democratic primary.”
The candidates called for Maxine Dexter to immediately call on her dark money backers to disclose their donors for April so voters can make an informed choice, and to cease spending on her behalf until they do so.
314 Action will not have to report their April donors until May 20th, the day before the primary, significantly hamstringing Oregon voters’ education, the candidates claimed.
Susheela Jayapal is the older sister of Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The Intercept, a non-profit that investigates individuals and entities to expose corruption, recently claimed that Jayapal is being targeted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, which is secretly funneling money into the race through 314 Action.
“The pro-Israel community telegraphed its intent to target Jayapal early on, primarily for suspicion that her politics on Israel–Palestine may align with her younger sister Pramila Jayapal’s, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who called for a ceasefire early in the current war on Gaza,” the report said.
Cover photo courtesy: Susheela Jayapal for Congress (susheelaforcongress.com)
