Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is criticizing Graham Platner, a Democrat running against her in next year’s election, for singling out AIPAC as a “weird” interest group in new remarks to a local newspaper published on Tuesday, where he pledged to decline support from the pro-Israel lobbying organization.

“Sen. Collins is a strong supporter of AIPAC, a bipartisan organization that promotes stronger ties between the United States and Israel,” Shawn Roderick, a spokesperson for Collins’ campaign, told Jewish Insider on Wednesday. “Nothing about their work is ‘weird’ — in fact, it has never been more important given the aggressive antisemitism that we have seen around the world since the appalling Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.”

In his comment to the Midcoast Villager, Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran who announced his bid to challenge Collins on Tuesday, noted that his campaign would reject backing from corporate super PACs and donations from interest groups such as AIPAC that he dismissed as “weird.”

“My view here is very simple,” Platner told JI on Wednesday when asked to elaborate on his initial comment, which had not been quoted in full. “What is happening in Gaza is a genocide, I refuse to take money from AIPAC or any group that supports the genocide in Gaza.”

In other interviews this week, Platner, a political newcomer, has similarly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and also endorsed efforts to block U.S. arms sales to Israel.

AIPAC’s political action committee is backing Collins, in keeping with its commitment to defend friendly incumbents who are up for reelection. Collins, who is now seeking her sixth term, has been among her party’s leading moderate voices, pushing to maintain a bipartisan consensus on support for Israel.

Marshall Wittmann, a spokesperson for AIPAC, questioned Platner’s recent comment about the group in a statement to JI on Wednesday. “More than 12,000 Maine voters are members of AIPAC and advocates for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship who don’t think it’s ‘weird’ for Americans to engage in the democratic process,” he said. “We are proud to support Sen. Collins who is a stalwart champion of an alliance that benefits Maine and America.”

Still, Platner’s seemingly off-handed remark more broadly underscores a growing disconnect between AIPAC and the Democratic Party, where even some of the staunchest supporters of Israel have been put on the defensive amid an international uproar over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

In recent weeks, two Democratic House members who have received financial backing from AIPAC’s super PAC in their primaries, Reps. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC), both said they would support efforts to block transfers of offensive weapons to Israel. Foushee, for her part, also said earlier this month that she would not accept further support from AIPAC in her reelection campaign next year.

Meanwhile, Mallory McMorrow, a top Democratic candidate running for Senate in Michigan, revealed on Wednesday that she is urging AIPAC to refrain from engaging in the primary, where she is facing a strong pro-Israel advocate, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), and a prominent left-wing critic of Israel, Abdul El-Sayed, who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

The group declined to comment on McMorrow’s request. 

Even as AIPAC has been under attack, it has continued to maintain friendly relationships with Democrats and Republicans, hosting a number of freshman lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on trips to Israel this month.