Dearborn, Michigan – “Down with AIPAC,” the crowd chanted at a campaign rally for Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed in a suburb of Detroit.AIPAC – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – has become the main topic of conversation in the Democratic primary in Michigan, which analysts say could affect the party’s approach to Israel for years to come.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US Arabs eye ‘historic’ Senate win for Abdul El-Sayed despite AIPAC attackslist 2 of 3Israel’s influence industry in the USlist 3 of 3New poll shows confusion over Democratic Socialists of America idealsend of listMichigan state legislator Alabas Farhat vowed at the rally in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn on Friday that voters would make the pro-Israel group “burn” millions of dollars by electing El-Sayed to the US Senate.“The status quo has told us for a long time that we don’t have money for modern schools; we don’t have money for clean water to drink, for health care, for affordable housing,” Farhat told the rally.“But when we call up money to go and bomb children in Gaza, to do an ethnic cleansing campaign in South Lebanon – this administration seems to find that money.”Several speakers, including Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, also took to the stage but the name of El-Sayed’s opponent in Tuesday’s election, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, was hardly mentioned.Instead, AIPAC – which is breaking records in campaign spending to defeat candidates critical of Israeli policies, such as El-Sayed – was repeatedly brought up, booed and denounced.El-Sayed, a progressive epidemiologist and former public health official, is running against Stevens, a four-term Congress member, to replace retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters. The winner will face former Congressman Mike Rogers, the likely Republican nominee, in November.But exactly how much have AIPAC and other special-interest groups spent in Michigan, and where is the money coming from?Here, Al Jazeera examines the financial state of the race touted as the most important of this primary cycle.How much money has been spent to back Stevens and oppose El-Sayed?Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that AIPAC and other political action committees (PACs) have spent more than $54m to help Stevens.A dark-money group called the Center for Democratic Priorities has also spent about $6.5m on ads supporting Stevens, according to local media reports – increasing the grand total to more than $60m.The Center for Democratic Priorities has not reported its spending to the FEC.How much has AIPAC spent?AIPAC’s election arm, United Democracy Project (UDP), has spent north of $30m on the race – $30,638,639.63 to be exact – as of Saturday evening.The amount represents a record for AIPAC, which has been using its enormous spending power to derail candidates who oppose unconditional aid to Israel.Who funds UDP?AIPAC directs UDP and is also the largest donor to the political action committee (PAC).Of the $100m UDP has raised this election cycle, $30m came from AIPAC, which operates as a social welfare nonprofit, making it difficult to track its donors.The tactic of funnelling funds from nonprofits to election PACs to help influence US elections is known as “dark money”.Aside from AIPAC, UDP is largely funded by wealthy pro-Israel advocates, including: