University of Michigan Regents Who Led the Charge Against Pro-Palestine Protestors Are Now Backing Prosecutor Karen McDonald’s Candidacy for State Attorney
Like Dana Nessel before her, McDonald has received huge backing from Pro-Israel organizations, GOP contributors, and corporate donors.
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Article by Tom Perkins
Last year, the pro-Israel regents of University of Michigan (U-M) ignited controversy by recruiting State Attorney General Dana Nessel to crackdown on campus Gaza protesters. Now, members of U-M’s Board of Regents are making large donations to Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, a candidate who may replace Nessel.
McDonald is the prosecutor in a wealthy suburban county north of Detroit. McDonald also received the highest level of corporate donations from the state’s largest businesses and executives, and is viewed as the establishment choice to replace Nessel.
McDonald is also receiving significant backing from donors that include prolific GOP contributors and those connected to pro-Israel organizations in metro Detroit, as well as from national organizations like Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces and AIPAC. The regents and pro-Israel donors have contributed at least $200,000 to McDonald’s campaign, according to state and federal campaign donation records reviewed by Drop Site.
McDonald has reportedly raised $840,000 in donations so far—more than the other four candidates combined. An analysis of campaign finance records shows donations of at least $2,500, meaning it is likely the pro-Israel donations to her are higher.
State records show significant donations from the three U-M regents most closely tied to Nessel, who led the attack against campus protesters. Those donations include nearly $11,000 from regents Jordan Acker and Mark Bernstein, who have belonged to pro-Israel groups like the Jewish Federation, American Jewish Committee, and Hillel. Bernstein twice referred to pro-Palestinian advocates as “an antisemetic mob,” including after his home was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti, and Acker said the protests demonstrate that “antisemitism runs rampant” on campus.
Regent Denise Illitch, part of the Little Caesar’s Pizza billionaire family, donated the maximum allowed by a single individual of nearly $8,400.
Records show a diverse range of large donations from state and national pro-Israel figures, including $37,500 from the family of Gary Torgow, a prominent Michigan bank executive, prolific campaign donor, and president of the Jewish Federation of North America.
While opinions of each person included in the campaign donation analysis aren’t known, they are affiliated with pro-Israel activists or groups in metro Detroit. Many are associated with the Jewish Federation of Detroit, for example, which has materially supported the Friend of the IDF, funded explicitly pro-Israel nonprofits, and criticized the use of the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Detroit Pistons executive Arn Tellem, who owns an Israeli basketball team, and his wife gave a combined $16,650. Tellem in December 2023 penned an op-ed critical of the Gaza protest movement.
James Bellinson, who gave nearly $8,400, is an AIPAC and major centrist Democrat donor. His wife gave $7,200 to US Rep. Shri Thanedar in November 2023, soon after the Detroit lawmaker announced he was splitting with the Democratic Socialists of America because it was critical of Israel, and he became a vocal proponent of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Another $8,000 came from Nicole Eisenberg, who is affiliated with the Jewish Federation and recently co-executive produced a documentary on antisemitism in the US with Debra Messing. Artist Gretchen Davidson, who married into the billionaire Davidson family that since the 1940s has been a major Zionist movement funder, gave $1,000. Joan Epstein, who is part of the national Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, and who took part in a Friends of IDF fundraiser, contributed $2,500.
The donations appear to be an effort by the regents and donors to secure another pro-Israel ally in the state’s highest law enforcement office, and raises ethical questions about campaign donations to prosecutorial candidates.
While campaign donations are considered protected speech, prosecutorial candidates who knowingly receive donations from a complainant in a high-profile case should consider returning the donation or recusal, said Chesa Boudin, a former San Francisco district attorney who now runs the University of California at Berkeley Criminal Law and Justice Center.
“There can certainly be the appearance of impropriety… … and I would exercise my own discretion to maintain the appearance of impartiality and independence,” Boudin said.
A donation to an AG can be much more impactful than donating to a legislative candidate, Boudin added, because “there’s a much more direct connection between the outcome of the election and the issue that [the donor] is contributing for.”
In a statement, a McDonald spokesperson said she “has received support from a broad variety of Michigan residents who are looking for an attorney general who will keep our communities safe, stand up for the vulnerable, and fight to protect their rights from Donald Trump.”
“Regarding the regents, Karen has not reviewed the cases and cannot comment on the details, but believes the attorney general’s office should instead be focused on serving communities without resources,” the spokesperson said.
Landscape of the Election After Nessel
McDonald’s main opponent is Eli Savit, a progressive Jewish prosecutor in Ann Arbor. U-M’s response to protesters has been a legal controversy since late 2023, when Savit filed only minor charges against four out of 40 people arrested during a sit-in at a campus building. He also did not immediately press charges against protesters in early 2024, including those who set up an encampment. Savit declined to comment for this article.
Angered by Savit’s unwillingness to quickly crack down on the protesters, U-M’s regents executed a highly unusual move in mid-2024 in recruiting Nessel. A Guardian investigation revealed Nessel’s extensive political, financial, and personal connections to university leadership.
Six of eight regents contributed more than $33,000 combined to Nessel’s campaigns, and her office hired regent Bernstein’s law firm to handle major state cases, Bernstein co-chaired her 2018 campaign, and she has personal relationships with some regents, including Acker. Nessel also had the backing of many state pro-Israel groups. Nessel and the university have denied that she was “recruited.”
She filed charges against 11 campus protesters, but ultimately dropped the cases. A judge was preparing to hold a hearing on disqualifying the AG’s office over bias, in part because of her connections to the regents, and she would have been forced to turn over communications about why she took the cases.
In April 2025, Nessel partnered with the Trump FBI to raid homes where several student protesters lived. Nessel’s office said at the time that the raids were part of an investigation into the vandalism of homes and businesses of U-M leadership. Nessel and the Trump administration seized phones, computers and a car, but have since said nothing about the raids.
The next attorney general may takeover the investigation into those crimes, which has been a point of outrage for pro-Israel advocates in the region.
The new round of donations shows how far regents will go, said Drin Shapiro, a U-M student who is part of the TAHRIR Coalition, a student-led coalition of more than 90 pro-Palestine student organizations at the University of Michigan. Shapiro was charged by Nessel, but later had his cases dismissed.
“This proves that no matter what, the regents are going to try to have a foot in the door with whoever is able to slap charges on the protesters—if not Nessel then McDonald,” Shapiro said. He added that TAHRIR stays out of electoral politics and won’t be backing any of the candidates.
Shapiro said Nessel was forced to drop case against protesters over similar pro-Israel ties, and McDonald, if she investigated students, would be “doing the same thing.”
Shapiro added that “She would prosecuting pro-Palestine protesters and over stepping her jurisdiction just to serve pro-Israel interests, and particularly for regents Jordan Acker and Mark Bernstein.”