Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Michigan Republican nominee for Senate, issued a statement Wednesday commemorating the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and bashing his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, while El-Sayed remained silent.

El-Sayed’s rhetoric and stances on Israel and other issues of concern to the Jewish community have been heavily scrutinized, and he is facing significant skepticism from traditional Jewish Democrats in Michigan, as some community leaders and elected officials say they plan to sit out the Senate race or support Rogers.

Several Democratic lawmakers blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday for his statement on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel — which focused primarily on condemning Israel, the war in Gaza and Jerusalem’s alleged “ongoing genocide” and “apartheid.”

“He basically said ‘The Jews that died, sad, but it’s their fault,’” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said on X. “He needs the city’s antisemitism policy for himself. Just an atrocious statement.”

On the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said that U.S. policy in the Middle East “must change dramatically” to ensure long-term peace.

He was joined by fellow senior congressional Democrats in calling for shifts in policy by the U.S. and Israel.

New York City’s two highest-ranking Jewish local officials turned down the opportunity to condemn Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial comments on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks — even as their fellow Democrats railed against him — at a rally supporting a memorial to the Hamas victims.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin and City Comptroller Mark Levine both turned out for an event organized by state Sen. Sam Sutton to advocate the establishment of a privately funded monument in a small Brooklyn park honoring those killed or abducted three years ago in the attacks. In their formal remarks, the pair deplored Hamas’ violence, and Levine even called a single heckler’s repeated cries of “free Palestine” during his address “very disappointing.”

Former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, the Republican candidate running against Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) in South Florida, traveled to Qatar in 2024.

Singer and Moskowitz have been battling over which one of them is the stronger and more reliable supporter of Israel, in a district with a substantial Jewish population that could be up for grabs in the midterm election.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani observed the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel with a statement that opened with a denunciation of Hamas and the “horrific war crimes” it committed that day, but spent most of its length excoriating the Israeli response — drawing fierce criticism from mainstream Jewish organizations.

“We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” the top of the statement concludes — before launching into the main body of his remarks attacking Israel. “The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza,” it continues.

Lansing, Mich., Mayor Andy Schor told CNN that he’s not currently supporting Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, and is not willing to consider backing him without a conversation with El-Sayed about the nominee’s rhetoric around Israel and antisemitism.

Schor, who is Jewish, told CNN he’s uncomfortable with some of the rhetoric used by El-Sayed, and that he has reached out to El-Sayed for a conversation, but hasn’t heard back. “If he doesn’t need me, he doesn’t need me,” Schor told CNN. “And that’s their strategic decision.”

Maryland Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox responded on Tuesday night to a Jewish Insider report exposing his son’s past antisemitic social media posts, calling the story a “travesty” and accusing Democrats of pushing the issue into the campaign while stating he “absolutely” disagrees with his son’s views.

Cox, who served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2019 to 2023 and unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022, is the Republican nominee challenging Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in the November election.