Daily Kickoff: Wes Moore’s Maryland bet + Remembering MP Sir David Amess

👋 Good Monday morning!

Fundraising hauls for the third quarter are in. Republican Senate candidates in Ohio are loaning large sums of money to their own campaigns for the increasingly competitive primary to succeed Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO) are up this quarter; fellow Squad members Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are down. Read our rundown below.

Charles Booker, a breakout progressive candidate who lost in Kentucky’s 2020 Senate campaign, yet is running again in 2022 against Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), blasted Paul’s moves to hold up quick passage of supplemental Iron Dome funding.

Booker told Jewish Insider, “In the midst of the ongoing conflict that has cost so many Israeli and Palestinian lives, Rand chose to pit our allies against one another when he made a dishonest, empty excuse to singularly oppose funding for Israel’s ability to defend itself and keep families safe… [Paul] opposed funding for the Iron Dome because he likes playing political games with people’s lives no matter the consequences.”

The former state representative, who found himself at odds with the Jewish community over criticisms of Israel earlier this year, framed the Iron Dome supplement as consistent with his policy priorities. “While we work to ensure community safety here at home, we have a role to play to that same end with foreign allies,” Booker said. “That includes support to ensure both Israeli and Palestinian people can disarm deadly threats on innocent lives.”

numbers game

Third-quarter fundraising totals announced

Senate and House hopefuls and incumbents are filing their Q3 hauls, giving the most in-depth insight to date as to how the races are shaping up ahead of the midterms as states redraw their congressional districts and control of the Senate rests on a handful of key contests. Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Matthew Kassel break down the numbers from the Federal Elections Commission’s website:

Loan rangers in Ohio: Several of the candidates in Ohio’s GOP primary to succeed retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) personally loaned large sums to their campaigns last quarter. Former state party chair Jane Timken, who raised approximately $700,000, loaned her campaign $1 million, while Bernie Moreno, the Cleveland car dealer who led the field in second-quarter fundraising, also pulled in about $700,000 and gave his campaign $3 million. Cleveland-based investment banker Mike Gibbons raised just over $110,000 but loaned his campaign $2.25 million. J.D. Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author and venture capitalist, pulled in $1.75 million, donating $100,000 of his own money. Former Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel raised approximately $1.1 million. He leads the field in cash on hand, with $5.8 million. Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan, the only GOP candidate in the field who is not actively courting former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, did not report fundraising numbers because he entered the race just last month.

Iron Dome Dems: The group of Democrats who led the charge for Iron Dome funding last month saw fundraising performance relatively consistent with the prior quarter. Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Elaine Luria (D-VA), who are expected to face competitive swing district races, hauled in $832,000 and $725,000, respectively. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) pulled in $585,000. Rounding out the group were Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) with $682,000, Brad Schneider (D-IL) with $474,000, Kathy Manning (D-NC) with $351,000, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) with $315,000, Dean Phillips (D-MN) with $279,000, Ted Deutch (D-FL) with $136,000, Juan Vargas (D-CA) with $94,000 and Kathleen Rice (D-NY) with $73,000.

New York State of fundraising: Rana Abdelhamid, a Google employee and community organizer who is challenging longtime Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in New York’s 12th Congressional District — and is also running with an endorsement from Justice Democrats — raised almost $213,000 in the previous quarter, bringing her total haul to nearly $625,000. Maloney, for her part, reported nearly $475,000 last quarter. To date, she has raised close to $1.4 million.

Read the full rundown here.

the rhodes road

Wes Moore bets on Maryland

As the former CEO of New York City’s largest anti-poverty nonprofit, Wes Moore stayed loyal to his Maryland roots. So loyal, in fact, that he commuted to Manhattan from Baltimore throughout his fouryears at the Robin Hood Foundation. Now Moore, a Democrat, is taking his love for the Old Line State to a new level, having entered the race for governor of Maryland. It’s Moore’s first time running for office, and polling indicates that most people in the state have never heard of him. With a compelling personal story and an optimistic outlook, Moore is counting on his charisma to win over supporters, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

American dream deferred: Moore, 43, joins a crowded field of longtime Maryland politicians running for the state’s top office, looking to reassert Democratic dominance after eight years under the term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. “I knew early that I was going to devote my life to public service,” Moore told JI in a recent interview. “I had a chance to see my mom struggle in ways that she didn’t have to. I saw the way that my grandparents were able to sacrifice for their grandchildren, and in many ways give up pieces and parts of their own American dream so I could fulfill my own.”

Success story: Born in Takoma Park, Md., Moore spent much of his childhood in the Bronx with his grandparents — immigrants from Jamaica and Cuba — after his father died. His mother sent him to a military academy as a teenager following several run-ins with the law, an experience that Moore has described as transformative. He went on to attend Johns Hopkins University, and he later earned a Rhodes Scholarship. After serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Moore worked at the State Department as a White House Fellow in the George W. Bush administration and on Wall Street. “I knew that throughout all those experiences, that I wanted to devote my life to making things a little bit easier for people,” Moore said.

Baltimore base: Moore is well-known to members of Baltimore’s tight-knit Jewish community: Moore spoke at the annual meeting of The Associated, Baltimore’s Jewish federation, in 2019, and traveled to Israel several years ago with the Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. Darrell Friedman, the longtime former head of The Associated and a personal friend of Moore’s, told JI he plans to “knock on doors, whatever it takes to get someone like Wes Moore into public service.”

Playing catch up: The Democratic gubernatorial primary is in June 2022, and the filing deadline for the race is not until January, leaving plenty of time for the dynamics of the race to change in the months ahead. Seven other Democrats have declared that they are running, and several of them have long political histories in the state. A poll commissioned by Moore’s campaign showed him in third place with just 7% support.

Read the full story here.

across the pond

MP Sir David Amess, ‘true friend of Israel,’ killed in stabbing

Sir David Amess, a British lawmaker who was stabbed to death in a suspected terror attack at a constituency meeting Friday, was remembered as a strong supporter of Israel and advocate for Holocaust remembrance, Jewish Insider’s Sam Zieve Cohen reports.

Proudest moments: In one of his most notable acts as a member of Parliament, Amess, 69, pushed for the funding of a statue in London of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Speaking during the House of Commons Holocaust Remembrance debate in January, Amess called the unveiling of the statue outside the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in 1997 by Queen Elizabeth II and Israeli President Ezer Weizman “one of the proudest moments of my life.”

“Although I myself am not a Jew but a Catholic, there is Jewish blood in each and every one of us. I would certainly have been proud to have been born a Jew, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with our local Jewish community,” Amess said. “I simply do not understand and have never understood antisemitism. The most important lesson from the Holocaust is that although we cannot police the world, it is simply not acceptable to stand by and do and say nothing when genocide happens.” Watch more from the remarks here.

Remembered: Amess, who also said he planted a tree at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center during a visit to Israel, was a longtime member of the Conservatives Friends of Israel, a parliamentary group aligned with the Conservative Party, serving as the group’s parliamentarian for many years. In a statement, CFI called Amess “a hugely popular and respected MP and a great friend of Israel.” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid echoed the sentiment in separate Twitter statements, with Lapid writing “he always stood with the Jewish community and was a true friend of Israel.”

Read more here.

Denounced: A U.K. preacher came under fire for stating that the recent killing of Parliament member David Amess may have occurred because the longtime Conservative Party MP supported Israel.

Worthy Reads

👨 Man to Know: In Politico, Hailey Fuchs profiles head-hunter Ivan Adler, who connects Hill staffers — up to and including outgoing members of Congress — with lobbying firms looking to hire top talent. “There are other lobbyist recruiters in Washington, but few if any do it with as much bravado as Adler. His name is well-known among lawmakers who are leaving their posts on the Hill for jobs in the private sector. He’s a regular at the city’s cocktail circuit, where he knows how to work a room. He’s so plugged in, he says, that he is sometimes among the first to know a member of Congress is contemplating whether or not to seek reelection.” [Politico]

🪦 Honoring the Victims: Associated Press correspondent Vanessa Gera follows the Warsaw-based foundation Zapomniane’s efforts devoted to finding and securing the unmarked graves of Jewish victims killed by the Nazis in Poland. “The foundation uses ground penetrating radar, a surveying method called light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, and wartime aerial photos made by German army spy planes to precisely define the borders of the graves. But nothing is more important than human memory. ‘If you don’t have a person to lead you to the grave, all those fancy tools are useless,’ she [co-founder of Zapomniane, Agnieszka Nieradko] said.” [AP]

Community Comms

Apply! Know a talented news junkie? JI is looking for a social media coordinator. Apply here!

Be featured:Email us to inform the JI readership of your upcoming event, job opening, or other communication.

Around the Web

👨‍⚖️ Heard in Court: Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt testified during Lev Parnas’s trial about the former Trump associate’s fundraising role in the Nevada gubernatorial race.

✏️ Redrawing the Line: The state congressional map being proposed by Democrats in Illinois would eliminate two Republican districts in 2022 if approved.

📃 Values Set: New Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, whose company recently acquired Politico, said its employees will be required to adhere to its guiding principles — among them, Israel’s right to exist.

🤿 Uncovered Underwater: An Israeli scuba diver discovered a 900-year-old sword believed to have belonged to a Crusader Knight, off the Carmel Coast, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced today.

📳 Gone Viral: A Tik Tok account featuring old Jewish men complaining about everything from the lack of public restrooms to the price of pastrami — aptly titled “Old Jewish Men” — has taken the platform by storm.

🥩 Dine In: Insider spotlights the menu highlights at Freedman’s in Los Angeles, where diners can find Jewish comfort food with a modern spin.

🏢 Tech Talk: In Newsweek, Foundation for Defense of Democracies’s Rich Goldberg (co-host of JI’s “Limited Liability” podcast) and David May argue that tech companies should both adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and have more oversight over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) programming.

👩‍🏫 I’m Sorry: A Texas school superintendent apologized to a school district in South Lake for an official’s comments during a teacher training session suggesting that educators teach alternate opinions regarding the Holocaust.

🔐 Never Again: A Nazi-themed bar in Japan adorned with swastikas and other paraphernalia apologized for its ignorance of history and shut its doors, following backlash from Jewish groups.

🔥 Arson Suspect: The New York Police Department arrested a 39-year-old woman from Brooklyn on suspicion of an arson attack in front of the Yeshiva of Flatbush, a leading Modern Orthodox day school.

🍷 Vine Time: The Financial Times’s Alice Lascelles visits with Saskia de Rothschild in Bordeaux, where the screenwriter and vintner is revamping the Sauternes wine that has recently lost popularity.

✡️ Communal Space: Duke University’s Chabad Fleishman House — named for Joel Fleishman, a professor of law and founding director of the Sanford School of Public Policy — officially opened its doors on Sunday morning to Jewish undergraduates.

🖼️ On the Market: A van Gogh painting seized by the Nazis during World War II is expected to fetch $20 million-$30 million at auction, with the proceeds to be split between the watercolor’s current owner and the heirs of the Jewish family that owned the painting before the war.

📺 Watch This: Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” character on why he doesn’t pray: “because I’m bald.”

🍽️ Dinner Guest: First Lady Jill Biden will be the guest speaker at the Yeshiva Beth Yehuda’s annual dinner on Oct. 24. The yeshiva is located in Southfield, Mich.

🤝 Repairing Relations: Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Monday, during an official visit that marks the first by a Swedish foreign minister to Israel in 10 years.

🪖 Alleged Assassination: Syria accused Israel of assassinating a high-ranking Syrian official whom Israel alleges worked for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and who previously served 12 years in Israeli prison during the ’80s and ’90s for attempting to kill Israeli citizens and soldiers.

➡️ Transition: Michelle Dunne will become a non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace after serving as director of the group’s Middle East program in Washington, D.C.

🕯️ Remembering: Hasbro executive Brian Goldner, who pushed for Hollywood films starring the company’s toy action figures, died at 58. The state memorial ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin will be held today at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. A special Knesset session will also be held in Rabin’s memory.

Pic of the Day

Asaf Zamir, Israel’s new consul general in New York, addressed leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Friday.

Leaders in attendance included, Malcolm Hoenlein, Dianne Lob, William Daroff, Naomi Reinharz, Stephanie Hausner, Gerald Platt, Jo-Ann Mort, Israel Nitzan, Amanda Berman, Zeev Rubinstein, Debbi Kaner Goldich, Ariel Zwang, Johanna Guttman, Morad Roshanzamir, Herb Block, Yoni Cohen, Efrat Gilman, Ashira Konigsburg, Mireille Manocherian, Betty Ehrenberg, Barbara Birch, Norman Liss, Seymour Reich, Deborah Isaac, Yana Lukeman, Julio Messer and Josh Weinberg

Birthdays

Grammy Award-winning songwriter of over 150 hits, Cynthia Weil turns 81…

Co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, Irwin M. Jacobs turns 88… Former mayor of Amsterdam and leader of the Dutch Labour Party, Marius Job Cohen turns 74… Linguist and a professor at the University of Chicago, Victor A. Friedman turns 72… Former U.S. ambassador to Morocco and president of the Coalition for a Safer Web, Marc Ginsberg turns 71… Professor of practice and counterterrorism studies at Capitol Technology University, Joshua B. Sinai, Ph.D. turns 70… Bakersfield, Calif.-based attorney focused on adoption and reproductive law, Marc D. Widelock turns 70… Television director, writer and producer, Chuck Lorre turns 69… President of the Economic Future Group, Jonathan Bernard Yoav Tasini turns 65… Award-winning illustrator and writer of books for children, Eugene Yelchin turns 65… Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler turns 64… Retired this past summer after twenty years as the director at Rutgers Hillel, Andrew Getraer turns 57… President at Berman Capital Advisors, David Fisher turns 56… Professor and director of Jewish studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Steven Phillip Weitzman turns 56… Weather anchor for NBC 4 New York, David M. Price turns 55… Longtime sports host and reporter, Rachel Nichols turns 48… CEO of consulting firm Future Today Institute, Amy Lynn Webb turns 47… VP of administration and counsel at the American Enterprise Institute, Suzanne Gershowitz turns 40… Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Graham Moore turns 40… Founding partner and Washington correspondent for Puck News, Julia Ioffe turns 39… White House correspondent for The New York Times, Annie Karni turns 38… Project manager at Moovit, Ayal Kellman turns 36… Popular Israeli singer, Idan Yaniv turns 35…

Birthweek: Rheumatologist and director of the rehabilitation division of Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates in the D.C. area, Dr. Shari B. Diamond turned 47 on Sunday…

Subscribe now to the Daily Kickoff

Daily Kickoff