
Daily Kickoff: New Ben & Jerry’s employees required to watch lectures on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
👋 Good Tuesday morning!
It’s primary day in South Carolina, Nevada, Maine and North Dakota.
In South Carolina, it’s judgment day for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), the former Trump campaign staffer who denounced her one-time boss following the Capitol riot, but has since sought to re-ingratiate herself with the former president. Mace, who was endorsed by former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, is facing Trump-backed former state Rep. Katie Arrington.
Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC), who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, also faces a Trump-backed primary challenger, state Rep. Russell Fry, as well as five other Republican competitors.
In Nevada’s 1st Congressional District, Latinos for Trump organizer Carolina Serrano, Maccabee Task Force CEO and former Christians United For Israel Executive Director David Brog and military veteran Mark Robertson are the top candidates facing off for the chance to unseat Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV).
Titus herself faces a progressive primary challenger, Amy Vilela, a former campaign staffer for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Nevada’s GOP Senate primary has become unexpectedly contentious, with military veteran Sam Brown mounting a late-stage surge against Trump-backed former Attorney General Adam Laxalt.
“Laxalt should win that but Brown is making it somewhat of a contest. Laxalt has double-digit leads over him, so he should be able to close it out, but it’s been interesting how he’s kind of forced Laxalt to attack a veteran,” Nevada Independent reporter Humberto Sanchez told JI last week.
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held its second public hearing yesterday, outlining how former President Donald Trump pursued a range of false claims of election fraud, despite being told by numerous advisors that they were baseless.
In a videotaped deposition, Jared Kushner said that he advised Trump against following the path recommended by Rudy Giuliani, one of the key pushers of election fraud conspiracy theories in Trump’s team.
Ivanka Trump said in her deposition that she did not have “a firm view as to what [the former president] should say” in his remarks on election night. The committee alleged that Giuliani — who other witnesses said was inebriated at the time — advised Trump to preemptively declare victory and call for election officials to stop counting ballots while he remained ahead.
for the record
Alessandra Biaggi distances herself from AOC on Israel

New York state Senator Alessandra Biaggi attends The Fashion Act Rally held by the Button and Needle Sculpture in Manhattan on February 12, 2022.
Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi in her bid to oust Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), the powerful chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. For Biaggi, the nod was a progressive seal of approval that helps activate a robust grassroots fundraising network as she competes against a well-resourced opponent. But it also comes with some baggage, not least among Jewish voters who view Ocasio-Cortez as hostile to Israel and are wondering where Biaggi stands in relation to the congresswoman, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports in a feature on the race.
Different strokes: In her first interview to address Middle East foreign policy questions since launching her campaign last month, Biaggi, 36, was eager to clarify that she disagrees with Ocasio-Cortez when it comes to Israel, even if the two progressives are aligned on such domestic policy proposals as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. “Just to be really succinct, there are issues that we differ on,” Biaggi told JI last Thursday, “and our position on Israel is that.” (A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to a request for comment.)
Pro-Israel progressive? “I have consistently said, and I will consistently say here, too, that I support Israel,” Biaggi explained. “I support it, not despite being a progressive, but because I am progressive.” Ultimately, she said, her views stem from a sensitivity to the history of Jewish persecution that undergirds what she described as a deeply held appreciation for Israel’s foundation as a Jewish state. “It matters that Israel exists and that we support that existence and allow for Israel to be able to defend itself,” Biaggi said, noting that she is in favor of continued U.S. security assistance with no added conditions, among other things. “The aid that we’re giving to Israel supports the security of not just Israel but the Israeli people.”
‘People are alarmed’: It remains to be seen if such arguments will resonate with the sizable number of Jewish voters in New York’s redrawn 17th Congressional District, which covers the Hudson Valley. In her state Senate district, “a lot of people are alarmed,” said a Jewish leader in Riverdale who supports Biaggi. “Right now, there’s confusion because she is aligned with AOC on other things,” he told JI. But he cautioned against “drawing conclusions” too soon, revealing that Biaggi had committed to making her first trip to Israel this summer. “If you write off the progressive community in totality,” he warned, “it could be very dangerous.”
Delicate balance: Binyamin Krauss, the principal of SAR Academy, a Modern Orthodox day school in Riverdale, said Biaggi has been “very supportive of Israel, believing not only in Israel’s right to exist but to thrive.” Still, he suggested, Biaggi will need to strike a delicate balance as a House candidate. “How she positions herself and how she allies herself in a very polarizing climate,” he said, “is going to be challenging.” Biaggi, for her part, said she is well-equipped to navigate such tensions. “I’m someone who is, number one, fiercely independent in my thinking and my positions,“ she claimed. “When it comes to positions specifically on Israel, my positions are my positions, and so they’re going to be different than some of the other House members.”
Elsewhere: The Working Families Party announced it was dropping its support of Maloney, whom it endorsed in March, and will instead endorse Biaggi in the district’s primary.