Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Wednesday morning!
Despite the low profile of many of last night’s primary races, there were some surprises as results rolled in.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) won her primary in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District last night — but by 50-48%, the closest margin since her first federal election in 2018. The two-term legislator was nearly toppled last night by former Minneapolis City Councilmember Don Samuels, who came within 2,500 votes of Omar before conceding the race. Samuels had trailed Omar in polling throughout the primary season, but picked up momentum in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s primary, notching endorsements from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The editorial called the former city councilmember “a candidate of rare caliber, almost ideally suited to represent the mix of ethnicities and issues confronting the district,” raising concerns that Omar has “too often has been on the wrong side of critical decisions that carried high stakes for Minnesota.”
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes coasted to victory in the state’s Democratic Senate primary, the expected outcome after his top two challengers, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry and State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, ended their respective campaigns late last month and threw their support behind Barnes.
In Connecticut, Republican fundraiser Leora Levy, who was backed by former President Donald Trump, won the party’s Senate primary, and will go on to face Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) this fall. In 2016, Blumenthal beat his GOP challenger 63-35%.
Vermont state Sen. Becca Balint beat out Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in the Democratic primary for one of the state’s two at-large House seats, which Democrats are expected to hold onto in November.
building a relationship
After a 50-year hiatus, Israel-Chad ties are warming – fast

Israel’s non-resident ambassador to the Republic of Chad, Ben Bourgel, presents his credentials to Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby in May.
When Israel’s non-resident ambassador to the Republic of Chad, Ben Bourgel, presented his credentials to President Mahamat Idriss Déby in May, the biggest surprise was that it all felt very normal. “When I went to present my letter of credence, the presidency did exactly the same for me as it would do for any ambassador presenting his credentials,” Bourgal, who is Israel’s resident ambassador to Senegal and, as well as Chad, non-resident to the Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea and Guinea Bissau, told Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash in an interview. The meeting, Bourgel explained, marked “a new era” for Israel and the landlocked central African nation, after 50 years of no formal diplomatic relations. In 1972, facing pressure from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Chad severed ties with Israel.
Key to stability: Bordering Libya as well as Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger, and with a population of some 16 million, Bourgel told JI that Chad was a “very important partner” for Israel. “It’s a key to stability and security in the region and that’s the way it is perceived by all international partners based there. Europe, the U.S. — they all see Chad as a constructive partner,” said Bourgel, who previously served as the political coordinator of Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
Africa policy: For Israel, warming ties with one of the African continent’s largest countries is part of a two-fold strategy, explained Bourgel. “First, we are widening the circle of peace,” said the envoy, explaining that the creation of such relations had an impact on other nearby countries. “The second is Israel’s efforts to go back to Africa, which was initiated a few years ago.” Yonatan Freeman, an international relations expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told JI that the renewed diplomatic relationship with Chad was the first tangible result of this African policy. In addition, he said, the diplomatic process with Chad, a Muslim-majority country, had opened doors to the Arab world, maybe even paving the way for the 2020 Abraham Accords that Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and to normalizing ties with Sudan and Morocco in the same year.
Saving lives: With encouragement from the Chadian leadership, the warming of formal relations with Israel has already filtered down to benefit ordinary people. In July, for the first time, Israeli humanitarian aid organizations Israel Flying Aid and Save a Child’s Heart, together with MASHAV, the Israeli Embassy in Chad and the Menomadin Foundation, facilitated the airlift to Israel of three Chadian children in desperate need of heart operations.