Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we examine the first quarter of fundraising reports and share the first of a special five-part investigative series looking into the mysterious 1984 murder of Rabbi Philip Rabinowitz of Washington’s Kesher Israel congregation. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Ben Cardin, Joe Lieberman and Ishay Ribo.
Nearly 40 years ago, a prominent Washington, D.C., rabbi was stabbed to death in his home. No one was ever arrested for the brazen 1984 murder of Rabbi Philip Rabinowitz. But the police also never closed the case.
Over the last several years, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch has investigated the killing, interviewing dozens of people and uncovering new details about the police investigation and the decades-long ripple effects of the murder of a beloved figure. Today, we are publishing the first in a five-part investigative series reexamining the crime and its aftermath. More below.
On the campaign front, this weekend marked the deadline for all presidential candidates to file their first-quarter fundraising reports, which give a broad state of political play with all the presidential and congressional campaigns as the 2024 elections begin to take shape.
The first-quarter numbers provide something of an early sink-or-swim test for first-time candidates, and also offer clues on lawmakers looking for an early retirement.
To be sure, fundraising is far from the definitive metric of a candidate’s success, especially at a time when the interests of major donors within both parties often conflict with the issues that animate the parties’ grassroots activists.
But failing to raise enough money is a clear political warning sign of future danger. Jewish Insider’s editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar, provides some quick takeaways from the first quarter of fundraising reports, which were due on Sunday.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), a stalwart pro-Israel Democrat, has fueled retirement rumors by raising only $15,000 in the first three months of 2023. JI Capitol Hill reporter Marc Rod has more on what Cardin allies are saying about his record. Read the full story here.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) raised only $112,000 in the first quarter, another total that suggests the former presidential nominee isn’t planning to stick around Washington. Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson, a Republican, is already exploring a Senate primary against Romney.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) isn’t yet raising big bucks for what would be a tough reelection, bringing in only $371,000 in the first quarter. That’s notably less than the senator’s $556,000 first-quarter haul the last time he was preparing for reelection in 2017. Manchin still has a healthy $9.7 million sitting in his campaign account.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, is expected to jump in the Senate race shortly. Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), the other Republican running, raised $505,000 in the quarter.
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT), an outspoken isolationist in the House who’s seriously considering a campaign against Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), raised a mere $127,000 for the quarter. He has $1.2 million in the bank. Tester raised over $5 million.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) outdistanced Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), $3.75 million to $2.1 million in the run-up to a possible three-way Arizona Senate contest. Sinema has significantly more cash on hand, banking $9.9 million at the end of March, compared to Gallego’s $2.7 million.
Based on fundraising, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has emerged as the frontrunner in the high-stakes California Democratic Senate primary. He raised $6.5 million in the first quarter, comfortably outdistancing the strong haul by Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who brought in $4.5 million. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), a progressive lawmaker who has often backed legislation opposed by pro-Israel groups, raised only $1.3 million.
On the presidential front,former President Donald Trump raised $14.5 million for his campaign in the first quarter. That’s a notably lower total than his first quarter of 2019, but the total doesn’t fully capture the surge in fundraising his campaign experienced after Trump was indicted.
By raising about $8.3 million in the six weeks since she announced her run and banking $7.8 million at the end of March, Nikki Haley has gone a long way in positioning herself as a serious third candidate against Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — if an opening presents itself. But Haley’s campaign exaggerated her fundraising in the run-up to releasing the report, double-counting transfers it made across different committees.
Also in the news:Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), after meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last week, called for closer ties between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in an interview from Israel. It marks a shift in outlook for Graham, who said in October 2018 that he would not be “going back to Saudi Arabia as long as [bin Salman] is in charge.”
“The ability to work with Saudi Arabia is at an all-time high. If we could normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and then [their relationship] with Israel, it would be the biggest change in my lifetime regarding Mideast security and American security,” Graham told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. The South Carolina senator is currently in Israel, and said in a statement that he also pushed Saudi-Israeli normalization in a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Graham also met yesterday with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, and discussed expanding the Abraham Accords, confronting the Iranian threat and Graham’s impressions from his visit to Saudi Arabia, according to a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry. “The two discussed the important relationship between the countries and peoples and emphasized that relations will continue to strengthen based on the partnership and values that Israel and the United States share,” it noted.
AN OPEN DOOR
Who Killed Kesher’s Rabbi?

Note: Below, we preview the first installment of a new investigative series by Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch. Read the full story here, and stay tuned for the next installment in your inbox later this week.
The door was ajar.
That was the first thing Howard Smith noticed when he arrived at the pale brown townhouse on 25th Street NW, a stop he did not intend to make on the cold, clear morning of Feb. 29, 1984. The home sat just across the M Street Bridge and a short walk from Georgetown in Foggy Bottom, but it was located on a quiet, low-key block that felt a world away from the tony homes in the popular Washington neighborhood.
Smith, an up-and-coming astrophysicist working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, was already running late for work, but that wasn’t unusual for him that year. His mother had died a few months before, and Jewish law dictates that the immediate family members of the deceased should recite the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer every day for 11 months following the death. Each morning, he walked to Kesher Israel Congregation, a small Orthodox synagogue in Georgetown, and joined its daily minyan, or prayer service. His colleagues knew that he often arrived at the office after 9 a.m.
On that day, he wouldn’t get to work until well into the afternoon. First, he would make a gruesome discovery that would shock Washington and reverberate in Jewish communities around the world.
Normally, the congregation’s longtime rabbi, Philip Rabinowitz, would arrive before the morning prayers started, but sometimes — when the assembled group was especially prompt — he got there a few minutes late. Rabinowitz never skipped the service entirely.
The morning minyan required a prayer quorum of 10 men, and that morning, only nine men showed up, with the rabbi nowhere to be found. Someone called Rabinowitz to see if he could come to fill out the group. When he didn’t answer, the congregants grew concerned.
Most of them had to head off to work or to drop their kids at school. Smith, along with a Department of Energy attorney and two of the synagogue’s unhurried retirees, drove the five blocks to Rabinowitz’s home and walked up to the door.
Smith paused when he saw that the door was not closed. The rabbi would not purposely have left it unlocked; he always kept it dead-bolted shut, fearful of intruders.
Something was wrong.