Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Friday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover Israel President Isaac Herzog’s trip to New York, and look at the increasingly fraught relationship between Rep. Jamaal Bowman and some constituents over Israel-related issues. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bill Burns, Greta Gerwig and Josh Harris.
We learned this week that it pays — literally — to be the party in power. In the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, Democratic senators up for reelection posted huge fundraising hauls, according to newly released fundraising reports.
Of the seven Democratic-held Senate seats rated as competitive by the Cook Political Report, six of the Democratic senators or Democratic candidates raised over $2.7 million.
Among senators, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) led the fundraising pack, raising $5.1 million, while Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) brought in $5 million. Both red-state Democrats face tough races against credible GOP opposition. Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) all raised more than $2.7 million.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was the only politically vulnerable senator not to hit the $2 million benchmark, but he still outraised his GOP opponent, Gov. Jim Justice. Manchin hasn’t announced whether he’s running for reelection, and headlined a No Labels event in New Hampshire on Monday,
Several Democratic members of Congress running for the Senate also raised significant sums of money: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) raised a whopping $8.2 million for a competitive California Senate primary, outdistancing Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who brought in $3.2 million, and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who raised $1.1 million.
In Texas, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) outraised Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), even though both reported strong fundraising totals. Allred raised $6.2 million, while Cruz raised $3.3 million — the highest total of all GOP senators.
On the House side, where Republicans hold the majority, the fundraising dynamic was reversed. Sixty-five Republican candidates raised $500,000 or more in the second quarter compared to 40 Democrats.
The 18 Republican members in districts President Joe Biden won raised an average of $739,000 in the second quarter, and banked $1.7 million, on average. The five Democrats representing seats former President Donald Trump won in 2020 raised an average of $542,000, while ending June with an average of $735,000 cash on hand.
Over in Israel, protestors once again took to the streets last night in an angry reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s primetime speech in which he defended the “reasonableness standard” bill, which is set to pass into law next week, accused the opposition of failing to negotiate with the coalition, criticized protestors and slammed judicial reform opponents who have threatened to refuse to carry out army reserve duty. In response to the speech, leaders of the protest movement accused Netanyahu of incitement and of harming the country.
“This evening, I would like to calm everyone: In every situation, Israel will continue to be a democratic state,” Netanyahu said. “It will continue to be a liberal state. It will not become a state governed by Jewish religious law and it will safeguard everyone’s individual rights. But when I say ‘everyone,’ these rights must really be equal for everyone. None are more equal, and none are less equal. Some people cannot be subject to the law while others are above it – and can block roads, set fires, block the railways, block ambulances and put lives at risk.”
“Citizens of Israel, all of the remarks about the destruction of democracy are simply absurd,” Netanyhahu said. “This is an attempt to mislead you over something that has no basis in reality. What does endanger democracy is refusal to serve. Refusal to serve endangers the security of us all, of every citizen of Israel.”
Today in Aspen, Secretary of State Tony Blinken will take the stage at 9 a.m. local time, followed by a panel featuring Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jim Risch (R-ID). Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) will speak later this morning. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be the Security Forum’s last featured speaker before this year’s confab concludes.
herzog hangout
U.S.-Israel bond ‘transcends governments,’ Herzog tells New York Jewish community

The U.S.-Israel bond “transcends governments,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday during an address to the New York Jewish community at an Upper East Side event space hosted by UJA-Federation of New York and co-sponsored by the Orthodox Union. The discussion, moderated by CNN reporter Bianna Golodryga, concluded the third day of Herzog’s diplomatic visit to the U.S., which earlier on Thursday included a jaunt through New York City, where he met state, local and world leaders, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen report.
No winners: Herzog addressed the protests over the government’s proposed judicial overhaul that are roiling Israel, and discussed the current state of the U.S.-Israel relationship and his meetings earlier this week in Washington, D.C. The Israeli president, who has urged compromise in the debate over the judicial overhaul, called on proponents and opponents of the plan to “sit down and figure this out. If one side wins, everyone loses,” Herzog said.
No comment: Asked whether world leaders, including President Joe Biden, should be concerned over Netanyahu and his coalition’s actions, Herzog declined to answer the question. “I was told you were going to be a friendly interviewer,” he said to Golodryga amid a roar of laughter from the crowd. “There are certain questions that you don’t expect the president to answer.”