Daily Kickoff
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Rep. Ro Khanna about his engagement with the Jewish community alongside his appearance on an Oct. 7 conspiracy theorist’s podcast, and report on yesterday’s call between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: California Assemblymember Laura Friedman, Amb. Rahm Emanuel and Stephanie Cohen.
First in the Daily Kickoff: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will hold a briefing today with members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Today marks the second major round of congressional primaries, with Illinois and Ohio holding elections that will determine their party’s lineup of nominees for the November elections.
Here’s what we’re watching:
Ohio GOP Senate: Former President Donald Trump rallied for businessman Bernie Moreno over the weekend, in a final push to pull his endorsed candidate over the finish line. Despite Trump’s endorsement, Moreno is facing a tough and well-funded challenge from state Sen. Matt Dolan, who has been endorsed by leading figures from the establishment wing of the Republican Party such as Gov. Mike DeWine and former Sen. Rob Portman.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is also a factor in the race, but is being badly outspent compared to his two rivals, and lags in third place, according to public polls.
As Jewish Insider reported last week, the race features candidates with different values on foreign policy. Moreno, a Colombian-born Cleveland businessman, has become an outspoken critic of supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian aggression — and while standing with Israel, he has also objected to increased American funding for the Jewish state. Dolan is a traditional Republican who hews closer to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) national security views.
The primary will determine the nominee against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), one of two Democratic senators running for reelection in states Trump carried.
Illinois-07: Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), at 82, is facing a rocky path to reelection against two credible challengers, one running to his left and one running as a more effective alternative. Davis is calling in support from top party leaders, including endorsements from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Davis’ leading opponents are Chicago city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who’s backed by the city’s powerful teacher’s union and has raised more campaign cash than Davis, and progressive Kina Collins, who narrowly lost to Davis in the 2022 primary.
Conyears-Ervin is well-known in the city and has a strong political apparatus backing her, but also faces an ongoing ethics scandal. There’s some concern that the three-way race — with Conyears-Ervin potentially pulling some votes from Davis — could boost Collins, although Davis is still favored to win.
In recent weeks, AIPAC’s super PAC has spent nearly $500,000 on attack ads targeting Collins, a former Justice Democrats endorsee who has called for conditioning aid to Israel and described Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza as a “genocide.”
Illinois-11: In the suburbs of Chicago, longtime Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) is seeking to fend off a challenge from Qasim Rashid, a progressive activist and human rights lawyer who unsuccessfully ran against a GOP House incumbent in Virginia four years ago.
Foster has, throughout the race, largely ignored Rashid, a critic of Israel who has attacked the congressman for his delay in urging an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza. Last week, however, Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm made a late entry into the primary, spending just over $40,000 on a digital ad buy to boost Foster, whom the group endorsed in December.
Illinois-12: Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) faces a primary challenge from Darren Bailey, a former state senator who was the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee in 2022. Although Bost was endorsed by Trump, Bailey is seeking to challenge him from his right, attacking Bost as a career politician, touting support from right-wing lawmakers such as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
During his gubernatorial campaign, Bailey spoke to a local Palestinian American Club in front of a massive map that erased Israel, and has described abortion as significantly worse than the Holocaust. He also questioned the constitutionality of anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions legislation.
Ohio-09: Republicans will be nominating a challenger against one of the most battle-tested Democrats in Congress, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH). Despite representing a Trump district, she easily prevailed over Republican J.R. Majewski, a scandal-plagued, Trump-aligned challenger in 2022.
Under pressure from Republicans, Majewski dropped out of the race at the last minute, leaving two more-conventional GOP candidates to battle for the nomination. State Rep. Derek Merrin is the party-backed front-runner, but faces a credible challenge from former state Rep. Craig Riedel, whose past comments critical of Trump sunk his political stock among MAGA-oriented voters.
rafah riff
Biden to Netanyahu: Consider ‘alternative approach’ to Rafah

In a Monday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Joe Biden reiterated Washington’s support for Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas while offering a resounding rejection of Israel’s plans to mount a major ground operation in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where many Hamas fighters are believed to be hiding, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Impending meeting: Acknowledging Hamas’ presence in Rafah, Biden told Israel they could operate there — but only in a highly targeted way. At Biden’s request, Netanyahu agreed to send a senior delegation of military, intelligence and humanitarian officials to Washington within the next week to listen to the White House’s concerns about Rafah.
Alternative approach: At the meeting with senior Israeli officials, the White House will lay out an “alternative approach that would target key Hamas elements in Rafah,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at a Monday press briefing. An Israeli Embassy spokesperson declined to comment.
No major ground op: Monday’s phone call, the first between the two leaders in more than a month, came as Democrats in Washington have sought greater scrutiny of Israel’s actions in Gaza, with some progressives heightening calls to limit U.S. military assistance to Israel. Sullivan said Biden did not threaten to withhold military aid. “The president didn’t make threats. What the president said today was, ‘I want you to understand, Mr. Prime Minister, exactly where I am on this. I am for the defeat of Hamas. I believe that they are an evil terrorist group with not just Israeli but American blood on their hands. At the same time, I believe that to get to that you need a strategy that works, and that strategy should not involve a major military operation,’” Sullivan said, recounting the conversation.
Subtle shift: After the call, Netanyahu’s office issued a readout with language that seemed to take this concern into account. He said that increasing humanitarian aid will help Israel achieve its war efforts — a shift in Israeli rhetoric. “We talked about the latest developments in the war, including Israel’s commitment to achieve all of the war’s aims: Eliminating Hamas, freeing all of our hostages and ensuring Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel — all the while giving necessary humanitarian aid that helps us attain those goals,” Netanyahu said in a Monday statement.