Daily Kickoff: Bowman bleeding Dem support
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to former Rep. Mondaire Jones about his endorsement of George Latimer over Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and report on how Democratic state parties are handling conversations around the Israel-Gaza war. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jordan Acker, Rep. Virginia Foxx and Tom Flesh.
It’s a trend that has largely gone unnoticed amid former President Donald Trump’s legal woes, but moderation is slowly creeping back into the American body politic — at least based on early returns from primaries and developments in many key races, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
Squad-affiliated Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO) are facing the fight of their political lives against mainstream Democratic challengers. Both are already in serious trouble in their summer primaries — an unprecedented degree of vulnerability for sitting lawmakers.
Former Rep. Mondaire Jones’ decision on Monday to endorse Bowman’s opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, citing the congressman’s extreme rhetoric on Israel, is another sign of the political winds within the Democratic Party shifting to the center. Jones is also running in a neighboring battleground New York district, and undoubtedly understands that any tolerance of anti-Israel or antisemitic behavior would be problematic for his own campaign.
Meanwhile, one of the most right-wing members of Congress, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), is looking like an underdog in this month’s primary after former President Donald Trump endorsed his opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, last week. McGuire was an early and enthusiastic Trump backer, but is less of a hard-line conservative than the congressman, who is chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), despite his outspoken criticism of far-right members in his caucus and support for some gun control measures, survived a primary last week with the help of outside groups trying to hold the center in the party.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who has evolved into a MAGA-friendly figure, is facing the risk of at least being forced into a runoff in her primary next week.
Oregon Democrats rejected left-wing candidates in favor of pragmatists, defeating a pair of anti-Israel congressional candidates and ousting a progressive district attorney in Portland who was criticized for being soft on crime.
In the battle for the Senate, Republicans have quietly landed a lineup of center-right recruits capable of appealing to both the Bush and Trump wings of the Republican Party.
West Virginia GOP Gov. Jim Justice, a former Democrat, easily dispatched a right-wing challenger for the state’s Senate nomination — and is all but guaranteed a Senate seat. In Montana, Republican leaders successfully worked to anoint military veteran and businessman Tim Sheehy as their preferred candidate against Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), preventing right-wing Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) from getting any traction. (Rosendale announced he was running, and dropped out less than a week later.)
Candidates with traditional GOP profiles, such as former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers in Michigan and former Bridgewater Associates CEO Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, have managed to win Trump’s support, uniting the party in pivotal Senate battlegrounds. McCormick is the GOP nominee against Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), while Rogers is expected to face Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
Red- and purple-state Democrats, meanwhile, have showcased their independence as they face challenging reelections this year. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a populist Trump critic, is airing an ad touting his work on legislation Trump signed. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) recently criticized President Joe Biden for threatening to cut off some types of military aid to Israel.
And on the legislative front, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) worked to secure passage of a critical foreign aid package in April, while beating back a threat from right-wing lawmakers to oust him from the speakership. Democrats, at least for now, provided the margin of support to protect Johnson despite his razor-thin majority.
The one political parlor game we’re watching closely to see if the pragmatic trend continues: The Trump veepstakes. Trump’s selection of a running mate will offer a telling signal on how he plans to govern in a second term. With conventional contenders like Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) getting a lot of buzz lately, it’s a sign that Trump recognizes he needs to win over the center-right Nikki Haley backers to have the best chance at winning in November.
We’re watching primaries in New Jersey today, with the biggest matchup between Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Menendez, who is endorsed by AIPAC, is at risk of being the first incumbent to lose a primary — almost entirely over his scandal-plagued father’s corruption case.
In New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District, Assemblyman Herb Conaway is the front-runner in the race for Rep. Andy Kim’s (D-NJ) seat in a five-person Democratic primary.
In a debate last month, Conaway, 61, said that he has been a supporter of the U.S.-Israel relationship since he was in high school, and said that “the United States needs to be a guarantor of Israeli security, and of course the Israelis have a right to defend themselves.”
Iowa, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota are also holding primaries today.
party positions
Anti-Israel activists bring lots of noise but little substance to state Democratic conventions
As Democrats brace for a messy convention in Chicago in August, with the party bitterly divided over the war in Gaza, state-level party activists are starting to meet for their quadrennial conventions, offering an early look at the tension points Democrats will face later this summer, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Marginal effects: Amid the bureaucratic business of electing party delegates and approving changes to party rules, the Democrats gathering in places like Duluth, Minn.; Bangor, Maine; and Jamestown, N.C., are also being asked to weigh in on hefty questions related to the war in Gaza. So far, anti-Israel activists have generated a lot of noise but very little substance when it comes to having an impact on official party positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
National angle: The national Democratic platform committee has not yet begun to hold meetings, which are slated to start soon. Some states don’t release their own platforms and instead adopt whatever the DNC authors. In many others, foreign policy doesn’t appear at all, or only as a small portion — compared to the national party platform, which weighs in on major national security issues.
Protests expected: Democrats are bracing for protests at the Chicago convention, and the Democratic National Committee announced in May that delegates will nominate Biden via a “virtual roll call” rather than the traditional ceremonial roll call on the convention floor. The reason they’re doing so is to avoid a ballot snafu in Ohio, but Democratic activists also acknowledge it minimizes potential disruptions from Uncommitted delegates.
BATTLE FOR THE SUBURBS
Mondaire Jones condemns Bowman’s Israel rhetoric, endorses George Latimer
Former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), running to reclaim his former Hudson Valley seat in Congress, disavowed Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) on Monday over Bowman’s rhetoric about Israel since Oct. 7, and endorsed George Latimer, the Westchester County executive seeking to oust Bowman. Jones told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod the endorsement, first announced in The New York Times, was driven by Bowman’s rhetoric on Israel and the impact Jones said it has had on the Jewish community in Jones’ own district. Bowman’s and Jones’ districts border one another.
Community concerns: “This is about me standing up for the Jewish community,” Jones said. “I want to be very clear about that.” Jones said he’s had conversations “all the time” with Jewish residents in the district who are “horrified by his [Bowman’s] words and actions — it gives them anxiety. And it has contributed to the fearfulness that American Jews are feeling in this very heightened climate of increased hostility towards the Jewish community and Israel.” The 16th Congressional District has a considerable Jewish population in Westchester County.
Background: Jones worked under Latimer as an attorney for Westchester County before his time in Congress. “[Latimer] is someone who understands social justice from a variety of lenses,” Jones said. “And most importantly, is a unifying voice who brings people of various constituencies along, which is why he’s got so much support from within both the Black and Jewish communities.”
CAMPUS CONCERNS
Rep. Virginia Foxx holds low expectations that colleges will change course following antisemitism hearings
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said she has low expectations, even after a series of high-profile hearings with university presidents on antisemitism on college campuses, that university leaders will make significant changes to their responses to antisemitism on campus, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Skeptical: Asked what might happen on college campuses if the executive branch changes hands after the November election, Foxx, who chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, largely predicted that the status quo will continue. “I’m a little skeptical of whether the presidents of many of these institutions will take any different kinds of action than what they’re taking now,” she said, speaking on Monday at the American Enterprise Institute. “I think they’ll rant and rave, I think they’ll scream things like ‘academic freedom,’ I think they’ll say, ‘But look over here at these other kinds of things.’”
Low expectations: “I’d like to believe that as a result of what we’ve done already, you’re going to see major changes on campus,” Foxx continued. “I’d like to see that happen. Maybe there’ll be some changes in the schools we’ve highlighted. But even there, I don’t expect a lot.”
Read the full story here.
BIG BLUE BLUES
UMich Jewish regent Jordan Acker targeted for second time
The exterior of University of Michigan Board of Regents member Jordan Acker’s law office was vandalized overnight on Monday with the phrases “FREE PALESTINE,” “DIVEST NOW,” “F**K YOU ACKER” and “UM KILLS” scrawled on the walls, walkway and front window. The incident is the second time during the Israel-Hamas war that Acker, who is Jewish, has been targeted by anti-Israel demonstrators, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider.
Acker’s reaction: “It’s a disgusting escalation and pure antisemitism,” Acker, who is a former Obama administration official and has sat on the school’s Board of Regents since 2018, told JI. “This has nothing to do with Palestine. I am one of eight [regents] and I was the only person targeted. I believe that’s because I’m Jewish. I believe this was a message to be sent to the Jewish community.”
Caught on camera: According to video footage obtained by the Goodman Acker personal injury law firm, which is located in a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Southfield — about 30 minutes away from the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor — the incident occurred at approximately 2 a.m. when four masked individuals splattered the front walkway, the sign over the door and the building’s walls with red and black spray paint and the antisemitic and anti-Israel messages.
Support and condemnation: Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers tagged the incident as antisemitic, while his Democratic opponent, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) called it “intimidation related to the Middle East conflict,” adding, “If your ‘protest’ tactics include vandalism and violent language, you’re not protesting — you’re breaking the law and discrediting your cause at the same time.” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) said in a statement to JI, “Vandalism and acts of violence and hate against anyone for any reason are completely unacceptable. I condemn these actions in the strongest terms. Hate is being normalized in too many communities, and we must stand up to hate wherever and whenever we see it.” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) also condemned the incident.
Read the full story here.
COURT CONVERSATIONS
Maryland Dem senators diverge on ICC
While Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) compared Republican colleagues to “mafia thugs” yesterday for seeking to sanction the International Criminal Court, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) criticized the Biden administration for opposing sanctions in response to the decision of the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
Van Hollen’s view: “[Proposing sanctions on the ICC] is more befitting mafia thugs than U.S. senators and it is totally counterproductive to our interests,” Van Hollen said in an appearance at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers from both parties have called for sanctions on ICC officials in response to the officials’ decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.
Cardin’s comment: “I’m disappointed. I thought they were going to try and work on a bipartisan bill that would try to [bring Republicans and Democrats] together,” Cardin, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told JI. “They [the Republicans] will do their thing and we’ll try to see what we can do on our side.”
Administration’s stance: Cardin’s comment marks a striking contrast with a statement from the administration released earlier on Monday that it “strongly opposes” a House bill, scheduled for a vote this week, that would impose sanctions on the ICC. “The Administration is deeply concerned about the ICC Prosecutor’s heedless rush to apply for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials,” the statement said. “At the same time, the Administration opposes the imposition of sanctions against the ICC, its personnel, its judges, or those who assist its work. There are more effective ways to defend Israel, preserve U.S. positions on the ICC, and promote international justice and accountability, and the Administration stands ready to work with the Congress on those options.
Read the full story with Cardin’s criticisms here and read more on Van Hollen’s take here.
ARMS ARGUMENTS
House seeks to force Israel weapons transfers in State Department funding bill
The House Appropriations Committee’s draft funding bill for the State Department, released Monday, contains language seeking to force the administration to allow paused arms transfers to Israel to proceed, echoing legislation passed by the House last month. The provision is likely to be one of several flashpoints between House and Senate lawmakers over the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs bill, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Timeline: The provision on arms sales to Israel would require all withheld arms and defense services for Israel to be delivered within 15 days of the bill’s passage, and would withhold 50% of the funding allocated for the office of the secretary of state until the sales proceed. It would also require the State Department to promptly obligate any previously appropriated funds for assistance to Israel.
UNRWA aspect: The proposed bill would continue the prohibition on funding for UNRWA and requirements for strict vetting procedures for aid to the West Bank and Gaza, both of which were first enacted in response to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and revelations that UNRWA staffers had participated in that attack.
Elsewhere on the Hill: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security on Monday proposed providing $305 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2025 — the same amount provided for the program in 2023, despite a massive increase in demand and a significant spike in antisemitism since Oct. 7.
Worthy Reads
Lost in the Cease-fire Plan: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Rob Satloff examines a key clause from President Joe Biden’s Friday address calling for a cease-fire, in which the president said that the U.S. will ensure Israeli adherence to the terms of the agreement, while Egypt and Qatar will ensure Hamas’ adherence. “Egypt and Qatar have shown themselves to be woefully incapable of influencing Hamas over the past eight months, so the idea that there is any value in their “assurances” regarding the group’s future behavior is risible. By contrast, any U.S. administration necessarily has considerable leverage on Israel’s actions given Jerusalem’s reliance on U.S. rearmament and diplomatic backing to sustain its military operations. … If the president accurately described the proposal’s terms, and if the parties seem likely to accept the deal in the near term, then Washington and Jerusalem should work out the details of implementing its competing principles now, well before any potential crisis can arise over interpretation of the above paragraph. This means more than just reassuring Israel that the United States will not object to resumed military operations if Hamas violates the ceasefire. To balance Washington’s very real leverage over Israel and the absence of any third-party leverage over Hamas, it is important to strengthen Jerusalem’s hand and raise the stakes of noncompliance for Hamas.” [WashingtonInstitute]
The Sheinbaum Effect: In The Forward, Yale University student Ben Raab, a native of Mexico City, reflects on the election of Claudia Sheinbaum as the country’s next president. “In theory, the first-ever election of a Mexican-Jewish woman to the country’s highest political post should reaffirm the validity of my own dual identity as a Mexican Jew. In practice, it’s left me wishing that Sheinbaum would seize the opportunity to stop downplaying her Judaism, and start embracing it. Her historic victory presents her with an opportunity to meet challenges to her dual identity — 100% Mexican, 100% Jewish — with a sense of pride that celebrates the unique fusion of the two. … The truth is that whether or not Sheinbaum feels strongly connected to Judaism, it will always be connected to her. That’s certainly the sentiment among her critics, some of whom have already racked up millions of views for posts on X that use her Judaism to invalidate her leadership. That’s deeply sobering. But the extent to which her heritage is part of her profile — regardless of her own approach to it — also means that she has a chance to make many of us feel that much more seen by celebrating her Jewishness.” [TheForward]
Claudia’s Challenge: The Atlantic’s David Frum looks at the challenges facing incoming Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as she succeeds her mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is expected to maintain a presence behind the scenes. “Of the three candidates within the ruling party who vied for López Obrador’s favor, Sheinbaum was the one with the smallest and weakest following among Morena’s rank and file. Sheinbaum got the nod not because López Obrador wanted a pathbreaker, but because he wanted someone he could control after his mandatory departure from office at the end of a six-year term. López Obrador has built mechanisms to maintain his grip on Mexican politics, including a referendum at the presidency’s three-year mark, which provides a means of recalling López Obrador’s successor if she disappoints him and his following. I interviewed Sheinbaum in Mexico City in January 2023. I found her highly intelligent but lacking in the people-pleasing ways of a professional politician. Most strikingly, she repeated every dogma of López Obrador ideology without a millimeter of distancing: The independent election commission was bad; the elections that López Obrador had lost earlier in his career were stolen from him; the act of replacing impersonal social-service agencies with personal handouts of cash from the presidential administration to the poor amounted to a social revolution equal to the other great transformations of the Mexican past, including the Mexican Revolution of 1913.” [TheAtlantic]
Around the Web
Hostage Deaths: The IDF confirmed the deaths of four Israeli hostages in captivity; officials said Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell, the latter of whom appeared in a recent hostage video, were killed several months ago and their bodies held in the enclave.
Jumping the Gun: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Knesset committee on Monday that reports that Israel had accepted the terms of a cease-fire were premature; Hamas also said the terms were “still under discussion.”
Northern Blaze: Firefighters in Israel rushed to contain blazes across the country’s north that were sparked by Hezbollah rockets and drones launched from Lebanon.
Bannon Bash: Steve Bannon urged pro-Israel conservatives to stop embracing establishment GOP figures such as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley over former President Donald Trump, warning that the loss of support from the MAGA movement would be devastating to the cause, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
He’s Running: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) filed to run for reelection in New Jersey’s upcoming Senate race as an independent, as he faces federal corruption charges.
Jewish Heritage Month: By a unanimous 371-0 vote, the House approved a resolution honoring Jewish American Heritage Month, with 59 members absent.
Friendlier Skies: Delta plans to resume nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and New York on Friday.
Shift on Diversity: Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences will end the practice of having job applicants submit diversity statements.
War at WaPo: The New York Timeslooks at tensions between Washington Post CEO Will Lewis and the newspaper’s editorial leadership, which resulted in the departure, announced this week, of Executive Editor Sally Buzbee.
Guilty Plea: A California man who shot two Jewish men pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes charges; Jamie Tran faces up to 40 years in prison for the attacks, which occurred in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Rushdie Attack: The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie in August 2022 is discussing a potential plea deal with state and federal prosecutors, which could provide information on the potential involvement of foreign governments or terror groups in the attack, which left Rushdie blind in one eye.
Across the Pond: Brexit architect Nigel Farage announced he will stand for the country’s upcoming election, slated for July 4, as a candidate from the Reform UK party.
Aleppo Strike: Syrian and Iranian state media reported that an Israeli airstrike in Aleppo killed an Iranian military adviser in Syria.
Backing UNRWA: The European Union, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are pushing back on an Israel-led effort at the United Nations to label the U.N. Relief and Works Agency as a terror group.
Nuke Update: A draft resolution submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors by France, the U.K. and Germany is pushing Iran to explain a number of unresolved issues related to its nuclear work, including the presence of uranium traces at undeclared sites.
Raisi Replacement: Former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf is emerging as a top candidate to succeed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, weeks after the president was killed in a helicopter crash.
Bank Fraud?: Standard Chartered whistleblowers said they found billions of dollars in undetected transactions between the British bank and Iranian entities.
China-Iran Clash: Beijing and Tehran are clashing over China’s stance on a group of disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, which are claimed by both the United Arab Emirates and Iran; China has said that control of the islands should be determined through engagement between the UAE and Iran.
Crude Move: Oil prices fell following the announcement that OPEC+ will continue its oil production cuts into 2025.
Transition: Robert “Tom” Flesh will succeed Larry Hochberg as chair of the board of directors of ELNET-US; Hochberg will stay on the board as chair emeritus.
Remembering: Pacifica Radio journalist Larry Bensky died at 87.
Pic of the Day
Actor Michael Douglas met on Sunday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog in Jerusalem.
Birthdays
Co-founder of Boston Properties and owner of U.S. News & World Report, Mort Zuckerman turns 87…
Survivor of the Holocaust via the Kindertransport, sniper for the Haganah and renowned sex therapist, Ruth Westheimer (“Dr. Ruth”) turns 96… Emeritus professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology, David Kristol turns 86… Professor of organic chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science and winner of the 2012 Israel Prize, David Milstein turns 77… Retired chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Stephen J. Markman turns 75… Judge on the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia since 2018, he was the longest tenured member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (42 years from 1974 to 2016), Mark B. Cohen turns 75… Lineman for the Miami Dolphins for 11 seasons, which included three Super Bowl appearances and four Pro Bowls, then a judge on the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida (Miami-Dade County), Ed Newman turns 73… British journalist, columnist and author of 11 books, Melanie Phillips turns 73… First-ever Jewish governor of Hawaii and then chief operating officer of Illinois, she serves on the board of directors of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Linda Lingle turns 71… President and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC until he retired last June, Daniel H. Weiss turns 67… Co-founder of Ripco Real Estate, Todd Cooper… Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Matthew Langer Meyerson, MD turns 61… U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) turns 53… French-Israeli entrepreneur, angel investor in over 360 startups, Jeremie Berrebi… D.C.-based photographer and founder of Revamped Media, Daniel Swartz… Reporter since 2014 for the Washington Post covering Congress, campaigns, health policy and Pennsylvania politics, Colby Itkowitz… Israeli supermodel, Bar Refaeli turns 39… Senior planning analyst at Con Edison in NYC, Adam E. Soclof… Director at Dentons Global Advisors, Jason Hillel Attermann… Managing editor at eJewishPhilanthropy, Judah Ari Gross… Gena Wolfson… Political coordinating producer for NBC, Emily Gold… Ken Moss…
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