Daily Kickoff
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the climate on college campuses in the face of a resurgence of anti-Israel activism and talk to Michigan Jewish community leaders about the response by political leaders to a spate of antisemitic vandalism in the state. We also preview the closely contested Long Island House race between GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito and Democrat Laura Gillen, and take a look at Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s positions on Israel in her reelection bid against Republican Eric Hovde in Wisconsin. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bill Kristol and Eliot Cohen, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Matthew Segal.
What We’re Watching
- Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Detroit to participate in a town hall-style radio interview at 5 p.m. ET with “The Breakfast Club” host Charlemagne Tha God.
- Former President Donald Trump will be holding a campaign rally in suburban Atlanta at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight.
- Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Republican Dave McCormick are debating in Philadelphia at 7 p.m. ET for the second — and likely final — time. It will be airing on broadcast networks across the state.
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will be debating his Democratic challenger, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), for the first time at 8 p.m. ET in Dallas.
What You Should Know
One concern in Democratic circles is that, even though Vice President Kamala Harris is running neck-and-neck with former President Donald Trump in the polls, she hasn’t fully translated her successful debate performance into lasting momentum in the campaign.
Struggling to follow through on political accomplishments has been something of a pattern for Harris in her recent political career, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
In 2019, as a presidential candidate, she caricatured Joe Biden as racially insensitive for opposing busing and working with segregationist senators early in his political career — before abandoning that line of attack when she was pressed on her own views on the topic of busing.
Her nominating convention this year was a political success, but she failed to translate the good vibes from that moment into a more-substantive showcase on how she’d govern, to more clearly reassure skeptics that she’s not a true-blue progressive. Many voters are still trying to figure out how she would govern, as Trump’s campaign airs scathing attacks pinpointing the most left-wing comments she made during the 2020 campaign.
And now, after a commanding debate performance against Trump last month, the campaign remained overly cautious and didn’t book her to do lots of widely -watched interviews to keep the momentum going.
Only after polls suggested her support was plateauing did the campaign book last week a flurry of interviews, from “60 Minutes” to Howard Stern’s talk show and other popular podcasts. In a sign that she recognizes she needs to do a better job of reaching out to center-right voters, she’s now sitting down for an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday.
But throughout her career, Harris has been most comfortable with political set pieces, where she can prepare thoroughly, and show off the fruits of her labor.
Many of her most memorable political moments have come when she’s had ample time to prepare for a big moment, like her tough Judiciary Committee questioning of Brett Kavanaugh as a senator in 2018, the aforementioned attack on Biden’s racial record in the Senate, and the presidential debate where she spent much of the previous week holed up with her debate prep team in Pittsburgh, honing some effective lines of attack against Trump.
She’s struggled more in off-the-cuff settings, including interviews where she’s been asked questions about her policy positions (and why they’ve evolved) and to explain how she would govern differently than Biden. She’s been cautious to a tee, even in friendly media settings where she’s able to show off her more conversational side. Typically, she assiduously sticks to her talking points at the expense of coming across as more authentic.
That caution and political discipline has led to mixed results. On one hand, her political image is much improved from where it was before she was a presidential candidate. On the other hand, many voters still don’t have a clear grasp on what her political values are, and where she stands on key issues. Those favorability numbers remain volatile.
Public polling continues to show a very close race, with Trump holding onto a small edge in the Sun Belt states, while Harris maintains a narrow edge in the Rust Belt states, including the critical state of Pennsylvania. That’s been the pattern for a while.
But as Trump continues to make small, significant inroads with non-white working- class voters and benefits from his own improved image compared to 2016 and 2020, this race is too close to call. (The NBC News poll out Sunday shows Harris and Trump tied at 48-48%; last month’s survey showed Harris with a five-point lead.)
Trump is well-defined in the eyes of voters, while there’s still more room for Harris to improve her political standing. Her decision to sit down for a Fox News interview — and consider an interview with popular podcaster Joe Rogan — is a sign she realizes she needs to change her overly cautious approach. But with only several weeks left until Election Day, time will tell whether or not her last-minute expanded outreach is too little, too late.
campus beat
Campuses confront resurgence of anti-Israel activism after Oct. 7 anniversary

If the early weeks of the academic year before Oct. 7 provided tentative cause for optimism at some universities that had faced major disruptions earlier this year, that day and the week that followed reminded Jewish students that the anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric they came to fear last year are still present at many schools. In many cases, the activity has become more extreme and the language more violent, even if it is not as widespread as it was in the spring, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Campus climate: At the University of California, Berkeley, more than 1,000 students staged a walkout from their classes and gathered at the main campus quad, where flyers crying “Long Live Al-Aqsa Flood” — Hamas’ name for their Oct. 7 attacks — were distributed. A banner reading “Glory to the Resistance” was hung from a famed tower on campus. At Swarthmore College, outside Philadelphia, the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine wrote on Instagram: “Happy October 7th!” and asked followers to donate money “in honor of this glorious day and all our martyred revolutionaries.”
Read the full story here.