Daily Kickoff
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we interview North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein as he makes a bid for the state’s top office, and have the scoop on a new bipartisan push to call on the State Department to condemn Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s anti-Israel comments. We also report on calls by Jewish leaders for Vice President Kamala Harris to clarify her response over the weekend to a protester who accused Israel of genocide, and talk to Sen. George Helmy (D-NJ), who is serving most of the remainder of Sen. Bob Menendez’s Senate term. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Angela Alsobrooks and Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.
Ed. note: The next Daily Kickoff will arrive Monday, Oct. 28. Chag sameach!
What We’re Watching
- Secretary of State Tony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia this morning, after scrapping plans to first travel to Jordan after wrapping up a daylong visit to Israel. Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud shortly after his arrival in Riyadh.
What You Should Know
One of the most telling developments in a tumultuous political month has been the decision of three swing-state Democratic Senate candidates running in the “blue wall” presidential battlegrounds to promote their connection to former President Donald Trump in the closing stretch of the campaign, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
An ad for Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) touts that he sided with Trump to end NAFTA. A narrator in an ad for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) says that the former president signed her bipartisan legislation requiring American infrastructure projects use American iron and steel. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) sounds as unenthusiastic as Trump about electric cars, and boasted she wrote a law signed by Trump to lower drug prices.
The Cook Political Report now rates all three races as toss-ups, with the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin races just recently moved into the most-competitive category. And if these battle-tested Senate candidates are seeking out Trump voters to win their own close races, it’s a sign of the GOP’s momentum writ large in these three critical battlegrounds.
Actions speak as loudly as polls, and these strategic decisions point to some late momentum from the Trump campaign and several Senate GOP challengers – Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, Mike Rogers in Michigan and Eric Hovde in Wisconsin.
Vice President Kamala Harris also spent Monday in the three Rust Belt states campaigning with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and other anti-Trump conservatives in an appeal for Trump-skeptical Republicans and independents — the suburban Nikki Haley GOP primary voters that may still be up for grabs in a very close election.
On one hand, the last-minute pitch for former Republicans can be seen as Harris trying to expand her coalition, to include everyone from left-wing AOC acolytes to former Republican hawks such as Cheney. On the other hand, reaching out to former Republicans has become something of a necessity with a smattering of blue-collar Biden supporters in 2020 defecting to Trump in 2024.
It’s why the messaging of the downballot Democratic senators in these three states has been focused on bread-and-butter economic issues — where Trump has a decided advantage. White voters without a college degree make up just over half of the electorate in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These are the voters that comprise Trump’s political base, and he will need to run up the score with them to prevail.
Interestingly, as CNN election analyst Harry Enten pointed out, Trump is lagging slightly behind his 2020 performance with these white working-class voters, at least according to public polling. It’s what’s keeping Harris in the game in these three must-win states. But as Cook Political Report publisher Amy Walter responded, if there’s a polling error that transpires on Election Day, it’ll be an unexpected surge of blue-collar Trump voters that the polling hasn’t fully captured.
That’s not just conjecture. When some of the most battle-tested Democratic senators are diverging from Harris’ campaign message, it’s clear they’re seeing something on the ground showing a shift in momentum. It’s why the vibes have shifted, even if the polling hasn’t changed all that dramatically.
tar heel take
How Josh Stein’s Judaism plays into his campaign for North Carolina governor
Weeks after an explosive CNN report detailed North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s history of posting racist and antisemitic content online, his Democratic opponent — the state’s Jewish attorney general — slammed Robinson, speaking personally about the impact he has had on the state’s Jewish community. “His antisemitic speech infuriates me as a Jewish person and as a person who knows and cares about a lot of Jews. I’ve seen the impact of his words on people,” Attorney General Josh Stein told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch on Monday in an exclusive interview that touched on his relationship to Judaism, his views on the Middle East and his approach to campus antisemitism.
State of the race: With two weeks to go until Election Day, North Carolina is one of the most closely watched battleground states in the country. Yet despite polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remaining in a virtual tie in the state, Stein is all but a lock to become the next governor.
clearing the air
Jewish leaders press Harris to condemn genocide accusation against Israel
Two Jewish leaders are pressing Vice President Kamala Harris to further distance herself from far-left claims that Israel is committing genocide, after an interaction with a protester who leveled that accusation at a weekend event, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. A Harris campaign official told JI that the protester’s allegation of genocide is “not the view of the Biden administration or the vice president,” but didn’t clarify what Harris was saying is “real.” That clarification is insufficient, some Jewish leaders say.
‘Dangerous lie’: Ted Deutch, the CEO of the American Jewish Committee and a former Democratic congressman, in a post on X called the genocide allegation “an outrageous and dangerous lie,” adding, “While I appreciate the Harris campaign official stating that ‘this is not her position,’ I urge @VP Harris to forcefully reject the charge of genocide directly.” Abe Foxman, the former national director of the Anti-Defamation League who recently endorsed Harris, concurred. “I agree with Ted Deutch on this matter 100 percent. The issue of Israel’s guilt of genocide is a blood libel that has to be addressed directly,” Foxman told JI.
Elsewhere: Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said that Trump met the definition of a “fascist” and raised concerns that he could govern as a dictator if elected.
scoop
Lawmakers call on State Department to publicly condemn Turkey’s Erdoğan
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), is stepping up its criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling on the administration to publicly condemn Erdoğan’s provocative comments and actions against Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Drilling down: “While allies often disagree, Erdoğan’s recent conduct has undermined U.S. efforts to counter global terrorism,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Wednesday. “With democracy under assault around the world, it is crucial that allies stand together with those on the frontlines fighting authoritarianism and strongly condemn antidemocratic conduct that violates our shared values.” The lawmakers said that Erdoğan’s activities have continued since July, when they previously sent a previous letter in which they said the U.S. should reevaluate its relationship with Turkey if Erdoğan did not change course. “If this trend continues,” the lawmakers wrote, “the United States should consider steps to ensure Turkey complies with its obligations under the North Atlantic Treaty.”
trail talk
Alsobrooks: Trump responsible for ‘a lot of’ the current antisemitism across the U.S.
Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, the Democrat running in the competitive Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), said on Tuesday that she attributes “a lot of” the antisemitism in the United States right now to former President Donald Trump, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Normalization of hate: Alsobrooks, who is facing Republican former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in an expensive and closely watched contest, made the comment at a virtual town hall organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington after being asked how she would work to address the rise in Jewish hate as a senator. “It’s a very disturbing trend,” Alsobrooks said of the surge of antisemitism since Oct. 7. “I attribute a lot of the hate and division that we have seen to former President Trump, who normalized in too many instances hate, including antisemitism. None of us can forget what we saw in Charlottesville, where he called people who were there [espousing] antisemitic tropes ‘good people.’ This kind of division and hatred comes from poor leadership.”
looking back
Wall Street Journal opinion page releases documentary on the 1991 Crown Heights riot
Wall Street Journal Opinion and Palladium Pictures released their first in a series of short documentaries this month, with the opening film shedding light on how the 1991 Crown Heights riot unfolded. The film, titled “‘Get the Jew’: Brooklyn 1991,” was released last Monday, the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. The 23-minute documentary details the three-day episode, the worst antisemitic riot in American history, and explains how the media and leading political figures in the city “played down or excused the antisemitism at the heart of the violence,” according to a press release on the project.
Pertinent timing: “Not to state the obvious, but there’s a resurgence of antisemitism, so it’s good to look back and see what happened in the past,” Michael Pack, president of Palladium Pictures, told JI of the decision to make this the debut film in the series. “This is the worst antisemitic riot in American history and it went on for three days. One person was killed. There was a lot of property damage and terrorizing of Jewish people. Since it has lessons for today, this seemed a good time to look back on it.”
jersey boy
Appointed Sen. George Helmy boasts good relations with New Jersey Jewish community
Sen. George Helmy (D-NJ), the placeholder senator picked to replace former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in the Senate until a winner of the New Jersey Senate race is certified, won’t be in Congress for much longer. But, given the close margins in the Senate, his voice and vote could prove important in his final weeks in the upper chamber, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
New in town: Helmy, 44, is the former chief of staff to Gov. Phil Murphy and served as a staffer for Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and the late Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), both strong supporters of Israel. He’s the son of immigrants from Egypt, and the first Coptic Christian and the sixth Arab American to serve in the Senate. Jewish leaders in New Jersey said he’s maintained positive relationships with the community in his career in state politics. Jason Shames, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, described Helmy as supportive of Jewish and pro-Israel priorities, and said he was consistently willing to listen to and understand Jewish community perspectives and concerns. “We’re hoping that as long as he sits in that seat, he’ll continue to partner with us, especially during a very challenging couple of months,” Shames said.
Worthy Reads
Reassuring the Center: Politico’s Jonathan Martin posits that Vice President Kamala Harris is erring in not putting forth a forward-looking message to undecided voters, instead choosing to focus on former President Donald Trump and targeting voting blocs that already support her candidacy. “Merely condemning the former president and celebrating what unites Americans isn’t enough. Yet Harris just can’t seem to go beyond that, to sketch out what her version of Washington in 2025 would look like. That reluctance is confounding Democrats, who hear the echoes of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Harris’ focus on Trump’s character. ‘You picking up 2016 vibes?’ one Democratic lawmaker texted, without prompting on Tuesday. I grasp the delicacies involved. Democrats have always been a coalition party, a patchwork of constituencies. That coalition has grown more cacophonous in the Trump era, as the party has stretched from socialists to, quite literally, the Cheney family. However, successful modern Democrats have always found a way to reassure the vital center while retaining their liberal base. And the determination bordering on desperation across the coalition to beat Trump offers Harris more latitude than most of her Democratic forbearers.” [Politico]
Authoritarian Streak:The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg looks at former President Donald Trump’s approach to the U.S. military, amid concerns over how Trump might direct military strategy if reelected. “Trump has often expressed his esteem for the type of power wielded by such autocrats as the Chinese leader Xi Jinping; his admiration, even jealousy, of Vladimir Putin is well known. In recent days, he has signaled that, should he win reelection in November, he would like to govern in the manner of these dictators — he has said explicitly that he would like to be a dictator for a day on his first day back in the White House — and he has threatened to, among other things, unleash the military on ‘radical-left lunatics.’ … Trump, those who have worked for him say, is unable to understand the military norm that one does not leave fellow soldiers behind on the battlefield. As president, Trump told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action. To him, they could be left behind, because they had performed poorly by getting captured.” [TheAtlantic]
One People: In The Times of Israel, former White House Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt spotlights the ways in which the Jewish community has found unity and common ground in the year since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. “We have always had a sense that fellow Jews, no matter how distant their beliefs or practices, deserve some form of embrace. But now we are hugging each other tighter than ever. It’s not just symbolic – it’s an act of survival. We know that those who hate us, those who wish to see the Jewish people eradicated, will exploit any cracks in our coalition. If they can divide us, they believe they can destroy us. But this unity, forged in pain and resilience, has shown them otherwise. We will not allow our disagreements to weaken our resolve or our commitment to each other. Those who seek our destruction do not care whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, or secular. They do not care if we vote left or right, or if we support one political policy or another. To them, we are all Jews. And because of this, we must recognize that our strength lies in our togetherness. We are stronger as one people than as fragmented groups.” [TOI]
Word on the Street
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, praised slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a post on X shortly after Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces operating in Gaza…
Hezbollah fired a round of missiles at the Tel Aviv area this morning; among those sheltering from the strikes was Secretary of State Tony Blinken…
During his meetings in Israel yesterday, Blinken said he pressed top Israeli officials on the need to get more aid into Gaza…
The FBI said it is investigating the leak of classified information related to preparations for an Israeli strike on Iran…
The U.S. charged a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official and three others in a failed plot to assassinate Iranian-American writer Masih Alinejad…
Senior U.S. intelligence officials warned that Russia and Iran may seek to sow discord and encourage violence in the U.S. following next month’s presidential election…
The Los Angeles Times, which had planned to back Vice President Kamala Harris, will not endorse a candidate for president this year, following a directive from owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong…
The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund is running an ad critical of Harris focused on Israel and antisemitism, targeting voters in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada…
Howard Lutnick, who is heading the Trump campaign’s transition team, is facing criticism for allegedly mixing his personal business dealings with his work on the transition team…
CNN and The New York Times report on the potential effect Jewish voters could have on elections in Pennsylvania and New York, respectively…
New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is expected to announce today a primary challenge to New York City Mayor Eric Adams; Mamdani was already endorsed by the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter in the race…
The New York City DSA chapter rejected a proposal that would have required candidates for office who were seeking the group’s endorsement to commit to a litany of anti-Israel positions that included public support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel; the group also rejected a proposal to censure Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) over her hosting of a virtual antisemitism panel and her votes on Israel in the House…
The mayor of Portland, Ore., apologized to the city’s Jewish community for his vote last month in support of a mostly symbolic Israel divestment resolution after deciding that municipalities should not involve themselves in international issues; Mayor Mark Dion said his vote served as “a betrayal for the trust that Jewish people should expect from the mayor’s office”…
Officials in Vail, Colo., canceled the residency of an artist who accused Israel of genocide; town officials said they did not want to “use public funds to support any position on a polarizing geopolitical issue”…
A new report from the antisemitism task force at the University of California, Los Angeles found that members of the school’s Jewish community faced “blatant antisemitic” incidents on campus, and that school administrators did not adequately address anti-Israel campus protesters who violated university policies…
Police at the University of Minnesota arrested nearly a dozen students who barricaded themselves inside a building on campus on Monday while calling for the university to divest from companies operating in Israel…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in London with Palestinians who have lost relatives in Gaza, as well as with Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian mission in the U.K.…
The drone that struck the private home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was confirmed to have hit the window of the prime minister’s bedroom…
Israel confirmed the death earlier this month of the senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, who was widely expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as the head of the terror group…
New York Knicks superfan Stan Asofsky, who held courtside seats for more than half a century, died at 87…
Pic of the Day
Secretary of State Tony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew met on Tuesday in Tel Aviv with families of the remaining seven American hostages. Among those who met with the American officials was Aviva Siegel (standing next to Blinken), who was held hostage by Hamas and released in November, and whose husband, Keith, remains in captivity.
Birthdays
Chairman emeritus of the shopping mall developer Simon Property Group and the principal owner of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, Herbert “Herb” Simon turns 90…
Professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and founding editor of The Canadian Journal of Political Science, John Meisel turns 101… Distinguished university professor of American and Jewish studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Gerald Sorin turns 84… Israeli journalist who has written for Davar and Yedioth Ahronoth, he won the Israel Prize in 2007, Nahum Barnea turns 80… Attorney best known for his role as special master for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and for similar roles in a number of mass torts, Kenneth Feinberg turns 79… Neuro-ophthalmologist, academic, author and researcher, he is vice-chair of ophthalmology at UCLA, Alfredo Arrigo Sadun, M.D. turns 74… Screenwriter and television producer, best known for his work on “Star Trek,” Ira Steven Behr turns 71… Filmmaker, actor and producer famous for creating the cult horror “Evil Dead” series, as well as directing the original “Spider-Man” trilogy, Sam Raimi turns 65… Founder and CEO of global outsourcing company TeleTech (now TTEC) with 54,000 employees on six continents, Kenneth D. Tuchman turns 65… Founder of the New Democrat Network in 1996, he closed it down earlier this year, Simon Rosenberg turns 61… Author of 100 children’s and young adult fiction books that have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide, Gordon Korman turns 61… Former editor-in-chief of The New York Observer, Kenneth Kurson turns 56… President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and VP of the World Jewish Congress, Boris Lozhkin turns 53… Film director, producer and talent agent, Trevor Engelson turns 48… Senior director of strategic operations at SRE Network, Shaina Wasserman… President of Renco Group, Ari Rennert turns 46… Senior advisor to Rohit Chopra, the director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Allison Preiss… Minister delegate for European affairs in the French government, Benjamin Haddad turns 39… Cartoonist for The New Yorker, Amy Kurzweil turns 38… Director of development at Mabua Israeli Beit Midrash, Ayelet Kahane… Associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Hogan Lovells, Annika Lichtenbaum… Former speechwriter and special assistant at the U.S. Department of Labor, now a sales manager at Orangetheory Fitness, Rachel Shabad… VP of content marketing and partnerships at SiriusXM, Allison Rachesky… Richard Rubenstein…
Recent Daily Kickoff Newsletters
