Rebecca Bennett, the Democratic nominee in New Jersey’s swing 7th Congressional District, distanced herself from a fellow Democratic nominee, Adam Hamawy, who is running in a neighboring district.

Hamawy has attracted national scrutiny over his past association with Omar Abdel-Rahman, the terrorist known as the Blind Sheikh, and his work for a charity in Bosnia that was subsequently shuttered as al-Qaida front group. Republicans have sought to tie Bennett, a military veteran running on a more moderate platform, to Hamawy, who is also a veteran.

“Rebecca Bennett is not going to campaign with or endorse Adam Hamawy this fall, as she is laser focused on flipping New Jersey’s seventh district, lowering costs, and getting corruption out of Washington,” a Bennett campaign spokesperson told Jewish Insider.

Bennett has carved out a relatively moderate and pro-Israel platform. She’s set to face Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in the November midterm election, after a commanding win in the Democratic primary earlier this summer.

Hamawy’s campaign has said in statements that his “entire career and life have been defined by his patriotism and deep love of this country,” and described his testimony in defense of the Blind Sheikh as his “civic and legal duty,” carried out while Hamawy was a member of the Army. It also has brushed off criticisms of his involvement with the al-Qaida-tied charity as “desperate,” “absurd” and “gross and bigoted.”

The Democratic primary in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District — a Lansing-area swing seat key to Democrats’ hopes for taking back the House — has turned into a three-way battle between two moderate Democrats with national security backgrounds and a far-left activist who has emerged as a contender for the nomination  despite repeated controversies over extremist comments. 

On the campaign trail, Matt Maasdam, a former Navy SEAL, has leaned into his background as a veteran and a military aide to former President Barack Obama who carried the nuclear football. Bridget Brink, a career foreign service officer, is highlighting her service as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2022 to 2025. 

William Lawrence, the progressive backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), is a former organizer with the Sunrise Movement, which bills itself as leading “the climate revolution” but also embraces other left-wing causes. 

Adrian Hemond, a Michigan political strategist, said he expects the race to be close, predicting that the three candidates could all finish within several points of each other. 

He previously told JI that Lawrence holds the progressive lane to himself, which could be an asset if Maasdam and Brink split the moderate vote — but he could lose out on young, progressive-leaning Michigan State University students who won’t return to campus until after the Aug. 4 primary. Lawrence has also struggled with Black and older voters.

The race initially appeared to be a contest between Maasdam and Brink. Lawrence gained momentum and attention by scoring a series of prominent endorsements from Sanders and other progressive leaders.

But Lawrence’s rise hit a stumbling block with the re-emergence of past comments disparaging Black political leadership, which prompted condemnations from Michigan leaders and the Congressional Black Caucus. After those initial revelations, Lawrence subsequently came under fire for past comments disparaging Obama and his administration.

In past comments on the “Hegemonicon” podcast he hosted, first uncovered by Jewish Insider, Lawrence repeatedly argued, for the sake of climate and economic goals, Americans would have to abandon the idea of the American dream and their way of life.

Discussing whether and how ideas of “abundance” or “degrowth” could or should be part of an agenda to fight climate change, Lawrence said on an episode of the podcast release in January 2024, “we’ve experienced the last several years of how that got filtered through the lens of American global competitiveness and geoeconomic dominance and, some of these questions about the role of the American consumer on a global stage and and whether or not we are proposing the continuation of the American consumer way of life and its translation into China and presumably the rest of the globe, is really viable in a climate-changing world.”

“We made that move, and now we need to reckon with the contradictions inherent even in that move,” Lawrence said. “I’m wondering how we can inspire a sense of abundance for people in the United States while, frankly, destroying the American way of life and the negative connotations, and material realities that has come to mean.”

In a statement, Lawrence defended the comments.

“We’ve been told that we would achieve happiness by buying more TVs and taking on a bigger mortgage,” Lawrence said. “Instead, the cost of housing, healthcare, and education is skyrocketing, while Michigan’s land and water is under threat. We need a new version of the American dream in which we can all have economic security while leaving a healthy environment for our kids and grandkids.”

In another episode, released in December 2023, Lawrence said that “there are certain aspects of the American dream that need to die — but maybe that’s another episode,” arguing that most people would not be able to have “the McMansion in the suburbs.”

A senior political advisor close to the Maasdam team said that the endorsements from Sanders and other top progressives catapulted Lawrence toward the front of the field, but the recent revelations of his past comments have stunted that growth.

The advisor said the endorsements from Sanders and others likely earned Lawrence the votes of around a third of the Democratic electorate who will likely vote for the most-left candidate in the race, leaving around two-thirds up for grabs.

Last week, Maasdam picked up an endorsement from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who subsequently filmed an advertisement supporting him. The freshman senator represented the Lansing-area district before being elected to the Senate.

The advisor close to the Maasdam campaign said that they see the race now largely as a contest between Maasdam and Lawrence, but said they believe Maasdam is well-positioned going into the final weeks of the race and peaking at the right time.

He has been the beneficiary of more than $1.6 million in outside spending by VoteVets, with another outside group, Crush MAGA PAC, spending nearly $1 million to attack Lawrence, and a third group, Michigan Values PAC, spending around $1 million to attack Brink. A nursing union group has spent $400,000 boosting Lawrence.

At the same time, they also acknowledged a real concern that Maasdam and Brink could split the moderate vote, allowing Lawrence to win with a plurality. 

Brink has faced criticism from primary rivals for her service under and praise of President Donald Trump — though she ultimately resigned in protest of the administration’s efforts to pressure Ukraine.

The advisor argued that, compared to Brink, Maasdam has a better resume and background as a fighter, and said Maasdam plans to highlight his links to Obama in the wake of the revelation of Lawrence’s comments disparaging the former president.

Maasdam posted an X video on Monday highlighting his support for and ties to Obama, while calling out Lawrence’s criticism of him.

In spite of their moderate and national security focused backgrounds, neither Maasdam nor Brink appears to have spoken much about Israel policy during the campaign, and neither campaign provided comment to JI on their stances. 

Lawrence has attacked the two for declining to describe the war in Gaza as a genocide, and has made cutting off arms sales to Israel a major plank of his campaign.

All three have been critical of the war with Iran.

William Lawrence, a virulent Israel critic gaining momentum among progressives in Michigan’s battleground 7th Congressional District, is facing a wave of criticism over past comments denigrating Black political leadership, attacking former Vice President Kamala Harris.

As a result, Lawrence is now facing the opposition of an outside group aiming to block  him from winning the Democratic nomination.

The swing district, currently held by Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI),  is a critical pick-up opportunity for Democrats in order to take back the House. It was previously held by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and is currently rated by the Cook Political Report as a toss-up.

On the campaign trail, Lawrence has called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and accused the country of genocide, something that the other Democratic candidates, former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, have declined to do.

During a candidate forum, Lawrence said that Israel “has refused every other form of accountability and we continue to arm them.”

“I don’t know how we can call ourselves a just nation, and my heart is pounding becasue it is dispiriting in our politics to see how many people still refuse” to call Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide, he said in response to the other candidates. “I support a lasting peace for all Palestinians and Israelis. Everybody deserves to live with security and in comfort. We got a lot of work to do with them.”

He said in September 2025 that the war in Gaza involved “war crimes on an historic scale,” adding that it’s a “moral necessity” to stop arming Israel, which is also “the best leverage the U.S. has to end the genocide in Gaza, apartheid conditions in the West Bank, ensure the hostages are finally freed, and move towards a lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Asked on the campaign trail whether he views the Iranian regime as “evil,” Lawrence said he did not. “I do not believe any regime in the world is wholly good or wholly evil,” Lawrence said.

He has also called Israel’s operations in Lebanon “a war of aggression and territorial expansion” and said that the situation in Gaza constitutes an “ongoing genocidal siege,” despite the ceasefire and provision of humanitarian aid.

As early as Oct. 9, 2023, Lawrence condemned a public statement by American and European leaders denouncing the Hamas attacks and supporting Israel’s efforts to defend itself.

“This looks like a green light for Israel to bombard Gaza with impunity, regardless of the civilian toll or risk of a regional war. Scary hours. I fear for where this will end up,” Lawrence said.

Maasdam and Brink are preferred by moderate Democrats to face off against Barrett.

Lawrence is a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, the far-left climate movement that has since refocused significantly on anti-Israel activism. He has also made opposition to data center construction a key feature of his campaign.

Lawrence has recently landed in hot water and faced condemnation from leaders and groups including the Congressional Black Caucus PAC over past comments in which he described Black political leaders as a “pillar” of the “establishment, capitalist, imperialist American power” who “[defang] the white left.” The CBC PAC called Lawrence a “national disgrace” and demanded that Lawrence’s supporters withdraw their backing.

The progressive candidate said that his comments had been “taken out of context” but the “way I made this point was clumsy, and I regret my choice of words.” He said that his comments were in response to “Black elected leaders in D.C. [who] have been among those supporting unnecessary U.S. wars and foreign intervention” and “my horror at the genocide in Gaza.”

He also described former Vice President Harris, Slotkin and Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel, who ran for the seat in 2024, as “warmongers.” He said voting for Harris made him “sick” and was the “second or third circle of hell,” also calling her “despicable” and her campaign “cowardly.”

The 35-year-old progressive has gained attention in the past few weeks, picking up the backing of leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), far-left Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and left-wing Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Maxwell Frost (D-FL), as well as former Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) and Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, the Democratic nominee for a Philadelphia House seat.

Lawrence is also backed by the anti-Israel group TrackAIPAC, which has been accused of antisemitism; the Working Families Party; the Congressional Progressive Caucus; Sunrise Movement; and the Sanders-linked Our Revolution.

In a sign of concern from opponents about his momentum, Lawrence is now the target of a more than $500,000 ad buy from Crush MAGA PAC, which seeks to paint Lawrence as corrupt and unreliable.

The ad cites his support for the Uncommitted movement opposing former President Joe Biden in the 2024 primaries, work with Sunrise Movement (which the ad describes as a dark money group) and his holdings in a mutual fund (which the ad describes as investments in “Wall Street, big oil, and data centers”).

Lawrence asserted that AIPAC and Democratic Party insiders were responsible for the ad, something a United Democracy Project spokesperson denied, further suggesting that Lawrence’s comments were motivated by prejudice.

“We have absolutely no involvement in any way in running ads against William Lawrence in MI-07. It’s pure fiction and dishonest,” Patrick Dorton, spokesperson for UDP, the AIPAC-linked super PAC, said. “This assertion raises the question of whether Lawrence is trying to stir up some base prejudice in the Democratic primary against Democrats who support Israel. It’s immoral and shameful.”

The influx of outside cash will further compound Lawrence’s fundraising struggles. As of the end of April, Brink led the field with $2.3 million raised and $1.3 million on hand, followed by Maasdam with $1.7 million raised and $937,000 on hand and Lawrence with $572,000 raised and $351,000 on hand.

“Lawrence has the progressive lane to himself, the open question is how valuable that lane actually is outside of Lansing/East Lansing,” Michigan Democratic strategist Adrian Hemond told Jewish Insider. “[Michigan State University] students don’t come back until after the primary, so he’s reliant on high youth turnout to overcome his disadvantages with Black voters and seniors, but a sizable portion of the potential youth vote is home for summer break, i.e. not in East Lansing.”

But he also acknowledged that Brink and Maasdam risk splitting the more moderate lane.

In a potential acknowledgement of the political unpopularity of the war in Iran, Barrett has been one of the few House Republicans who has broken ranks with his party on Iran war powers votes, siding with Democrats to advance such measures.

Barrett also introduced legislation that would provide a limited authorization for military operations against Iran, limited in time and scope.

Divides are emerging on aid to Israel among the Democratic candidates in the primary race in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District as one candidate, businessman Brian Varela, picks up a series of endorsements from anti-Israel groups.

“If we’re going to provide aid to other countries, I don’t think it’s enough to just follow U.S. law and international law. I would actually support providing additional conditions to make sure that we can further American interests and to make sure that the countries that we are helping are living in alignment with our values,” Varela said in response to a question about conditioning aid to Israel at a debate in the district last week.

Varela previously told Jewish Insider in July 2025 that Israel has been a “strong ally for us, and I think it’s important to make sure that we are there for Israel, that we help Israel with their ability to defend themselves.”

His campaign clarified to JI this week that he was not calling for specific conditions on aid for Israel alone.

Emmett Shell, Varela’s campaign manager, told JI: “When Brian talks about conditioning aid, he is talking about every country that receives American taxpayer dollars, not Israel specifically. Conditioning aid is one of the most important tools of soft power we have. It is how we make sure American values and American interests are actually being advanced with American money abroad.”

Rebecca Bennett, a veteran who is seen as the favorite of national Democrats in the race, said at the debate she had, as a member of the military, “the opportunity to see how important Israel is as an ally to the United States,” but said that “I also think that what Netanyahu is doing is not in the best long-term interest of Israel.”

But she also emphasized that Israel should not be subject to a “higher standard or a lower standard” than any other ally. Pressed on whether she’d support new conditions on Israel, Bennett said, “I’m going to be focused on making sure that Israel is following U.S. law, and then we’ll go from there.”

Democrat Michael Roth, the former head of the Small Business Administration, who previously told JI he wanted to be a leader of a new generation of pro-Israel Democrats, said at the debate he supports “conditioning aid to Israel up to U.S. law, international law, humanitarian law.” 

He said that, as “a Jew who has deep ties to Israel,” he believes that “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has been horrible,” and emphasized the “shared humanity” of Israelis and Palestinians.

Roth said in an interview with JI last May that U.S. aid to Israel is “some of the best investment that you can make” and that he had strong confidence in the Israeli military and would not support conditions or restrictions on aid to Israel.

In a follow-up interview with JI on Wednesday, Roth emphasized his strong personal ties to Israel and the need to “be honest with our friends and hold them accountable if we want to lead the world as we have done over the last 100 years.”

He said that “we need to make sure that we are enforcing our laws evenly, and that nobody is getting special treatment, and that we actually have enforcement,” but declined to specify whether he would also support new conditions on aid that apply to Israel alone.

Asked whether he thinks current U.S. laws have not been enforced on Israel, Roth responded, “I think Trump has very clearly not enforced international law, has had no interest in doing so.”

He said that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has “made my heart bleed” and that, while he “strongly believe[s] in Israel’s right to defend itself … those actions are different than what they have been in the last year and a half.”

Roth said his views have evolved as a result of conversations with both Jewish and Muslim communities in the district. And he argued that long-term support for Israel requires leaders who will listen to all perspectives and speak with those who disagree.

Tina Shah, a physician, said she did not support conditioning aid to Israel.

Though she condemned the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Netanyahu specifically, she said, “I don’t think that [we] should change our relationship with the country because of one prime minister, and that’s why I don’t support conditioning aid.”

Varela, who entered the race as a centrist but has subsequently been working to pick up progressive support, also recently earned endorsements from several progressive and anti-Israel groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the founder of which expressed support for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The group’s New Jersey chapter justified the Oct. 7 attacks days after they occurred.

“As a leading Muslim American political advocacy organization, CAIR Action knows that I am committed to upholding the rights of all Americans, regardless of religion or race,” Varela said when he announced the endorsement. “They recognize that I have built a grassroots movement dedicated to protecting voting rights, lowering costs, and fixing our broken immigration system. They know I’m the fighter NJ-07 needs and the leader this district deserves.”

Asked about the endorsement, Shell, the Varela campaign spokesperson said Varela “has been clear and consistent in his opposition to Hamas from day one,” believes “there is no justification for the October 7 attack,” and “opposes violence in all of its forms, including the violence Palestinian civilians are facing in Gaza.”

“Brian was not aware of the specific referenced comments, and he does not share those views. He appreciates support from community organizations across NJ-07, including from Muslim American voters who want to see a representative who will fight for peace, but accepting an endorsement is not an endorsement of every statement an organization or its leaders have ever made,” the spokesperson continued.

Varela was also endorsed by A New Policy, a campaign and lobbying group that aims to shift U.S. policy toward Israel. The group’s advocacy arm has accused Israel of genocide, urges cutting off and conditioning U.S. aid to Israel and opposes the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, among a range of other policies.

“This organization understands that America’s politics need to serve the people, not the powerful, and that our elected officials need to actually fight for working people, take on corporate power, and ensure Congress is acting in America’s best interests,” Varela said, in announcing the endorsement. “That is the kind of Democrat I am running to be, and that is the kind of leadership I will bring to Congress.”

Asked about the endorsement and A New Policy’s stances, the Varela campaign spokesperson said, “Brian welcomes support from a broad coalition, but his positions are his own. Brian has been clear about the humanitarian catastrophe and the unacceptable civilian death toll, and he believes the United States should use its leverage to push for complete peace in the Middle East.”

Regarding the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the spokesperson said, “Brian believes antisemitism is a real and growing threat that has to be confronted seriously, and he stands with the Jewish community in NJ-07 in saying so. He has concerns about how codifying any single definition into federal law could affect protected political speech, but he wants Congress to act on antisemitism and is open to working on language that does both.”

The 7th District, rated by the Cook Political Report as a toss-up race, is one of the strongest pickup opportunities for Democrats this cycle, especially given Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s (R-NJ) monthslong absence from the House, which aides and family members have attributed to medical issues.

Recent internal polling by both Bennett and Shah’s campaigns have placed Bennett in the lead — but offer different pictures of the size of her lead in the race.

A Bennett poll showed her at 36%, far ahead of Shah at 15%, Varela at 13% and Roth at 12%. But a Shah poll showed a tight race between her and Bennett, at 26% and 23%, and Varela and Roth lagging farther behind at 10% and 7%, respectively.

A Nebraska-based group, Real Change PAC, has also recently begun spending close to $450,000 in the race, hitting Bennett as insufficiently progressive and boosting Shah and Varela. 

Reports indicate the group may be backed by Republicans, and linked to another shadowy GOP-linked super PAC, Lead Left PAC, which has gained attention this week for boosting Maureen Galindo, an openly antisemitic Democrat running in a Texas congressional race.

Tina Shah is hoping she might have the cure to Democrats’ struggles in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.

Shah, an emergency room physician and former government official, is running in the Democratic primary to face off against Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), who has proven resilient against repeated Democratic challenges in the purple district.

Shah noted in an interview with Jewish Insider last month that the district is home to a substantial Jewish community, and said that she’s had many conversations with community members about the situation in the Middle East and the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, conversations she said have fostered her support for continued, unconditional aid for the Jewish state.

“Where I am right now is unequivocally that Israel is our most important ally in the Middle East,” Shah said. “They had a right to defend themselves then, [and] they continue to. I will be the strongest ally to make sure that we continue to build this relationship and support Israel with aid.”

In a position paper shared with JI, Shah emphasized her support for ongoing security aid to Israel, and said that the Oct. 7 attacks and their lasting impacts show the need for a continued U.S.-Israel alliance.

“Allyship with Israel is a bedrock principle of US foreign policy in the Middle East,” she wrote. “Our shared security interests and democratic principles have built a resilient foundation that I will support in Congress.”

She also emphasized the two countries’ shared values and democracies. Shah said she supports a two-state solution and said that she favors a “diplomacy-first approach” like that which led to the Abraham Accords. Shah argued that the U.S. needs stronger advocates for a comprehensive peace deal, and said she would be such an advocate.

“The US should remain a partner in Israel’s long-term security, and the long-term security of the Palestinians, to ensure the realization of a two-state solution achieved through a political and diplomatic process,” Shah said in the paper. “As many members of Israel’s security establishment have acknowledged, failing to reach such a resolution represents an existential threat to Israel.” 

She went on to argue that a diplomatic agreement, rather than unilateral action or annexation, will ultimately better serve Israel’s security interests.

She said that she mourns the loss of any innocent life, emphasizing Palestinians’ right to their own state as well, calling for an end to “illegal settlement activity” and said that the “international community must do more to de-escalate violence and provide pathways toward lasting peace.”

Working in the medical technology field, Shah said in her position paper she’s seen firsthand the benefits that the Israeli economy and tech sector has brought to her state and the country.

“I am proud that Israel is one of New Jersey’s largest trading partners,” Shah said. “Continuing this incredible partnership will only make New Jersey more attractive and competitive for employers, it will also increase employment opportunities for New Jersey families and workers.”

Shah told JI she is concerned by the rise of antisemitism in her home state, in part blaming President Donald Trump, who she said is “stoking … he’s feeding the fire and allowing antisemitic acts to go unchecked.”

She pledged her support for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which is stalled in Congress, and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. She said she’d also listen to members of the Jewish community in her district to “make sure that I can advocate in the strongest possible way in Congress.”

Shah said in her position paper she “would continue to be an advocate against the weaponization of conflict in the Middle East against American Jews” and that she would oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, which she said ultimately does not help Israelis, Palestinians or the U.S.’ own interests.

Shah also blasted the Trump administration’s moves to cut the Department of Education, the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and parts of the intelligence community, saying that those moves only hamper efforts to protect the Jewish community.

Shah told JI that Jews in her community are also worried that the war in Iran is going to make them less safe at home, a concern she said she shared, speaking to JI a day after the attempted attack on Temple Israel in the Detroit suburbs.

Shah said that Trump did not have the constitutional authority to start the war, and vowed that she would “hold our president accountable.”

“Let me be clear, the Iranian regime is brutal, repressive and destabilizing, but there’s a safeguard that was built in with the Constitution to prevent any president, especially Donald Trump, from unilaterally dragging the nation into war,” Shah said, describing the war as directionless.

She said she supports stronger sanctions on the Iranian regime, while lamenting the first Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, a decision she said led the administration to the war today.

In her position paper, Shah said that Israel’s strikes on Iran in the summer of 2025 were a necessary action, in light of Iran’s violations of its nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations, which “created a situation in which Israel could not delay action,” 

But she said that she did not agree with the U.S.’ own involvement in the conflict without congressional authorization or, in her view, proper consideration and consultation.

Shah is a practicing intensive care unit doctor in the district, and said that she was inspired to run for office by her experiences seeing patients unable to afford the medicine they need. America, she argues, is in “critical condition.”

“We live in the greatest country in the world,” Shah said. “How is it that people get so sick that they need the ICU because they can’t afford basic medical care?”

But Shah is also hardly new to government or the political scene. She served in three administrations, in the Department of Veterans Affairs and under the U.S. Surgeon General. She also advocated in her home state to prevent insurance companies from denying patients essential care.

And she’s also been involved in the business world, as the chief medical officer of a health care AI startup.

Asked what positions her to win the primary, and to defeat Kean, Shah again pointed to her medical background. “People trust their doctor,” Shah said. “I’m a doctor running in an election cycle where the No. 1  economic issue is health care.”

She said that her time in the exam room gives her experience getting to know and understand people and build trust quickly, regardless of political affiliation.

“I have the ability to raise enough money to combat what Tom Kean Jr. is going to do. But I am the only candidate who has worked across the aisle in D.C., who has worked to pass a bipartisan bill into law here in New Jersey, and that is how I’m going to flip NJ-07,” she said.

Shah faces a series of other candidates in the primary including Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy pilot who is leaning into her national security experience and whom many Democrats see as a top contender for the seat, and Brian Varela, a businessman who is leaning into a progressive lane after initially vying for the centrist vote.

Bennett leads the field in fundraising with nearly $2 million, followed by Varela with $1.76 million and Shah with $1 million.

Brian Varela, a businessman running in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, picked up an endorsement on Monday from Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka, a sign of Varela’s increasing outreach to progressive voters.

Baraka’s progressive candidacy in last year’s New Jersey gubernatorial race raised concerns in the Jewish community, in part because Baraka, in the early 2000s, appeared alongside Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a long record of antisemitism, and applauded violent rhetoric by the controversial preacher. Baraka also faced scrutiny over his record on Israel and antisemitism.

“Brian is proud to have Mayor Baraka’s endorsement and grateful for his support,” Emmett Shell, a spokesperson for Varela’s campaign, said. “Mayor Baraka has joined north of 50 people across the ideological spectrum that point to Brian’s ability to build a wide-tent coalition.”

“That said, Brian wants to be unequivocal on the underlying issue: He entirely condemns Louis Farrakhan and the violent rhetoric Farrakhan has promoted,” Shell continued. “There is no place for that kind of rhetoric in this country, full stop. Brian has consistently denounced antisemitism in all its forms throughout his campaign and throughout his life, and that position will never waver. Antisemitism is a poison, and Brian will always stand firmly against it, regardless of who is in the room.”

The Baraka endorsement is an additional sign that Varela, who told Jewish Insider last summer, “I consider myself more of a moderate,” has pivoted in a more progressive direction as he faces off against candidates including military veteran Rebecca Bennett, who is running a campaign focused on more moderate messages.

The New Jersey Globe on Monday highlighted the Baraka endorsement as part of “Varela’s quest to claim the progressive mantle in the Democratic primary,” pointing to a series of progressive stances that Varela is taking and his other progressive endorsements.

He’s also staking out a progressive stance on immigration issues, describing himself as the “most vocal ICE critic” in the Garden State and one of the first candidates in the country to call for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment.

Asked whether he now considers himself a moderate or progressive, the Varela spokesperson said, “Brian would push back a little on the framing, because at the end of the day, voters in NJ-07 aren’t asking whether their representative is a moderate or a progressive.”

“They’re asking who is going to deliver on the issues that matter to their families. Brian looks at each policy on its own merits, whether that policy is going to strengthen the economy and raise the standard of living for people in this district,” he continued. “Sometimes that puts him in a more progressive lane, sometimes a more moderate one. The label doesn’t drive the policy. It’s the ability to change people’s lives for the better that moves Brian towards solutions.”

Varela has gone through a unique political evolution over the years, starting as a press intern for Republican Gov. Chris Christie in 2010, later running as an anti-machine candidate against now-Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and later leading the New Jersey chapter of the Forward Party, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s centrist third party.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is also seeking to paint Varela as far left, describing him in recent press releases as “dangerously radical” and the “pick of the radical left.”

Baraka also endorsed progressive Analilia Mejia in the special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, and is set to endorse Michael Blake, one of the progressive challengers to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY). Mejia has the backing of various prominent progressive leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“Analilia has dedicated her career to fighting for the rights of all people and will continue to do so,” Mejia campaign spokesperson Elon Glickman said. “As an Afro-Latina, whose own family has faced bigotry and hate, she understands that Antisemitism, racism and anti-Blackness are cut from the same cloth and we must stand together in fighting it.”

Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his allies in the Democratic Socialists of America are set on contesting congressional turf home to one of the city’s biggest Hasidic Jewish communities — setting up a battle royale in the 7th Congressional District that could either blunt Mamdani’s brand of socialist politics, or bolster the new mayor and his far-left supporters.

Mamdani was only days into his term when he endorsed New York state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who, like Mamdani, is a DSA member, to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), whose district delivered Mamdani’s strongest primary margins last year and contains most of the so-called “commie corridor”: a chain of trendy, gentrifying Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods where socialist support runs strong. 

Velázquez, meanwhile, has backed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to be her successor, and some community and labor organizations have aligned behind him, pitting Mamdani’s hard-left bloc against the older progressive establishment.

Mamdani has so far been cautious in spending his political capital on behalf of DSA allies. Even before entering City Hall, Mamdani scuttled a left-flank challenge to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and persuaded a DSA-aligned city councilwoman to drop her bid against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) to consolidate a left-wing lane for former city Comptroller Brad Lander. 

Democratic observers who spoke to Jewish Insider were split over whether Mamdani is steering DSA or DSA is steering the mayor.  

But Mamdani has now put his name and credibility on the line in this race, argued veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

“He’s not a mayor. He’s a movement,” Sheinkopf said. “If he beats [Velázquez’s candidate], he gets more powerful than he’s ever been. As long as you’re winning, people are afraid of you. You start losing, the fear is no longer there and it makes him less significant.”

Not long ago, Velázquez and Reynoso themselves were considered the left wing of the party, defying the once-feared power of the Brooklyn Democratic machine, helping to build a coalition of idealistic new arrivals, community groups, unions and longtime political reform organizations that became the dominant force in the borough’s politics. But the political struggles of the last 20 years are long forgotten, and with the rise of DSA and Mamdani, the residents of what local political observers have humorously tagged the “commie corridor” are no longer content to be one factor among many — or to accept compromise candidates — in their demographic heartland.

“Progressive’s not good enough any more. If you aren’t part of the DSA, that isn’t enough,” said Marcos Masri, a political consultant and native of the district. “They are hungry, they want to hold the reins.”

Valdez’s career path is stereotypical for a DSA member. The daughter of an engineer from Texas, she studied sculpture at the prestigious School of the Art Institute in Chicago before arriving in New York for a job at a Queens-based museum. She then took a role in the visual arts department at Columbia University, and pivoted from creative pursuits to politics when an organizer recruited her to a bargaining unit for the United Auto Workers — itself amid a pivot in New York from its old base of industrial employees and dealership mechanics to radicalized grad students and administrative workers. 

At Local 2110, Valdez signed an open letter just weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks that blasted the American labor movement for its historic support of Israel, and demanded the UAW as a whole embrace the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. The letter makes no reference to the Hamas massacre in Israel that incited the latest phase of conflict.

“Workers in the U.S. are struggling against many of the same capitalist forces that maintain and bolster the Israeli occupation of Palestine. These forces rely on racialized exploitation, dispossession, and policing in the United States and around the world,” reads the missive, which makes no mention of Hamas or the then-fresh terror attacks. “A global class of workers will not achieve liberation if fragmented by colonization, apartheid, and borders. These are the structures on which an ascendant global fascist movement is shoring up white supremacy, nativism, militarism, heteropatriarchy, and other tools of oppression to further divide us.”

The epistle ends with the sign-off “Until Liberation and Return.” A little over a year later, Valdez won election as a DSA-backed insurgent to the New York state Assembly, where she co-sponsored Mamdani’s “Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act.” This legislation would forbid nonprofit organizations in New York from “unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity,” including in Jerusalem, and establish both monetary penalties as well as a basis for individual lawsuits for damages.

Reynoso, born in Brooklyn to Dominican immigrant parents, has followed a more traditional political career path. He served as an organizer for the now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), before he joined the staff of City Councilwoman Diana Reyna. He succeeded Reyna in the City Council in 2013, part of a progressive wave that also lifted Bill de Blasio to the mayoralty, and participated in a council trip to Israel in 2015 over the protests of some activists. He won the largely symbolic borough president’s office in 2021. 

A Valdez victory would enhance both DSA and Mamdani’s reach and prestige, said Sheinkopf, as well as give the mayor “a wedge” against the more pragmatic Jeffries in the House. If Reynoso wins the seat, Masri said it would show the mayor and his socialist cadres still depend on other, older institutional actors to win and exercise power, and their clout — and ability to pressure elected officials leftward — would diminish.

But the race promises to be a test, too, for the district’s large Hasidic Jewish community, the bulk of whom belong to the Satmar movement. Despite their religious objections to Zionism and strong network of social service networks that rely on city funding — and despite a few of their rabbis’ receptiveness toward Mamdani — sources predicted the group’s leaders would largely endorse Reynoso. The borough president, who had an at-times fraught relationship with Satmar leadership in the City Council, has heavily networked within the community in his current role. 

But Masri questioned whether the community’s mobilization would match the inevitable DSA get-out-the-vote campaign, which will draw on a city-spanning web of activists to knock doors for Valdez.

Further complicating the picture is the recent entry of another Democrat, Councilwoman Julie Won, into the contest. Won, who filed paperwork to run on Monday, has little institutional support, but could scrape off more centrist or right-leaning voters who might otherwise support Reynoso.

“If it’s a very close race, and she pulls like 2,000 votes, that is something that can decide the race,” Masri said.

Sheinkopf was more bullish on Reynoso’s prospects, noting the political organization and trust Velázquez, his backer, built during her 16 terms in Congress. He argued Mamdani risks alienating potential progressive allies loyal to the borough president and congresswoman as he seeks to expand his socialist domain.

“He believes he is immune from any blowback,” the strategist said. “This is not a credit card with unending credit. At some point the credit runs out. The shine runs out. You can’t do this forever.”

With backing from an unusual coalition of prominent moderate and progressive leaders, firefighter union leader Bob Brooks has emerged as a front-runner in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, a critical swing district that Democrats are aggressively contesting for next year’s midterms. 

Brooks has landed the support of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a prospective 2028 presidential candidate and leading moderate, alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who are among the most vocal progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill. 

Shapiro reportedly helped recruit Brooks to run, and will be holding a major fundraiser for him in Philadelphia on Thursday. 

“Throughout his career, Bob has worked hard for the men and women of organized labor – standing up for higher wages, better healthcare, and safer working conditions,” Shapiro said in his endorsement. 

Brooks said he’d gotten to know Shapiro through the governor’s work with firefighters and “seen his commitment to improving life for regular people up close, especially through his leadership in expanding PTSI coverage for first responders.” He said Shapiro’s “knack for bringing people together is why he’s so deeply trusted in our state.”

Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College, said that Shapiro’s endorsement would be “monumental” in the race, given his popularity in the state, and particularly among Democrats.

“Usually endorsements I give a bit of a shrug for because it doesn’t get you a lot of bang for your buck,” Borick said. “In this case, I think it most likely will — it’ll attract more support, it’ll attract other funding sources and in a crowded field … it’s a very valuable get for Brooks.”

Borick said that Brooks’ background — a union firefighter with an “interesting personal narrative” — likely attracted Shapiro, who also had a relationship with Brooks from his work with the firefighters’ union.

Sanders has described Brooks as a working-class political outsider, saying he “has the guts to stand up to corporate greed & a corrupt political system. He will fight to protect Social Security and Medicare, defend workers’ rights and build a government that represents all of us — not just the billionaire class.”

Khanna said that Brooks is a “working-class [champion]” who has “dedicated his career to serving his community as a firefighter” and “will put working families over special interests and fight to lower costs.”

Democrats are looking to win back the Lehigh Valley-based House seat, which had been represented by former Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) from 2018 to 2024. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) defeated Wild by one point in 2024, and is considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans in 2026. 

In a sign of the swing district’s political significance, Vice President JD Vance campaigned alongside Mackenzie in Lehigh County on Tuesday, making the case for the Trump administration’s economic policies.

Borick said that Brooks’ background brings elements that appeal to various elements of the Democratic coalition, noting Brooks’ time as a leader in organized labor with a history on workers’ rights issues, while his “personal narrative fits if you’re trying to win over white working-class voters that might be more moderate or socially conservative.”

Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia public affairs executive, said that Shapiro’s endorsement and the upcoming fundraiser should put Brooks in the lead. “When the governor, who’s going to lead the ticket, weighs in in a primary, I think that’s game and match,” Ceisler said.

Nevertheless, Brooks could face credible competition.

Borick said that, in a very divided primary, another Democrat could find a lane if they have a strong base of support or a compelling narrative or identity that makes them stand apart. None of the other candidates, he noted, appear well-poised to launch a challenge from the left.

One leading Democratic challenger, however, may run to Brooks’ right in the primary. Ryan Crosswell, a former Republican federal prosecutor who left the Trump administration and joined the Democratic Party when the Justice Department dropped charges against outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams, is leading the pack by a wide margin in fundraising and is leaning heavily on his law enforcement background and an anti-corruption message.

Both Ceisler and Borick predicted that Shapiro’s support should help Brooks close the fundraising gap. 

Wild, meanwhile, has endorsed a third candidate, engineer Carol Obando-Derstine.

Brooks hasn’t spoken out extensively on his foreign policy views.

On the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Brooks posted on X highlighting the attack and the ongoing hostage crisis.

“I’m thinking of those who were killed and those still waiting to come home. We must end this war and suffering in Gaza, bring the hostages home, and work toward peace,” Brooks said. 

The foreign policy plank of Brooks’ campaign website focuses primarily on criticizing President Donald Trump’s approach to Ukraine and China, but also accuses Trump of “risk[ing] war with Iran.”

After the terror attack on Sunday at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, Brooks said on X, “Awful news out of Sydney this morning. We’ve got to call out antisemitism wherever and whenever we see it. I’m thinking of the Jewish community in Sydney and around the world.”

Today’s special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District — covering parts of Nashville, its conservative suburbs and rural counties in middle Tennessee — was expected to be a sleepy affair, given that the district backed President Donald Trump with 60% of the vote in 2024. The state’s aggressively partisan redistricting in 2021 was intended to guarantee GOP dominance of the state’s congressional delegation, leaving just one Democratic district in Memphis.

But in a sign that Trump’s growing unpopularity is creating unforeseen problems for Republicans in conservative constituencies, the race between Republican military veteran Matt Van Epps, a former state Cabinet secretary, and Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn is highly competitive. 

The fact that polls show the race tightening — with one Emerson College poll showing Van Epps in a statistical tie with Behn — is a sign of just how treacherous the political landscape has become for Republicans. Gallup’s latest survey found Trump with a 36% job approval, close to an all-time low throughout his two terms in office.  

If Republicans are nervous about holding a seat that Trump won by 22 points, there’s a growing likelihood of a blue wave that would give Democrats comfortable control of the House and an outside shot at a Senate majority. (One useful benchmark: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) carried the 7th District by just two points in her 2018 Senate race, the last election year when Democrats rode a wave to win back the House.)

The fact that Republicans are struggling to make the case that the unapologetically progressive Behn holds views out of step with the conservative district on everything from anti-police rhetoric to antipathy towards her home city of Nashville to a record of hostility against Israel is also a sign of how nationalized our politics have become. In today’s tribal world, candidate quality and specific policy views mean a lot less than the overall political mood (vibes) and the popularity of the president.

Once someone wins their party’s nomination, the penalty for holding ideologically extreme views isn’t as costly as it once was. Just look at incoming Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s showings in the November elections. Despite their substantial baggage, both candidates received a level of political legitimacy after winning their primaries.

Getting Trump voters to show up when the president isn’t on the ballot is also looking like an immense challenge that the closer-than-expected Tennessee race is showing — a dynamic that will continue past next year’s midterms. Part of it is the nature of off-year special elections, which less-engaged Republican voters aren’t likely to participate in. But some of the slippage in this race is also a sign of declining enthusiasm for the Republican Party even with more reliably GOP voters. 

The district is anchored by the affluent Nashville suburb of Williamson County, which stuck with Trump even as most other suburban areas swung towards Democrats over the last decade. 

Gallup found Trump dropping to 84% support among Republican voters, a decline of about 10 points in the last couple of months. If Republicans are slipping with their own voters, amid signs of cracks within the MAGA coalition, it would truly be a warning sign that the party’s vaunted unity under Trump could be dissipating as his final term progresses.

Odds still favor Van Epps in tonight’s special election, given the district’s solidly conservative bent. But if a progressive like Behn can make this race close — within single digits — it will serve as a flashing red light about where the political winds are heading for the White House, at least without a course correction. 

Far-left Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn, making a bid for the open 7th Congressional District seat in next week’s special election, has staked out strongly anti-Israel positions during the course of her campaign and political career.

Behn’s race in the deep-red seat, against West Point graduate and military veteran Matt Van Epps, a Republican, has long been seen as a long shot, but it has attracted significant interest and support from national Democrats hoping for a show of Democratic strength in an upset victory.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris rallied with Behn in Tennessee earlier this month, and Behn has outraised Van Epps, $1.2 million to $993,000. Former Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who vacated the seat earlier this year, won in 2024 by 20 points, but polls show Van Epps leading by just 8.

Behn called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and described the war in Gaza as a genocide as early as Oct. 29, 2023, weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, shortly after she was elected to the statehouse.

“I can’t sit on the sidelines, as so many of our elected officials have done the past few weeks. Their silence is deafening. Our struggles are global and inextricably linked as our liberation is bound together,” Behn said. “The United States is funding a genocide in Gaza right now, and this is a moment when we, as Tennesseans, need to care loudly for Palestinians as we do for marginalized communities in Tennessee.”

She expressed support for a House resolution led by far-left lawmakers calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“If you don’t live in Memphis, continue showing up to rallies and vigils in support of Gaza and Palestine, stand in solidarity with our Jewish allies who are, through their grief and loss, are calling for an end to the occupation, and link arms with our Muslim neighbors whose suffering is being unrecognized by those in power. None of us are free until we’re all free,” she continued.

In April 2024, Behn opposed a resolution expressing support for Israel and its right to defend itself and condemning the Oct. 7 attacks. “Israel is committing genocide, funded by the United States, and this resolution condones genocide,” Behn said in debate on the resolution.

She also visited the anti-Israel encampment at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, describing it as “well organized, grounded in liberation politics.”

“Solidarity with these students and all of those across the country standing up to state violence and calling for the end of genocide,” Behn wrote on X.

Last summer, Behn signed onto a letter calling on the Democratic National Convention to host a Palestinian speaker.

“The pain and suffering of hostage families have been rightfully highlighted and acknowledged on national platforms,” the letter reads. “We believe that it is equally important to create space for the Palestinian experience, which has been marked by decades of hardship, loss, and displacement.”

Behn also received an endorsement from Track AIPAC, an anti-Israel group that conditions its support for candidates on rejection of support from pro-Israel groups and support for declaring Palestinian statehood, among other criteria.

Her campaign has also been supported by the Democratic Socialists of America.

Behn’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Rebecca Bennett is the kind of Democrat — combat-tested, pragmatic, pro-Israel — who moderates hope can be a balm to a battered Democratic brand, especially in competitive swing districts. The Navy veteran is hoping that her military background — which included stints as a helicopter pilot over the Strait of Hormuz and as a test pilot — will help her clinch victory over incumbent Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, one of those purple districts.

Bennett, a Democrat, told Jewish Insider in a recent interview that national security, alongside affordability and health care, would be one of her core focuses if she’s elected.

“There’s two key areas in this bucket that I think about,” Bennett said. “One is, how are we preparing the United States and our allies for 21st-century conflicts? … And then the other piece of it is, what are we doing to support our veterans and military families, both when they’re serving and then when they come home?”

Bennett, 37, brings a personal perspective to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, having flown missions over the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe travel of an aircraft carrier strike group through the region.

“I really felt like I just needed to do everything I could to really fight for this country, because I love it, and I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” Bennett said.

While she was in the Navy, Bennett deployed to the Middle East with an aircraft carrier strike group in support of the war in Afghanistan, an experience she said showed her “how important Israel is as an ally, both from an intelligence perspective, but just how important Israel is as an ally for the United States. And so I will say it’s really shaped my worldview.”

She said she also worked with the Israeli military and Israeli contractors while serving as a test pilot. Bennett has never visited the Jewish state, but said she wants to.

“I just feel very strongly that Israel has a right to defend itself and has a right to exist, and that the United States needs to be able to support Israel, and it shouldn’t be partisan,” Bennett continued. “I think we should be supporting Israel as an ally, regardless of political party.”

Bennett said she supports continuing U.S. aid to Israel without restrictions or conditions.

Speaking to JI shortly after ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas fell apart last month, Bennett said she was disappointed by the development, emphasizing the need to free the hostages and end the war in Gaza.

“I think this is why it’s so important that we have serious, experienced leaders that are at the table having these conversations,” she continued.

In the long term, Bennett said she supports a two-state solution, adding, “it’s incredibly important that we make sure that Israel is safe and secure.”

Asked about the U.S. strikes on Iran, Bennett said that she believes that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, but said that she didn’t want to weigh in directly on the U.S. strikes without having access to the intelligence that prompted them. She added that the strikes highlight the need for “serious people” in power who understand the consequences of U.S. policies.

Going forward, she said the U.S. should lean on diplomacy when possible to de-escalate the conflict with Iran and move it further away from nuclear weapons capacity, “but it’s also necessary to make sure that we have all options on the table when we’re having these types of conversations.”

In her own district, Bennett said she’s seen and heard about the impact of rising antisemitism. The day before her interview with JI, Bennett said she had spoken to a mother who was worried about sending her children to a Holocaust museum after the deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington in May.

“It is just unacceptable that this is what’s happening in our country,” Bennett said. “I just want to make sure that is very clear.”

She said that leaders have an “obligation to try to bring down the temperature” on the rhetoric in this country, pointing as well to the shootings of Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota. She said that such rhetoric must be taken seriously and denounced without hesitation.

“That’s something that I do feel very strongly about, because I think everyone has the right to feel free in this country,” she continued. “And I never want a mom to be worried about sending their kid to a Holocaust museum.”

Bennett told JI she joined the Navy to give back and noted that her husband is also a veteran. After her time in the military, she earned her MBA and worked in the healthcare field. She became politically active as a volunteer after her military service, and said she felt called to step up after the 2024 election.

“I really felt like I just needed to do everything I could to really fight for this country, because I love it, and I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” Bennett said.

Bennett said she’s running for Congress to “to stand up and fight for the version of the country that we want to live in and the version that I want to leave for my daughters in the next generation” as another form of service to the country.

She said her military background and experience with leadership in difficult environments it conveyed — as well as her role as a mother of two, and her time in the private sector  — gives her the right profile to take on Kean.

She argued that military veterans like herself are “uniquely positioned” to win over independent voters — who she said make up around a third of the district — who might not otherwise vote for a Democrat.

During her interview with JI, Bennett made reference during to a group of Democratic women from the national security field who helped Democrats flip seats in the 2018 election, including Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA).

Bennett is reportedly a member of a group chat, the “Hellcats,” of Democratic women veterans running for competitive House seats.

New Jersey’s 7th is a swing district, represented by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) prior to Kean. President Donald Trump won the district over Kamala Harris by two points, 50-48%, in the 2024 presidential election.

Bennett led the Democratic field in fundraising as of the close of the second quarter, with close to $1 million raised and $670,000 on hand. She’s trailed by businessman and political activist Brian Varela, who raised $693,000 and has $622,000 on hand; former Biden administration official Michael Roth who raised $302,000 and has $225,000 on hand; and Democratic activist Greg Vartan, who raised $150,000 and had $79,000 on hand.

All of them have a gap to close with Kean, who has raised nearly $2 million this cycle and has $1.5 million left on hand.

In a Democratic Party that has lost its grip on the working class — long its base of support and wellspring of its values — Brian Varela is offering a way back home.

Varela, a small business owner and New Jersey political activist vying for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, is leaning in to his working-class Colombian roots, suggesting that the Democrats need candidates, like him, who are better connected to the middle-class voters in his district.

“I think that one of the things that the national Democrats really messed up on last year was not understanding what the working-class voter was going through,” said Varela, both of whose immigrant parents worked blue-collar jobs. “And that’s why, while national Democrats were talking about how great the economy was, working-class voters did not understand. I understood that because I’ve lived it. And I think that being able to have that background that is very much aligned with a lot of the people in the district puts you in a unique position, not just to understand them, to represent them.” 

With that moderate pitch as a first-generation American who has made good, Varela, 36, has firmly established himself as a serious contender for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District with his recent announcement of a $700,000 fundraising haul in his first three months in the race.

Varela, who self-funded around half of that total, is one of several Democrats, including former Biden administration official Michael Roth, former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett and local Democratic official Greg Vartan, aiming to defeat Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), in a district Kean won by five points in 2024.

Varela has been active for years in various capacities in New Jersey politics: He started as a press intern for Republican Gov. Chris Christie in 2010, later running as a Democratic candidate opposing the party machine against now-Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and subsequently leading the New Jersey chapter of the Forward Party, the centrist third party founded by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

“I consider myself more of a moderate,” Varela told Jewish Insider in an interview. “I do believe that we do need to be tight around budgets, and we can’t just go and haphazardly be cutting programs, but we do need to understand that we cannot allow the deficit to continue increasing. But at the same time, I think that there are some great programs that may seem like social programs, but are actually more programs that are going to help us grow our economy.”

He said he also supports “economic populist” programs like growing the middle class through universal childcare, and investing in research and development, infrastructure and education — particularly in skilled trade programs in high schools and trade schools.

He said his life story and the hardships he faced growing up separate him from the Democratic field — as well as from Kean, whose father was the governor of New Jersey and whose grandfather also served in Congress — and align him with the voters in the district, adding that Democrats need candidates who are better connected to the working class.

Varela said that Israel has been a “strong ally for us, and I think it’s important to make sure that we are there for Israel, that we help Israel with their ability to defend themselves.”

He said he supports continued U.S. aid to Israel, as well as aid to Gaza, and supports a two-state solution in the long term. He said that bringing the conflict in Gaza to a close will require “root[ing] out Hamas entirely,” ending attacks from both sides and bringing “all shareholders to the table” including the United States, the United Nations and surrounding countries.

Varela said he did not have sufficient information to weigh in on the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran, but said that it’s “absolutely critical” that Tehran not obtain a nuclear weapon and that he would support renewed diplomatic efforts floated by the Trump administration.

To address rising antisemitic attacks and other incidents at home, Varela said that the U.S. needs to step up hate crimes enforcement, specifically voicing support for legislation raising the penalties for such activity.

“As a society, as an American culture, any hate crime performed is ultimately destroying our fabric, destroying the future of our country, and we need to be unequivocally and unapologetically at the front lines of combating this kind of hate,” Varela said.

Varela said he entered the race because “I think we need a fighter, and I’ve been a fighter my whole life,” from working full-time to cover his schooling costs to supporting his family when his mother got sick, struggling with financial difficulties, raising his younger brother and building a childcare business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“But we navigated that and fast forward to now, we built the business with over 100 employees,” Varela said, adding that his company has been recognized locally and nationally for its growth.

He added that he thinks that Congress needs more leaders from different backgrounds and more “humble beginnings,” and said, “I can bring a serious diversity of perspective to representation, and not just the Congress, to our party as a whole.”

He said that Kean is “disconnected … from his voters” and doesn’t understand the impacts of legislation cutting assistance programs like the recently passed budget reconciliation bill.

Varela’s fundraising places him second in the Democratic primary, behind Bennett, who has raised $914,000 total, and ahead of Roth, who has raised $303,000 total and Vartan, who has raised $157,000.

Bennett closed the quarter with $672,000 on hand, Varela with $622,000, Roth with $225,000 and Vartan with $79,000.