The lawmakers wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem requesting updates on efforts to streamline and improve the process for Nonprofit Security Grant Program applicants
Graeme Sloan/Sipa via AP
The U.S. Capitol Building at sunset in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 6, 2021.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleA group of Democrats from Colorado’s congressional delegation wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem raising questions about the implementation and execution of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
“In light of the recent surge in anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and other violent hate-based incidents in the United States, the importance of this program cannot be overstated,” the letter reads. “We urge DHS and FEMA to do more to ensure NSGP allows nonprofits and religious organizations to better protect the people they serve. All Americans deserve to visit their places of worship, schools, and community centers freely and without fear.”
The letter specifically focuses on gaps in executing the Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act, passed in 2022, which directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish a dedicated office to administer the NSGP and provide expanded assistance to potential applicants.
The letter notes that there has been no announcement that such an office has been established, and requests information about whether such action has taken place and, if so, “to what extent it is appropriately staffed to carry out the duties outlined.”
The letter also raises concerns about the “lack of standardization of application deadlines” among the various state agencies that manage applications from individual nonprofit groups at the state level, another aim of the Improvement Act.
“Implementing a standard deadline for all [state administrative agencies] and a set list of required documents would make the process significantly more efficient and less confusing for the organizations applying,” the letter reads. “In addition, we believe there should be increased transparency between FEMA and SAAs. FEMA should provide uniform guidance and feedback regarding both successful and unsuccessful applications. This increased communication would allow unsuccessful organizations to improve their applications.”
Though the letter does not directly address the issue, other lawmakers have raised concerns about the delayed opening and short application timeline for the NSGP this year, and accused the Department of Homeland Security of a range of issues in its handling of the grant program.
The letter also requests that FEMA change its policies to allow institutions to pay permanent security staff with the grants they receive, something they are unable to do under current guidelines; currently, institutions can only use grant funding to hire security contractors.
“While this has been helpful, at present, organizations cannot use funds from this program for permanent salaried employees or personnel expenses,” the lawmakers wrote. “This means that non-profits are reliant on contracting outside security vendors, which can be unpredictable and hard to hire when needed.”
The letter was led by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and co-signed by Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Reps. Joe Neguse (D-CO), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) and Jason Crow (D-CO).
The suspected shooter, like several other recent attackers, was active in violent online forums and showed a fascination with previous mass killers
CHET STRANGE/AFP via Getty Images
Police officers on the scene at Evergreen High School where a shooting occurred earlier in the day, in Evergreen, Colorado on September 10, 2025.
Desmond Holly, the suspected shooter who critically injured two students at Evergreen High School in Colorado on Wednesday, shared antisemitic and white nationalist views online, according to the Denver Post and the Anti-Defamation League.
Local authorities said Thursday that Holly had been “radicalized by some extremist network,” without specifying further.
According to the Denver Post, one of Holly’s online accounts used a coded slogan for Holocaust denial and reposted antisemitic videos and other videos showing individuals in Nazi uniforms.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism said Friday that Holly’s TikTok accounts were “filled with white supremacist symbolism,” including a reference to the white nationalist “14 words” slogan, and utilized a neo-Nazi symbol in his profile photo.
The ADL reported that Holly, in online interactions, shared photos of patches he had created featuring neo-Nazi symbols, similar to those used by prior mass shooters. He also shared a photo of himself in a mask that featured multiple white nationalist symbols and slogans, including “TJD” — standing for “Total Jew Death.”
According to the ADL, Holly collected tactical gear — inspired in some cases by past mass shooters — which he decorated with extremist symbols, posted internet content mimicking prior shooters and suggested in online comments that he was preparing to carry out an attack.
His accounts included numerous references to Brenton Tarrant, the far-right killer who murdered 51 at two mosques in New Zealand, among other mass killers.
Holly also maintained an account on an internet forum where users share images and footage of various deaths and murders, and commented on posts about past mass shootings, according to the ADL research. The platform has been used by multiple prior mass shooters.
Similar fascinations with extremist and antisemitic views and prior school shooters, as well as apparent interactions with online extremist networks, have been a feature of several recent mass attacks.
“The deeply disturbing specifics of this case follow a pattern recently discovered by ADL Center on Extremism, which its analysts have found in at least three school shootings committed by young people over the past year,” the ADL report stated, including engagement with some of the same online forums.
The Colorado shooting took place shortly after the killing of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk in Utah.
Egyptian national Mohamed Soliman now faces two counts of first-degree murder, in addition to 12 federal hate crimes charges and more than 100 state charges related to the June 1 firebombing
CHET STRANGE/AFP via Getty Images
Colorado Governor Jared Polis speaks during a community gathering at the site of an attack against a group people holding a vigil for kidnapped Israeli citizens in Gaza oin Boulder, Colorado on June 4, 2025.
Three weeks after a Colorado march in support of the Israeli hostages in Gaza was abruptly interrupted by a scene of grotesque violence, one of the victims of the antisemitic firebombing attack that left 29 people injured succumbed to her wounds.
Karen Diamond died on June 25, Rabbi Marc Soloway, of Boulder’s Congregation Bonai Shalom, announced in an obituary. She was 81, and is survived by her husband, two sons, two daughters-in-law and five grandsons.
“There are no words to express the pain of this horrific loss of our beloved member and friend,” Soloway wrote.
The alleged attacker, Egyptian national Mohamed Soliman, now faces two counts of first-degree murder connected to Diamond’s death, in addition to 12 federal hate crimes charges and more than 100 state charges related to the June 1 attack. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.
Run for Their Lives, the organization that arranges the weekly hostage marches, released a statement on Monday calling Diamond’s death “a heavy and heartbreaking moment for us.”
They also urged lawmakers to ensure that the funding can be used to pay security guards and other security personnel
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) (C) introduces Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) (L) at Camp Hale on October 12, 2022 in Red Cliff, Colorado.
Colorado’s two Democratic senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, wrote to Senate leaders on Tuesday calling for funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to be increased to as much as $500 million following the antisemitic attack on a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo.
They also urged lawmakers to ensure that the funding can be used to “pay permanent security guards and other critical personnel.”
“In the wake of these incidents and the broader increase in religiously motivated hate crimes, we urge you to do more to protect our Jewish communities by increasing funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program,” the lawmakers wrote. “We also urge you to direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to expand eligible NSGP expenditures so that synagogues, Jewish community centers, and other religious institutions can use the program to hire and retain personnel to better prevent antisemitic and other hate crimes.”
They emphasized that antisemitism in the United States has risen to record levels since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and that funding for the program has fallen significantly short.
“Following the recent antisemitic attacks in Boulder and Washington, D.C., it is obvious that Congress must allocate more funds for the NGSP, potentially up to $500 million, as many Republican Senators continue to request,” the two Colorado senators wrote. “Jewish Americans, like all Americans, deserve to visit their places of worship, schools, and community freely and without fear.”
Screenshot/X
A man is arrested after throwing a Molotov cocktail at pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, CO on June 1, 2025.
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the aftermath of the terrorist attack last weekend at a hostage march in Boulder, Colo., and cover a resurgent push for the U.S. to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization following reports that the Boulder attacker had expressed support for the group. We also talk to students and faculty at Harvard to check in on the school’s recent approach to antisemitism and its clashes with the Trump administration, and report on President Donald Trump‘s recommendation not to increase the funding level of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Randy Fine, Santa Ono and Jake Sullivan.
What We’re Watching
- The White House is holding a briefing for Jewish community leaders this afternoon.
- The House Education and the Workforce Committee is holding a hearing today with Education Secretary Linda McMahon on the department’s policies and priorities.
- Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) is speaking at the Hudson Institute this afternoon about the future of American foreign policy in the Middle East.
- The Congressional Israel Allies Foundation is hosting a belated Jerusalem Day celebration today on Capitol Hill. MK Gila Gamliel, Israel’s minister of innovation, science and technology, will address the gathering.
- In New York City, WNBC, Politico and Telemundo are hosting a mayoral primary debate at 7 p.m. tonight for nine of the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination later this month.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is traveling to Germany today, where he’ll meet with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, and other senior officials, as well as Jewish communal leaders, in Berlin.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’s mELISSA WEISS
The holiday of Shavuot is one of prayer and celebration, marked by all-night learning, indulging in cheesecake and communal events.
But across the U.S., this Shavuot was marked with a fear and unease that has become abnormally normal in recent months, following the Passover arson at the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro and the murders of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum last month, and deepened further by the horrific attack in Boulder, Colo., on Sunday in which an Egyptian national threw homemade Molotov cocktails at marchers calling for the release of the remaining 58 hostages being held in Gaza. Twelve people, including a Holocaust survivor, were injured.
The reverberations from the attack are already being felt in Washington, where legislators are reviving a bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. More below.
Two days before the attack, we reported on the Trump administration’s full FY 2026 budget request for Congress — which did not recommend an increase in funding to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, instead holding it at its current level of $274.5 million. Fewer than half of the requests — which are submitted by organizations at elevated risk of being targeted in a terrorist attack — were fulfilled in 2024.
The attack in Boulder is likely to garner additional calls from the Jewish community for increased funding for the program. In the wake of last month’s deadly attack at the Capital Jewish Museum, a coalition of leading Jewish groups called for the federal government to increase NSGP spending to $1 billion. “The rising level of anti-Jewish incitement, which inevitably leads to violent acts … requires governmental action commensurate with the level of danger,” the organizations said.
In the wake of Sunday’s attack, many legislators condemned the attacks, most denouncing the antisemitic nature of the firebombing. But three Squad members — Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Summer Lee (D-PA) — condemned the attacks without mentioning Israel or antisemitism. President Donald Trump, in his response, did not mention Israel or antisemitism either, choosing instead to rail against former President Joe “Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly.”
The identities of the victims of the attack and the perpetrators’ declared motivations are political inconveniences to legislators and activists on both sides of the political spectrum — and their decision to erase both perhaps reverberates the loudest.
Other lawmakers focused their comments on the shooter’s immigration status. Mohamed Sabry Soliman had come to the U.S. in 2022 and received a work visa, which expired earlier this year. That the attack was perpetrated by an individual who had been approved for a visa by the Biden administration and remained illegally under the Trump administration is expected to produce more calls for stricter immigration policies. Last night, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that Soliman’s wife and five children had been apprehended by immigration officials and faced potential deportation.
But while politicians debate the best approaches — from designating terror groups to calling for immigration crackdowns — Jewish communities remain on edge, feeling unsafe and unheard.
Perhaps nothing underscores Jewish communal concerns at this moment better than an op-ed published in The New York Times on Tuesday by National Council for Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz.
“When antisemitism emerges within progressive spaces, cloaked in the language of justice, too often it is met with silence and discomfort, creating echo chambers where dangerous ideas are amplified rather than confronted,” Katz wrote. In response to sounding the alarm about antisemitism in left-wing circles, she said, “we have been gaslit, ignored and told that our fear is overblown, our outrage unjustified. Among many groups that have fought to secure and reclaim civil rights, voting rights and reproductive rights, we have seen antisemitism dismissed as not bad enough to matter, our grief met with cynicism, our safety treated as optional.”
Some Americans waking up to their morning news on Tuesday saw “Jews Are Afraid Right Now” as the Times headline accompanying Katz’s piece. But for the first several hours it was posted, the op-ed had a different headline: “American Jews Are Paying for the War in Gaza” — an approach to both the Israel-Hamas war and antisemitism in America that plays into the dual-loyalty tropes that American Jews have fought long before the Oct. 7 attacks.
The Times quietly changed the op-ed’s headline to the milquetoast “Jews Are Afraid Right Now” — which, while correct, missed Katz’s core point: “At rallies and on campuses, in coalition rooms and online spaces, slogans sometimes directly drawn from Hamas’s terrorist manifesto have been chanted and painted on placards, and shouted from stages and in the streets. ‘Globalize the intifada.’ ‘By any means necessary.’ ‘From the river to the sea.’ ‘Zionists out.’ These are not simply words; they can be interpreted as calls for violence.”
The Boulder attacker told investigators he wanted “to kill all Zionist people” — not dissimilar from comments made by the Capital Jewish Museum shooter, who declared, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” after gunning down Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. The arsonist who set the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion on fire said he committed the crime because of what Shapiro, one of the most prominent Jewish politicians in the country, “wants to do to the Palestinian people.”
From academia to activism to journalism, there is a reticence in left-wing circles to acknowledge that inciting language around the Israel-Hamas war can have a dangerous impact.
A year and a half ago, Ivy League administrators were pressed on whether “From the river to the sea” was a genocidal chant. The response, given by the since-ousted presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, was that “it depends on the context.”
In this case, the context is the firebombing of elderly Jews calling for the release of hostages in Gaza. Last month, the context was the gunning down of a young couple outside a Jewish organization’s event focused on humanitarian aid in Gaza. In April, the context was the arson of the residence of a Jewish governor on the first night of Passover.
The recent attacks in Harrisburg, Washington and now Boulder are not surprising. They are what happens when ideology-driven activism trumps ethical journalism, when antisemitism becomes a political football and when the boundaries between free speech and calls for violence blur — creating a dangerous and deadly reality for American Jews.
temperature check
Jews at Harvard are still worried about antisemitism — and about Trump’s response to it
As Israeli students departed from Harvard University last month to begin summer break, the usual sense of relief and excitement at having completed another academic year was replaced by fear and uncertainty for many. Amid the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard — which recently escalated to stripping the university of its ability to enroll foreign students entirely — among international students exchanging goodbyes, “See you in the fall” was replaced with “I hope to see you in the fall.” Jewish students and faculty who conduct biomedical research at Harvard also face grim prospects, after Trump revoked billions of dollars in federal funds to the university. At the same time, many Jewish students on campus expressed relief that the antisemitism and anti-Israel activism that was all too common in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks had declined significantly in the previous school year, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen and Gabby Deutch report.
Trump effect: Changes on campus were implemented at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, when Joe Biden was still president, said Harvard Law professor Jesse Fried, noting that Harvard’s progress in addressing antisemitism and students’ anti-Israel bias was not only a result of pressure from President Donald Trump. But once Trump came into office and began threatening Harvard — and then implementing policies that directly targeted the Ivy League university — change happened more quickly, Fried observed. “Harvard is moving very quickly and aggressively to eliminate certain sources of anti-Israel bias on campus,” Fried said. “If the Trump administration were not breathing down their neck, I believe progress would have been much slower.”
Elsewhere: A federal judge dismissed a discrimination lawsuit filed against the University of Pennsylvania by two Jewish students, saying that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that the university had taken action that “could be interpreted as antisemitic with the intention of causing harm to the plaintiffs.”
OH NO
Santa Ono rejected as University of Florida president
In an unprecedented move, the Florida Board of Governors rejected the confirmation of Santa Ono, the former president of the University of Michigan, as the University of Florida’s next president, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Board grilling: During a three-hour meeting on Tuesday, Ono was questioned by the board, which oversees the state’s 12 public universities, about an anti-Israel encampment last year that remained on the Michigan campus for a month, as well as his stance on antisemitism. Alan Levine, vice chair of the board, grilled Ono about what he described as an inadequate response to antisemitism at Michigan during Ono’s tenure to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, The Gainesville Sun reported. “What happened on Oct. 7 deeply affected the members of my community and me personally, and so at UF I would be consistently focused on making sure antisemitism does not rear its head again,” Ono responded.
APOLOGY TOUR
Washington Post corrects story claiming aid site shooting
The Washington Post issued an apology on Tuesday for an article that claimed, citing the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, that Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people on Sunday at an aid site in Gaza, a story picked up by a variety of U.S. news outlets in spite of denials by Israeli forces and U.S.-backed aid contractors, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Walk-back: “The Post didn’t give proper weight to Israel’s denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings,” the paper said in an editor’s note added Tuesday, days after it corrected the story. “The early versions fell short of Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form.” The newspaper has repeatedly faced accusations of bias and faulty reporting in its coverage of the war and the families of hostages. It has repeatedly been forced to issue corrections to high-profile stories accusing Israel of misconduct.
Bonus: The Washington Post is creating a new program to publish a range of essays and writings from journalists and writers who do not work for the Post; the move comes amid a revamping of the paper’s editorial section that saw the departure of David Shipley, the section’s editor, and other top editorial writers.
terror tag
Lawmakers push to designate Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group after Boulder attack
Following Sunday’s attack in Boulder, Colo., on a group marching to raise awareness about the hostages being held in Gaza, a bipartisan push is growing on Capitol Hill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
New push: Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian citizen who lived in Kuwait for 17 years prior to arriving in the United States, appears to have expressed support for the group. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said he plans to reintroduce legislation he had led on multiple previous occasions on the subject. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) wrote to Trump urging him to designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle indicated they’ll support the effort.
fine’s fix
Rep. Randy Fine: To stop antisemitic attacks, declare CAIR a terrorist group
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), the newest Jewish Republican member of Congress, argued on Monday, following an antisemitic attack on a group marching in support of the hostages in Gaza in Boulder, Colo., that the federal government should take aggressive action against groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, deport all undocumented immigrants and take a strong hand toward college campuses, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “I’m angry that we’ve allowed this to get there, I’m angry that we’ve allowed Muslim terror to operate unfettered in this country,” Fine said in an interview with JI on Monday. “Make no mistake, the Palestinian cause is fundamentally a broken, evil philosophy … It’s time to realize there is evil in this world and we have to fight it.” He said that institutions tied to that ideology, including CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood and Students for Justice in Palestine, should not be allowed to operate in the United States, and should be designated as terrorist organizations, “because that’s what they are.”
SPENDING FREEZE
Trump doesn’t request an increase in funding for nonprofit security grants
President Donald Trump’s full budget request to Congress on Friday recommended Congress hold the Nonprofit Security Grant Program at its current level of $274.5 million, in spite of chronic funding shortages and pressure from both lawmakers and the Jewish community for substantially increased funding at a time of rising antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
About the request: The budget also requests no funding for two hate crimes prevention grant programs, the Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act Program and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Grants Program, and proposes funding cuts for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Bonus: Speaking at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon laid out the administration’s expectations for campus antisemitism policies, including encampment and mask bans and stricter student and faculty vetting, but sidestepped how the administration will execute on those directives while making substantial cuts to OCR.
Worthy Reads
Lighting the Fuse: In The Atlantic, Bruce Hoffman considers the impact that anti-Israel rhetoric plays in stoking antisemitic sentiment. “Words matter. The protester at Columbia University in 2024 holding a sign labeling Jewish demonstrators who were waving Israeli flags as ‘Al-Qasam’s next targets’ was dismissed as being hyperbolic. So were the ‘By Any Means Necessary’ banners carried at demonstrations and the red inverted triangles, similar to those Hamas uses to mark Israeli targets, spray-painted on university buildings, a national monument, and even the apartment building of a museum director. When demonstrators wave the flags of terrorist organizations, wear headbands celebrating those same groups, and publicly commemorate the martyrdom of terrorist leaders such as Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, they’re not throwing the bomb, but their message can light the fuse.” [TheAtlantic]
The Battle Over Food Aid: In The Free Press, Eli Lake looks at how the misreporting about aid distribution in Gaza is being pushed by Hamas and its affiliates in the enclave. “In other words, Hamas wants to sabotage Israel’s plans to cut out the terrorist group from one of its remaining sources of control and leverage in Gaza: distribution of food and aid. That is an important piece of context missing from nearly all of the first-day stories on the alleged massacres. It also may explain why on Tuesday morning, the world awoke to more reports of Palestinians being shot as they awaited food deliveries. At a bare minimum it’s reasonable to conclude that Hamas is instigating confrontations with the IDF in order to provoke the shootings of hungry aid recipients. This, however, does not eliminate the possibility that Israeli soldiers have in some cases fired in the direction of Palestinians awaiting aid. Israel is attempting to deliver food in the middle of a war zone. Even the most professional armies make mistakes. If the accounts of these shootings are accurate, then the Israelis have fired warning shots as crowds approached a site before the aid distribution was ready. That’s a tragedy, but not a massacre.” [FreePress]
Credit Risk:The Wall Street Journal’s David Cloud reports on efforts by Iranian-backed militias to exploit a currency-exchange scheme that allowed the groups to bring in billions of dollars. “Regulators in Iraq and U.A.E. limited daily withdrawals and cracked down on the card smuggling. In one case, more than two dozen Iraqis carrying a total of around 1,200 cash cards loaded with more than $5 million were arrested at Iraqi airports and border crossings. An Iraqi traveler was arrested at the airport in the city of Najaf with 300 bank cards hidden in cigarette packs in his luggage. In another, multiple Iranians and Iraqis were caught by border guards while attempting to smuggle Mastercards to Iran. The militias adjusted, and began persuading merchants in the other countries with access to Visa and Mastercard networks to run fake purchase transactions in return for a kickback. In an example described by bankers familiar with the scheme, a luxury-goods store in the U.A.E. charges a Visa or Mastercard cash or debit card $5,000, even though no merchandise changes hands. In return for a 5% payment, the shop gives the cardholder the $5,000 in cash or the equivalent in U.A.E.’s currency, the dirham, which is pegged to the dollar. The card company debits the card at the official Iraqi dollar rate. The funds then move back to Iraq for the market exchange.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected a nuclear deal with the “rude, insolent” U.S. that would require the Islamic Republic to stop enriching uranium, one of President Donald Trump’s core requirements for any nuclear agreement, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports; the Trump administration had reportedly been negotiating an interim deal that would allow Iran to enrich uranium to 3% until a final agreement is reached in which the Islamic Republic can no longer enrich its own uranium…
Trump withdrew the nomination of Jason Isaacman to be the head of NASA, with a White House spokesperson saying that it is “essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda”…
Rev. Johnnie Moore was named the new head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation following Jake Woods’ departure last month; Moore’s appointment came a day after the Boston Consulting Group, which had been advising the effort, withdrew its team from the project…
The GHF paused operations on Wednesday with plans to resume on Thursday, following a string of security incidents in the vicinity of distribution sites in which Israeli forces fired at Palestinians who had mistakenly strayed from pre-approved routes to the sites; the GHF reportedly asked the IDF to improve instructions and directions for Palestinians to safely access the aid sites…
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) introduced a resolution honoring the 129th anniversary of the Jewish War Veterans organization…
Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Yvette Clarke (D-NY) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) introduced a resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research…
A group of four House Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday that aims to exempt Israel and Ukraine from the global tariffs that Trump imposed by executive order, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The State Department is launching a pilot program to vet student visa applicants’ social media profiles in an effort to crack down on the matriculation into American universities of foreign students with antisemitic beliefs; the pilot program is focused on individuals “seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose”…
In Foreign Policy, Aaron David Miller assesses the state of relations between the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
The House Education and Workforce Committee threatened on Monday to subpoena Bowdoin College, accusing the school of failing to comply with the committee’s requests for information regarding antisemitism on campus, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
In a recent appearance on the “Unholy Podcast,” former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised Trump for his strategy of engagement with Iran on their nuclear weapons program and predicted that the Trump administration would reach a deal that “is going to look and feel pretty similar to the” 2015 nuclear deal reached by former President Barack Obama, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…
In a newly surfaced clip of New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani from 2021, the legislator, who is currently mounting a bid for New York City mayor, acknowledged that he identifies as an anti-Zionist, saying, “In the anti-Zionist movement that I believe in and belong to, there is no room for antisemitism”…
CBS News interviews the family of Sarah Milgrim, one of two Israeli Embassy employees killed in a terror attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum last month…
The French National Assembly unanimously voted to promote Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general more than a century after the Jewish army officer was stripped of his rank in an incident widely attributed to antisemitism…
Several Jewish institutions in Paris, as well as the city’s Holocaust memorial, were vandalized over the weekend…
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also serving as the Trump administration’s Syria envoy, said that the U.S. would eliminate seven of its eight bases in Syria as part of a broader drawdown of troops from the country…
Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on weapons targets in southern Syria following the launch of projectiles from the area into Israel on Tuesday evening…
Betsy Berns Korn assumed the role of chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations over the weekend, succeeding Harriet P. Schleifer…
Macroeconomist Stanley Fischer, who served as governor of the Bank of Israel and vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, died at 81…
South African author Lynn Freed, whose writings focused on her childhood in a Jewish community in apartheid South Africa, died at 79…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog met on Tuesday with released hostage Omer Wenkert and his parents, Niva and Shai, at the president’s residence in Jerusalem.
Birthdays
Israeli supermodel, Bar Refaeli turns 40…
Co-founder of Boston Properties and owner of U.S. News & World Report, Mort Zuckerman turns 88… Professor emeritus of organic chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science and winner of the 2012 Israel Prize, David Milstein turns 78… Retired chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Stephen J. Markman turns 76… Judge on the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia since 2018, he was the longest tenured member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (42 years from 1974 to 2016), Mark B. Cohen turns 76… Lineman for the Miami Dolphins for 11 seasons, which included three Super Bowl appearances and four Pro Bowls, then a judge on the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida (Miami-Dade County), Ed Newman turns 74… British journalist, author of 11 books and columnist for The Times of London, The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Chronicle, Melanie Phillips turns 74… First-ever Jewish governor of Hawaii and then chief operating officer of Illinois, she serves on the board of directors of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Linda Lingle turns 72… President and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC until 2023, now a professor at Johns Hopkins, Daniel H. Weiss turns 68… Co-founder of Ripco Real Estate, Todd Cooper… Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Matthew Langer Meyerson turns 62… Law professor at both the University of Toronto and University of California, Berkeley, Ayelet Shachar turns 59… U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) turns 54… French-Israeli entrepreneur, angel investor in over 360 startups, Jeremie Berrebi turns 47… D.C.-based photographer and founder of Revamped Media, Daniel Swartz… Reporter for The Washington Post, Colby Itkowitz… Senior planning analyst at Con Edison in NYC, Adam E. Soclof… Director at Dentons Global Advisors, Jason Hillel Attermann… Managing editor at eJewishPhilanthropy, Judah Ari Gross… Gena Wolfson… Political coordinating producer for NBC, Emily Gold… Former member of the New York State Assembly, now VP of government relations at UJA-Federation of New York, Daniel Rosenthal turns 34… Ken Moss…
One person has been arrested after throwing a Molotov cocktail towards demonstrators, injuring multiple victims
Screenshot/X
A man is arrested after throwing a Molotov cocktail at pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, CO on June 1, 2025.
The FBI and law enforcement in Colorado are investigating a possible act of terrorism after multiple people attending a weekly pro-Israel gathering in Boulder to honor hostages kidnapped by Hamas were attacked by a suspect seen throwing Molotov cocktails in their direction.
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that the bureau was “fully investigating” what he described as a “targeted terror attack” in Boulder on Sunday, while FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said they were probing the incident as an “act of terror, and targeted violence” while asking for anyone with information to contact the bureau.
One person was arrested after throwing a Molotov cocktail towards the pro-Israel demonstrators, according to Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn. Speaking to reporters from the scene of the attack, Redfearn said authorities were called to the area responding to calls “that people were being set on fire” by “a man with a weapon.”
Redfearn also said that victims, attendees of the weekly Boulder Run for Their Lives event calling for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, had “injuries consistent with burns and other injuries,” though he could not provide an estimate for the number of individuals who were harmed in the attack.
He warned that some of those injuries could be life threatening. At a Sunday evening press conference, Redfearn said the victims ranged in age from 67 to 88 years old, “at least one” of whom “was very seriously injured, probably safe to say, [in] critical condition.” The 88 year old victim fled Nazi persecution in Europe, Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CBS Colorado.
At a press conference Sunday, FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mike Michalek identified the suspect as Mohamed Sabry Soliman. Fox News reported that Soliman is an “Egyptian national in the U.S. illegally as a visa overstay who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration,” citing senior Department of Homeland Security officials.
Soliman arrived in the U.S. in August 2022 on a visa that expired in February 2023, filing a claim with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in September 2022 for a work visa that was approved for a two-year period in March 2023. He remained in the U.S. illegally despite his work authorization expiring in March of this year.
Videos circulating on social media of the attack showed Soliman shouting “end Zionists.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said in a post on X that he was “closely monitoring the situation in Boulder” and said that his state was working “with local and federal law enforcement to support this investigation.”
In a second statement on his personal account, Polis wrote that, “As the American Jewish community continues to reel from the horrific antisemitic murders in Washington, D.C., it is unfathomable that the Jewish community is facing another terror attack here in Boulder, on the eve of the holiday of Shavuot no less.”
“Several individuals were brutally attacked while peacefully marching to draw attention to the plight of the hostages who have been held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza for 604 days. I condemn this vicious act of terrorism, and pray for the recovery of the victims,” he continued.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), who is running to replace the term-limited Polis, described the incident as a “horrifying terror attack” in a statement posted to X. “My thoughts are with the victims of the horrifying terror attack that occurred this afternoon in Boulder. Hate and violence of any kind will not be tolerated in Colorado,” Bennet wrote.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) wrote on the platform that, “Hate of any kind has no home in Colorado. We’re monitoring the reports of a horrific terror attack in Boulder this afternoon. Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also said that he was “closely monitoring the situation in Boulder,” adding, “This is horrifying, and this cannot continue. We must stand up to antisemitism.”
A White House official said late Sunday that President Donald Trump “has been briefed” on the attack.
The attack comes less than two weeks after the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers attending an American Jewish Committee event in Washington. The alleged shooter yelled “Free Palestine” shortly after committing the crime.
In April, during the first night of Passover, an arsonist tried to burn down Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence. The perpetrator cited the governor’s support for Israel as his motive.
The accounts were only reinstated after Jewish Federations of North America intervened and contacted Meta directly
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A pedestrian walks in front of a new logo and the name 'Meta' on the sign in front of Facebook headquarters on October 28, 2021 in Menlo Park, California.
With the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks approaching, JEWISHcolorado — a Denver-based nonprofit affiliated with the Jewish Federations of North America — posted on Instagram on Oct. 1 about the organization’s Oct. 7 commemoration event. Concerns about antisemitism meant attendees would need to register in advance, and JEWISHcolorado needed to give them time to do so before the start of Rosh Hashanah.
The post, though, did not successfully reach community members. That’s because soon after sharing it, JEWISHcolorado’s Instagram account was disabled. When the account manager tried to appeal the suspension, an automated email informed the JEWISHcolorado staff that their account, with 895 posts and nearly 2,500 followers, was “permanently disabled,” with all of its content set to be “permanently deleted,” according to messages shared with Jewish Insider.
JEWISHcolorado was one of at least four local Jewish federations in the United States to have accounts on Meta-run platforms disabled after posting in the lead-up to the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. They did not receive any answers from Meta regarding why they had been suspended, leading some to question whether they were being targeted for the content of their posts — sharing information about Oct. 7.
“We suspect maybe it had something to do with our posting, but it’s an automated message that says you violated community guidelines. We don’t consider that to be so,” said Renee Rockford, president and CEO of JEWISHcolorado. The reasoning, according to a message from Meta, was that Meta does not “allow people on Instagram to pretend to be a business or speak for them with our permission.”
The Facebook account of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio was disabled in mid-September. Similar to JEWISHcolorado, they were removed for alleged “impersonation,” according to Kayde Jones, director of marketing and communications at the San Antonio federation.
Jones and her colleagues had no way of explaining themselves, or finding out who Meta believed them to be impersonating.
“It was as if we were completely wiped off the Facebook Earth,” said Jones. “It’s very hard to get in touch with anybody at Meta. There’s no phone calls. There’s no customer service that’s readily available.” Attempts to appeal the decision through Meta’s platforms were unsuccessful.
All of the disabled accounts have since been restored — JEWISHcolorado’s after four days, and the San Antonio federation’s after nearly two weeks. But it took the involvement of a staff member at JFNA, the national advocacy arm representing Jewish Federations, who reached out to a contact at Meta directly.
It’s not clear if someone had reported the Jewish federation accounts, or if Meta’s automated systems erroneously detected these accounts. None of them had ever previously had their accounts disabled.
“We are very grateful these issues were resolved, which seems to indicate that Meta is not intentionally targeting Jewish pages,” Niv Elis, a JFNA spokesperson, told JI. “That said, the fact that pages were taken down over Oct. 7 commemoration posts was very disappointing and indicates that there is clearly a problem that still needs to be fixed.”
A spokesperson for Meta did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The Colorado governor cited the number of presidential candidates with Jewish backgrounds
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who was elected in 2018 as the state’s first Jewish governor, celebrated the increasing number of Jewish Americans involved in politics, with some rising through the ranks of the Democratic Party.
“It is very heartening to see the increasing visibility of Jewish Americans throughout politics,” Polis said during a virtual event on Tuesday for Jewish Democrats hosted by the Democratic National Committee during the 2020 Democratic National Convention. “This year, several of the candidates for president of the United States were of Jewish heritage. And of course, with the selection of [Sen.] Kamala Harris, our soon-to-be second gentleman of the U.S., Douglas Emhoff, is Jewish.”
Polis noted Emhoff’s possible role is “another reason” why Joe Biden’s selection of Harris as his running mate “was not just outstanding, but, frankly, groundbreaking.”
“These are milestones and speak well of the inclusive nature of our nation and of the Democratic Party,” said the Colorado Democrat.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who participated in a follow-up panel focused on American Jewish voters, said he was deeply moved to watch “a Jew named Bernie Sanders give, I think, the most enthusiastic speech about a nominee in the nomination that he competed for and came in second place, of any second-place finisher I’ve ever heard.”
On the webcast, Polis also highlighted President Donald Trump’s comments on the campaign trail on Monday, suggesting that he “moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem… for the evangelicals.”
“For once, President Trump was honest about his motives. It wasn’t because of a belief that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel. It wasn’t because of any deeply held belief in the Jewish state. It was simply what he said it was: an appeal to evangelical voters,” Polis stressed. “I have friends on both sides of when or how, or if the embassy should be moved. But it should not be moved — I think we would all agree — simply because evangelical voters in America want it. It should be situated because of where we can best support the peace process, the stability and survival of the Jewish State of Israel.”
Can former Gov. John Hickenlooper emerge victorious against Andrew Romanoff in the Democratic Senate primary?
Gage Skidmore/Courtesy Romanoff for Senate
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper and Andrew Romanoff
As voters cast their ballots in Colorado today following a long primary season, there are a handful of intriguing races to watch as returns trickle in. Those include a heated Senate contest for the Democratic nomination and a House seat in which a Republican incumbent faces a challenger on his right.
Jewish Insider asked a few experts to weigh in with their thoughts ahead of the big day: Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver who regularly contributes to FiveThirtyEight; Marianne Goodland, chief statehouse reporter at Colorado Politics; and Kyle Saunders, a professor of political science at Colorado State University. Here’s what they had to say.
In the Democratic Senate primary, John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado who briefly ran for president last year, is hoping he can prevail and go on to defeat Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) in November.
There have been some recent setbacks for Hickenlooper — including a couple of racially insensitive gaffes as well as two ethics violations — but Goodland believes the former governor will come out on top in the primary against Andrew Romanoff, a former state politician who is known for mounting somewhat quixotic campaigns against establishment players.
“This is kind of a big nothing,” Goodland told JI of Hickenlooper’s ethics violations, which only resulted in a $2,750 fine for gifts he received as governor. “His biggest mistake wasn’t the ethics violations themselves but his decision to defy a subpoena from the ethics commission and to force them to take him to court to enforce it.”
Goodland said that Romanoff has “done well at times, but the money favors Hickenlooper and so does the support.” The former governor has the backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and has raised $12.6 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings, while securing endorsements from party power brokers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA).
Romanoff, for his part, has raked in nearly $3 million — no pittance, but a paltry amount relative to Hickenlooper’s haul.
“That’s just a hard thing for a challenger to take on,” Masket said, “and once in a rare while you’ll see a candidate kind of take on the establishment figure and win but those cases are very rare and it’s not looking like this is going to be one of them.”
More than a week ago, Romanoff’s campaign released internal polling that suggested he was 12 points behind Hickenlooper, putting him in competitive territory. But a new SurveyUSA poll put out Friday indicated that the gap has widened, putting Hickenlooper 30 points ahead of his opponent, with 58% of likely Democratic primary voters opting for the former governor.
Saunders was skeptical that Hickenlooper would win by such a big margin. “I tend to think that it’s probably a little tighter than that,” he told JI, noting that Hickenlooper’s recent blunders had dented his reputation in the state, though most likely not enough to cost him the nomination.
If Hickenlooper advances to the general election, Goodland predicted that he will beat Gardner, who has become increasingly vulnerable in a state that has been trending blue in recent years and in which registered Democratic voters outnumber registered Republicans.
“Gardner is in the most endangered Senate seat in the country,” she told JI.
Another Republican who is facing a challenge — though in this instance from his own party — is Rep. Scott Tipton, who represents Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, encompassing most of the state’s Western Slope. In the primary, he is going up against Lauren Boebert, a gun rights activist who is running significantly to the right of her opponent.
Tipton’s race is the only contested primary in the state, as every other congressional candidate is running unopposed, Goodland said. Though she had not seen any polling on the race, she said that Tipton would probably win, observing that the Western Slope was more independent-minded than far-right.
Tipton has raised about $1.1 million, while Boebert has only pulled in $133,000, according to the FEC.
Saunders seconded Goodland’s prediction. “It’s an odd challenge,” he said. “Tipton will likely survive that on the fundraising side.”
Beyond those races, Goodland — who took a break from poring over campaign finance reports to speak with JI on Monday afternoon — is also looking at a couple of interesting races for the Colorado General Assembly. Of particular note, she said, is a “hotly contested” Republican primary for a State House seat in Jefferson County, which includes the cities of Lakewood and Golden.
“Tomorrow is going to be fun,” Goodland said.
The gaffe-prone former Colorado governor and presidential aspirant is facing a stiff primary challenge from a dark-horse candidate
Gage Skidmore
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper
Until recently, it looked as if John Hickenlooper’s bid to unseat Colorado’s first-term Republican senator, Cory Gardner, was all but assured.
Hickenlooper, the 68-year-old former governor of the Centennial State, who briefly entered the presidential race last year before dropping out after five months, garnered early support from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and has notched a slew of high-profile endorsements as the party takes aim at flipping the Senate this fall. On top of that, polls suggested that Hickenlooper could handily beat his GOP opponent in the general election.
But a series of late-stage missteps — including two racially insensitive gaffes and a couple of ethics violations — have imperiled Hickenlooper’s prospects heading into Tuesday’s primary, where observers say his nomination may be in doubt. “He did not have a good June,” mused Kyle Saunders, a professor of political science at Colorado State University.
Hickenlooper now finds himself on the defensive as he goes up against Andrew Romanoff, a 53-year-old veteran state politician with a history of running longshot campaigns for federal office. Romanoff is still the designated underdog, experts note. But he has gained on Hickenlooper over the past several weeks, with his own internal polling, released in mid June, putting him 12 points behind the frontrunner.
“People underestimate him,” said political strategist Joe Trippi, who worked on Romanoff’s primary campaign against Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) a decade ago. Romanoff, who sold his house to finance his previous Senate run, came within just eight points of defeating his opponent in 2010, even as Bennet had the backing of then-President Barack Obama. “He ran very strong against a sitting U.S. senator,” Trippi recalled. “People forget that, but he did.”
Romanoff has long been regarded as a “thorn in the side of the Democratic establishment,” according to Tyler Sandberg, a GOP consultant. But he added that Romanoff had not run a particularly aggressive campaign until a few weeks ago, when it became clear that Hickenlooper’s mistakes might cause lasting damage.
Late last week, Romanoff, who has raised close to $3 million relative to Hickenlooper’s $12.6 million, released a scathing attack ad taking Hickenlooper to task for recent comments likening politicians to slaves as well as his connections with the oil and gas industry. “We can’t take this kind of risk if we’re going to beat Cory Gardner,” a voice-over says. “So vote Andrew Romanoff for a fresh, progressive voice in the Senate.”
Romanoff is campaigning as a progressive — he supports Medicare for All and the Green New Deal — placing himself to the left of the more moderate Hickenlooper.
“It’s hard to know where John stands on anything,” Romanoff told Jewish Insider in a recent interview, noting that Hickenlooper had skipped a number of candidate forums where he would have been able to make his positions known. “On healthcare, the climate crisis, on any of these issues, he has been largely in hiding.”
In spite of his insurgent status, Romanoff was at one point known for his centrism — when he served as speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during which time he led the first Democratic majority in decades. He also helped pass a now-controversial immigration bill that was repealed in 2013 and has been criticized for being overly punitive.
Andrew Romanoff
Still, while Romanoff appears to have calibrated further left, the shift may be because he has more latitude to do so as a Senate candidate during a year in which progressive values are becoming more mainstream. Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver, points out that Romanoff was in a “compromise-oriented position” in the State House, yet one that earned him respect from both sides of the aisle. “He knew how to put together coalitions and be bipartisan.”
Before he entered the race, Romanoff spent four years as president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, a position he took on after losing his bid for a House seat in 2014. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where he helped research the Ku Klux Klan. “By the way, I did not expect to be having the same fight 30 years later,” Romanoff said wryly, alluding to a rise in white nationalism across the nation.
Romanoff, who is Jewish, said his religion influences his approach to life and politics. “I think a lot about the teachings of our faith,” he said. He has been to Israel three times, the first with his grandfather to attend the Maccabiah Games. The other two, he said, were through fellowships sponsored, respectively, by the Aspen Institute and the Wexner Foundation. On his visits, Romanoff was struck by the “vibrancy” of Israel’s economy as well as its “ability to make the desert bloom.”
“I’d like to take a page from Israel and other countries that have accelerated their use of clean energy,” Romanoff said. “I’d like to shift from oil and gas to solar and wind and other renewables.”
As a progressive candidate, Romanoff is aware that anti-Israel sentiment emanates from his party’s left flank, but he seeks to set himself apart. “I don’t take the view that Israel can do no wrong or that it should be immune from criticism from its friends,” he said. “I think most people in both the Democratic and Republican Party share an understanding that Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself and, I think, also a desire to see a homeland for the Palestinian people. So I’d like to advance that consensus.”
In a position paper he provided to JI, Romanoff elaborates on his views regarding Israel and the Middle East. He supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, opposes annexation of parts of the West Bank and advocates for renewing aid to the Palestinian Authority as well as United Nations agencies that support Palestinian refugees.
Romanoff also believes that the United States should rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement. While he regards Iran as “the leading state sponsor of terrorism” and doesn’t rule out military force as a means to counteract it, he characterizes President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the deal as a “dangerous and short-sighted mistake.”
For his part, Hickenlooper also advocates for a two-state solution as well as resuming U.S. participation in the Iran nuclear deal. He has the support of a number of pro-Israel organizations, including J Street, Democratic Majority for Israel and the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
“John has an excellent record of job creation and economic progress, expanding Medicare access, combating climate change and enacting gun safety measures,” Halie Soifer, executive director of the JDCA, told JI in a statement. “His agenda is aligned with that of Jewish voters and we look forward to him winning the primary next week and the election in November.”
Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO)
In a recent interview, Gardner touted his pro-Israel bonafides, telling JI that he had visited the Jewish state a number of times. “I’ve built a good relationship with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and actually have had the chance to work with [Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister] Benny Gantz as well,” he said.
Gardner endorses Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran deal while tentatively praising the president’s Middle East peace plan. “Look, we’ve got a long ways to go,” he said. “I certainly welcome the ideas that more people have to try to find a solution. I think it’s got more work to do, and we have to keep trying.”
As enthusiasm for Trump has waned nationwide, experts say that Gardner, an avid supporter of the president, may be at a disadvantage in a state that has been trending blue and in a moment when a progressive wave is sweeping the country. Gardner acknowledges that he has a challenging contest ahead of him as his first term comes to an end. “Colorado was always tough, there’s no doubt about that.” he said. “But I feel very good about what we have done for the people of Colorado.”
The incumbent seemed emboldened by Hickenlooper’s recent indiscretions. “While I’ve been busy passing the Great American Outdoors Act,” the senator said, “John Hickenlooper was busy ignoring a legally binding subpoena.”
Dick Wadhams, a Republican political consultant in Colorado, told JI that Gardner is in a better position than he was a few weeks ago. “I think Cory Gardner’s definitely in the game now,” he said. Wadhams added that Hickenlooper will be “limping” out of the primary if he manages to defeat Romanoff — a question mark at the moment. “A month ago, I would have said there’s no way Romanoff has any shot at this, but today I’m saying he’s got a shot.”
That Hickenlooper — whose campaign declined repeated requests for an interview with JI — is facing a serious primary challenger may come as a surprise to the Senate hopeful, who has “led a charmed political life,” according to Masket. “He’s honestly not faced that many serious competitors, and part of that is because a lot of Republicans have feared running against him, but he has always been very good at managing to get Democratic constituencies on his side while not scaring off moderates.”
Laura Chapin, a Democratic political consultant in Colorado, has faith in Hickenlooper’s chances, having voted early for him in the primary because of his record on reproductive rights, which she supports. She believes the ethics issues — charges that, as governor, Hickenlooper accepted gifts including a private jet ride — have been overblown.
Still, Romanoff believes he can beat Hickenlooper and then vanquish Gardner in November. “A lot of voters are reevaluating their decisions,” he said.
Though Romanoff announced that he had left the state on Tuesday to be with his dying father — preventing him from campaigning, at least for a few days, in the last week before the primary — he will return to Colorado today, according to a spokeswoman for his campaign.
In conversation with JI, he appeared to be energized by the prospect of finally fulfilling his ambition to move beyond state politics.
“For me, the opportunity here is not just to point out all the places where Gardner and Trump have gone wrong,” Romanoff said, “but to paint a picture of what the world might look like if you put a different group of people in charge.”
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