As Washington, D.C., voters get ready to elect their first new mayor in more than a decade, the two leading candidates — former colleagues on the Council of the District of Columbia — are proposing drastically different visions for the city’s future: political moderation or democratic socialism.

In an interview with Jewish Insider this week at his campaign headquarters in Northeast Washington, former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie drew a direct contrast between his campaign and that of his Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed rival, Janeese Lewis George. 

“I didn’t seek, nor would I accept, the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America, or any organization, for that matter, that requires some sort of divisive pledge to exclude people that are a part of the fabric of the community of the District of Columbia,” McDuffie said.

He was referring to a DSA endorsement questionnaire that asked candidates not to engage with “the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups.” Lewis George, a longtime DSA member, vowed not to attend events that promote Zionism when she filled out the questionnaire, which earned her the DSA endorsement. 

Lewis George’s responses sparked concern among many in the Jewish community, and she apologized in a closed-door meeting with rabbis in March. But she has not offered any public remorse. 

“I think it’s important for elected officials to have the courage to say in public things that they say in private,” McDuffie said. “Any message that depends on taking a pledge to exclude entire communities as a condition of a political endorsement is extraordinarily divisive and disturbing.” 

Amid the controversy surrounding her DSA questionnaire and the meeting with rabbis, Lewis George released a statement last month pledging to stand firm in both her opposition to antisemitism and her support for “Palestinian human rights.” McDuffie told JI that he did not see the mayoral race as a place to litigate debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I think a mayor’s responsibility is to look out for all of its residents, particularly our most vulnerable residents,” said McDuffie. “At a time where the Jewish community is seeing rising antisemitism worldwide, and even the District of Columbia, it’s important that they understand that their elected officials are going to use every tool possible to protect them.” 

“I didn’t bring those issues into this race. My opponent did it when she sought the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America,” McDuffie said. “I’m not running for Congress. I’m not engaging in the crafting of foreign policy. I’m running for mayor of Washington, D.C., the most beautifully diverse city in America, and I’m running to fight and deliver for all D.C.”

McDuffie is actively courting votes in the Jewish community. He will appear next week at a meet-and-greet with Jewish young professionals in the District. 

“I think a mayor’s responsibility is to look out for all of its residents, particularly our most vulnerable residents,” said McDuffie. “At a time where the Jewish community is seeing rising antisemitism worldwide, and even the District of Columbia, it’s important that they understand that their elected officials are going to use every tool possible to protect them.” 

McDuffie pledged to speak out against antisemitic violence and rhetoric so that the District’s Jewish residents “understand that they have a mayor and elected leadership who’s going to strongly oppose those kinds of activities and threats and do everything humanly possible to protect them.” He called the city’s nonprofit security grant program, which provides funding to several local synagogues to pay for security expenses, a “nonnegotiable,” even if the city faces other budget challenges. 

Born and raised in Northeast Washington, McDuffie entered politics circuitously. He worked as a mail carrier for the USPS before ultimately going to college and law school, in a career pivot he said was inspired by witnessing the death of two friends to the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. He spent a few years as a prosecutor, in Maryland and at the Justice Department, before running for Council in 2013. McDuffie represented Ward 5, which includes the neighborhoods Bloomingdale, Eckington, Brookland and Fort Totten, until being elected to a citywide at-large position in 2022 where he served until January.

His message now is about affordability, a buzzword brought into style last year by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a DSA member like Lewis George. The way to make the city more affordable, according to McDuffie, is “economic growth with guardrails” — a contrast to the sweeping changes promised by Lewis George, the viability of which McDuffie has questioned.

“They want experience. They want vision. They want bold. They want change. What they don’t want is more empty promises,” said McDuffie. “What they don’t want is rhetoric that isn’t supported by an actual plan. What they don’t want is somebody who engages with organizations seeking to divide residents, and what we think we have as an advantage is both a vision that is about building a big tent and inviting people in and a record.” 

“We’re the nation’s capital. We can walk and chew gum,” McDuffie said. “I think that’s important for people to understand, that we can have innovative, transformational policies at the same time that we’re delivering core services on time and within a budget that doesn’t default to raising taxes on hard-working residents.” 

McDuffie seemed to recognize that pushing a vision of pragmatism may not be as seductive as promises powered by major spending increases. For instance, both Lewis George and McDuffie want to build new housing in the city, but Lewis George has promised to build 72,000 new units compared to 12,000 suggested by McDuffie, The Washington Post reported. But McDuffie argued that voters want honesty.

“They want experience. They want vision. They want bold. They want change. What they don’t want is more empty promises,” said McDuffie. “What they don’t want is rhetoric that isn’t supported by an actual plan. What they don’t want is somebody who engages with organizations seeking to divide residents, and what we think we have as an advantage is both a vision that is about building a big tent and inviting people in and a record.” 

Though McDuffie and Lewis George are widely viewed as the frontrunners in the race, they are not the only candidates running in the Democratic primary which, in deep blue Washington, will almost certainly decide the eventual victor. Other candidates in the June 16 primary include real estate developer Gary Goodweather and former Councilmember Vincent Orange.

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in one of the marquee Democratic primary contests of the midterms, is declining to clarify his position on U.S. funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, even as he expressed his support for the aid last year during an unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

His reticence comes as some leading progressive lawmakers, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), have said they will oppose further funding for Iron Dome and other defensive systems used to intercept incoming attacks against Israel. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Lander’s top ally in the June House race to unseat Goldman, a pro-Israel stalwart, confirmed last week that he agreed with Ocasio-Cortez’s commitment to oppose defensive aid to Israel.

Asked to clarify his position on Iron Dome funding, Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Lander, told Jewish Insider on Wednesday he would not be commenting and did not return follow-up emails. Lander did not respond to a text message from JI seeking comment on Thursday.

Lander, an outspoken Jewish Democrat who has long identified as a progressive Zionist critical of Israeli policies, confirmed to the New York Post last spring while mounting his mayoral campaign that he believed the United States should continue to provide funding for Iron Dome and other related defensive systems to help repel missiles launched by Iran and its regional proxy groups including Hamas and Hezbollah.

He and his campaign would not disclose whether he still holds that position. 

Despite a lack of clarity on defensive aid, Lander has otherwise made clear that he favors conditions on broader military assistance to Israel, vowing in February to support the Block the Bombs Act — legislation that seeks to impose sweeping new restrictions on offensive weapons transfers to Israel.

Lander’s apparent reluctance to specifically weigh in on Iron Dome, support for which has long drawn widespread bipartisan support, underscores how he is now cautiously navigating a sensitive issue that is emerging as a sort of electoral litmus test within the far-left activist base he is courting while building his congressional campaign. On Thursday, Lander won backing from a new MoveOn.org campaign called “Stop the War Hawks,” described as a counter to spending from AI, defense contractors and AIPAC, which has endorsed Goldman.

In his bid to represent a heavily Jewish House district covering Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, Lander has sought to cast himself as an anti-AIPAC foe, accusing Goldman, a fellow Jewish Democrat, of being beholden to pro-Israel interests.

But in contrast to Mamdani and his allies in the Democratic Socialists of America, Lander, a former DSA member, has been less willing to fully endorse a maximalist approach to opposing Israel — even as he has forcefully escalated his rhetoric in the wake of its war in Gaza, which he has called a genocide.

Still, he has rejected the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel and insists he believes in Israel as a Jewish state, illustrating some possible points of tension with the activist left as the competitive June 23 primary approaches.

For his part, Goldman voiced his strong support for Iron Dome funding in a statement to JI this week — raising further questions over where Lander will fall on the issue.

“Our number one goal must always be to keep innocent people safe. The Iron Dome provides critical protection to millions of civilians and saves hundreds of innocent lives every day. I will always support defensive systems that keep civilians out of harm’s way,” Goldman said.

The two-term congressman, who significantly outraised Lander in the most recent quarter, argued in a recent interview that “Israel’s security is a much more complicated question than so-called offensive or defensive weapons.”

“I do not believe that Israel should be left to defend itself based on the Iron Dome itself,” he explained, “without the opportunity to have a deterrent effect of being able to either preemptively or reactively respond to attacks.”

Jewish Insider’s Washington reporter Matthew Shea contributed to this report.

A constellation of anti-Israel groups is coalescing behind Adam Hamawy, a doctor who served as a trauma surgeon in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas and has been an outspoken critic of Israel, in the competitive Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. He also recently reported raising $550,000 in the first quarter of 2026, a sizable sum.

Justice Democrats and PAL PAC, a new group affiliated with the Institute for Middle East Understanding that aims to counter AIPAC, both offered their endorsements of Hamawy last month, moves that could bring more national attention and backing to the candidate.

“From war zones to the operating room, Dr. Hamawy has seen firsthand how our government’s misplaced priorities mean life and death for millions of people in America and across the world,” Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement.

“As a physician, he has witnessed the destruction wrought by our tax dollars abroad, while seeing his own patients struggle to afford the healthcare they need at home,” PAL PAC executive director Margaret DeReus said in a statement. “He is a witness with a mandate to ensure our resources fund healthcare at home, not Israel’s war crimes abroad.”

Hamawy had previously been endorsed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and TrackAIPAC, as well as by former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who was also an outspoken critic of Israel. Hamawy was also endorsed by the more moderate Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who credits Hamawy for saving her life after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq.

Sue Altman, a progressive organizer and former senior staffer for Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), is viewed as a highly competitive challenger, alongside a handful of local officials who are likely to have support in their own communities, including East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp and state Rep. Verlina Reynolds-Jackson.

Altman advanced to the June ballot despite a slew of challenges to petition signatures she collected.

Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said that Hamawy’s $550,000 first quarter fundraising haul and the recent endorsements show momentum for his campaign, but “what remains to be seen is whether this translates into forcing Altman to split the outside lane with him.  In order for that to happen, he will need to invest his money effectively — presumably in sharing his personal story, which is how he differentiates himself.”

Dan Cassino, the executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, said he sees Altman as the frontrunner, “but Hamawy’s fundraising numbers certainly put him in the top tier along with [former Department of Energy official Jay] Vaingankar and a host of local candidates who could win on the strength of name recognition and strong ties to the district. “

Cassino said that, if voters focus on national issues in the election, as they did in the special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, that would be a poor sign for Reynolds-Jackson, Cohen and Mapp. 

“The endorsements matter, because they serve as a signal to voters in a race where partisanship can’t be used as a heuristic, but anyone who’s closely following the endorsements probably already has a favorite candidate,” Cassino added. “The more important signal is about who is, and is not, a serious candidate: voters are very concerned about tossing their ballots away on a candidate who doesn’t have much of a chance, and endorsements can be used as a signal that a candidate should be taken seriously.”

Rasmussen said that Cohen, who is Jewish, remains one of the stronger candidates in the “establishment lane,” having picked up the endorsement of the Middlesex County Democrats, which have a strong vote-by-mail turnout operation. Middlesex has also made up the largest turnout bloc in the district.

“But … he’s still sharing that crowded establishment lane with candidates from every other county,” Rasmussen said.

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

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.

ROYAL OAK, Mich. — Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is running in a tight three-way Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, slammed one of her opponents, Abdul El-Sayed, for his decision to campaign with the far-left political streamer Hasan Piker. 

Piker, who has a history of antisemitic and pro-Hamas remarks, is slated to appear at two campaign rallies with El-Sayed and Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) in April. 

“It is somebody who says extremely offensive things in order to generate clicks and views and followers, which is not entirely different from somebody like Nick Fuentes,” McMorrow told Jewish Insider in an interview Thursday, referring to the neo-Nazi podcaster. “[Piker] is a provocateur, to put it lightly, who says things that are misogynistic and antisemitic, and said that the United States deserved 9/11.” 

McMorrow’s comments come as El-Sayed has doubled down on his decision to campaign with Piker. The third major candidate in the Democratic primary, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), said on Wednesday that Piker is “the exact opposite of someone I’d be campaigning with,” a sentiment McMorrow echoed.

“That is not somebody that you should be campaigning with at a moment when there is clearly a lot of pain and trauma across our state,” said McMorrow. “How do you bring everybody together, especially when there are difficult conversations, where there aren’t easy answers? You don’t fan the flames and stoke division just to get attention.” 

Earlier this month, a heavily armed man drove a car into Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue with an early childcare center in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., before he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The assailant’s brother, a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, was killed by Israeli forces not long before the Michigan attack.

“I had made a statement back in 2023 after the Oct. 7 attacks that my biggest fear was that events in the Middle East tear us apart at home, and this was an example of that coming to life in a really visceral and terrifying way,” McMorrow said. 

“However you feel about what is happening in the Middle East, the response is never to take it out on people at home. The 140 kids who were at preschool that day bear no responsibility at all for anything that’s happening in the Middle East. And the rhetoric [is] being ratcheted up.”

Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie criticized his Democratic primary opponents for pledging to avoid campaigning with elements of the Jewish community — an apparent jab at Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed rival Janeese Lewis George, who is facing backlash from Jewish leaders over her pledge to boycott events she described as promoting Zionism.

“Recent reporting has raised serious concerns about how some candidates for office in DC have pledged not to engage with the majority of Jewish organizations in exchange for political support,” McDuffie wrote in a campaign email on Tuesday. “That is wrong. Full stop.”

McDuffie did not mention Lewis George or any specific candidates in his email. 

Lewis George, who earned the endorsement of the Metro D.C. chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, wrote in a DSA questionnaire that she would not attend events focused on “promoting Zionism and apartheid.” She met last week with rabbis and local Jewish leaders who were concerned about her posture toward the Jewish community, Jewish Insider reported on Monday. 

She privately apologized for her responses and blamed them on a staff member, but has not expressed that sentiment publicly. 

“There is no place in this city for shutting out any community — especially in pursuit of political gain,” McDuffie wrote. “Not antisemitism. Not Islamophobia. Not racism. Not sexism.” 

The DSA questionnaire also asked candidates to refrain from affiliating with the Israeli government and “Zionist lobby groups.” In her responses, Lewis George defended her appearance at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington meeting in December, but said she was there to talk about immigration enforcement. 

She said she did not align with JCRC’s stance on Israel and Zionism, and that she disagrees with the organization’s “definition of anti-semitism that criminalizes dissent, and their attacks on activists.” 

“Leadership matters in moments like this,” wrote McDuffie. “As your next mayor, I will bring people together across lines of difference. I will engage every community in this city, especially when it is not easy or politically convenient.” 

Washington, McDuffie said, “must be a city where every resident — regardless of faith, race, gender, or identity — feels safe, respected and heard.” 

Analilia Mejia, a progressive activist and organizer who won a surprise victory in the special election primary in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, looks to be on track to win the district’s regular election Democratic primary after several of her potential opponents declined to run.

In the days after Mejia’s surprise victory over former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) and other more moderate candidates, there was speculation over whether she might be vulnerable to a one-on-one challenge in the regular primary on June 2. United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-linked super PAC that inadvertently helped boost Mejia, teased the possibility of  further involvement in the subsequent primary.

But former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way announced Sunday that she wouldn’t run against Mejia for the seat, leaving Mejia with no major Democratic competition; other moderate candidates in the special election primary also declined to run again, and Assemblywoman Rosaura Bagolie briefly considered a run, but decided not to pursue a bid as elected Democrats in the state quickly coalesced behind Mejia.

Several of the other Democratic special election candidates pledged not to run for the full term if they lost the special election — but Way had not made such a promise.

“Since the special primary, I have been deeply humbled by the outreach of so many who encouraged me to run in the June primary for Congress in NJ-11,” Way said in a statement. “The confidence and belief so many friends and neighbors have placed in me means more than I can say. After many conversations with my family, who are my greatest calling, and a lot of prayer, I have decided that this is not the right moment for another campaign. But make no mistake: I am not going anywhere.”

Even as the Democratic field has cleared for Mejia, her campaign has in recent days found itself at odds with the League of Women Voters.

The nonpartisan organization canceled its scheduled district-wide candidate forum — set to feature Mejia and Republican nominee Joe Hathaway, the former mayor of Randolph, N.J. — because the LWV and Mejia “could not reach an agreement with Mejia’s campaign and still maintain the League’s nonpartisan debate policy,” according to an LWV statement.

Mejia asserted that the LWV had refused to commit to diversity among the debate moderators; the LWV refuted her claim, stating its moderator is indeed a person of color but Mejia wanted to personally approve of them, which it would not allow. Hathaway accused Mejia of trying to “mislead voters and frame it as a diversity issue.”

Mejia’s stance has elicited criticism even from some fellow Democrats, including Bagolie, who criticized her comments about the LWV.

“If someone believes a debate is not worth their time, say that, it’s honest. But throwing the League under the bus is not okay,” Bagolie said. “I understand the instinct to rally behind a Democrat at all costs. I do. But we cannot excuse behavior that mirrors what we say we are fighting against.”

Hathaway, in a long-shot bid for the blue seat, has leaned into efforts to attract Jewish and pro-Israel voters in the district, and is pitching himself as a moderate with cross-party appeal.

With one week to go until the hotly contested Democratic primary in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, a new, well-funded super PAC is spending big on an ad campaign against Kat Abughazaleh, a far-left social media influencer who has staked out strong anti-Israel stances.

The group, Chicago Progressive Partnership, has reportedly spent around $1 million since its campaign against Abughazaleh began last week. A new television ad appears designed to sow doubt about her progressive credentials, referencing her writings from high school, when she backed Marco Rubio, then a senator, in the 2016 presidential primary and expressed conservative views on Social Security.

Other ads from the group accused her of taking donations from billionaires, Republicans and Trump supporters, an issue that has become a major point of attack in the race, primarily targeting moderate state Sen. Laura Fine.

“Who is the real Kat Abughazaleh? We don’t really know,” one ad states.

Abughazaleh has largely brushed off the attacks in a pair of mocking YouTube videos.

“AIPAC is so scared I’m going to beat them next week, and they should be,” she said in one of the videos.

Recent reporting from the district suggests that Chicago Progressive Partnership is tied to Elect Chicago Women, another new super PAC rumored to be backed by Israel supporters, which has spent millions supporting Fine and attacking Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, also an Israel critic.

All told, the focus on attacking Abughazaleh — who would likely be the most hostile of the three candidates toward Israel — suggests a shift in tactics from reportedly pro-Israel groups, which until this week have mainly focused on hitting Biss while boosting Fine.

A new public poll of the primary shows Biss narrowly leading Abughazaleh, 24-20%, with Fine lagging behind in third place with 14% support. The poll also showed Abughazaleh gaining support and Fine losing support over the last several weeks. 

Last month, the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC inadvertently helped boost the far-left Analilia Mejia in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District as it focused its spending against former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), and the new spending against Abughazaleh may be aimed at preventing a repeat of such an outcome.

Elect Chicago Women filed with the Federal Election Commission notice of its most recent pro-Fine expenditures on March 6, and its last anti-Biss expenditures on March 3. The group has spent more than $1 million opposing Biss.

Some in the area had warned that focusing attacks on Biss could replicate a similar outcome as in New Jersey, pushing progressive voters away from him and toward Abughazaleh, though the Elect Chicago Women spending initially focused on boosting Fine, something UDP never did for its favored candidate in New Jersey.

Abughazaleh herself has attributed the influx of spending against her to such concerns, saying in a YouTube video, “I think they’re realizing that they might get another NJ-11 here.”

Meanwhile, in other Chicago-area districts, anti-Israel groups are going on the offensive.

The Justice Democrats and IMEU Policy Project, an anti-Israel group that has been increasingly active politically this cycle, are spending at least $100,000 to attack former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District. Bean is a pro-Israel moderate, and favored to win the race.

And in Chicago’s 2nd District, County Commissioner Donna Miller is facing attacks from the Working Families Party in ad accusing Miller of taking “MAGA billionaires’ money,” citing the alleged pro-Israel outside spending in Chicago, and accusing her of collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The WFP ad offers support for state Sen. Robert Peters, highlighting his record of opposing ICE and his endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and others. The group has spent at least $100,000 on the ads.

So far, Elect Chicago Women has spent $3.8 million supporting Bean; Affordable Chicago Now, another group rumored to be backed by Israel supporters, has spent $3.3 million supporting Miller; and UDP has spent $3.3 million supporting Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the 7th Congressional District.

A host of other outside groups, including those affiliated with the AI and cryptocurrency industries, have also spent millions across the four open Chicago House races.

In the closing message of her campaign ahead of the North Carolina Democratic primary today, Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a far-left antagonist of Israel, is leaning into criticism of the war against Iran.

“President Trump just used our taxpayer dollars to bomb a school in Iran, killing over 100 elementary school children and starting another endless war abroad. This is reprehensible, and I strongly condemn it, as should every elected official,” Allam said in a direct-to-camera video ad posted on social media on Monday — despite no evidence that the U.S. or Israel were responsible for the strike.

Allam, who is Muslim, vowed that she would never accept support from defense contractors or pro-Israel groups, and said she “opposed these ‘forever wars’ my entire career, and I hope to earn your vote to be your proudly uncompromised pro-peace leader in Washington.”

By contrast, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC), aiming to fend off a primary challenge from Allam, offered a condemnation of the “brutal and repressive” Iranian regime in a statement on Monday, while arguing that its “abuses do not give the president the authority to launch military strikes without Congressional approval.” She said Congress must vote to bring the war to an end.

In an initial statement on X over the weekend, Foushee issued an unequivocal condemnation of the operation, calling it “an unconstitutional escalation that risks dragging the United States into another catastrophic and endless war in the Middle East” that “ignores the will of the American people and recklessly puts our servicemembers in harm’s way” without making mention of the Iranian regime.

In 2022, Foushee won the seat in the 4th Congressional District against Allam with significant backing from the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC, but Foushee has taken a more critical posture towards Israel over the last year. This year, significant outside spending has flowed into the race on both sides.

Allam’s allies have claimed that AIPAC is secretly spending to support Foushee, who vowed not to accept funding from the group last year. But AIPAC has strongly denied those claims. “Rep. Foushee rejected AIPAC support and we are not involved in or participating in any way in this race,” the group said Monday.

Foushee has faced a spate of attacks during the primary, including from the groups backing Allam, over her past support for Israel and relationship with AIPAC. She has gone to significant lengths to emphasize that she has cut ties with AIPAC, telling Politico, “My voting record and support for legislation to stop arms sales to Israel speaks for itself.”

The race to the left on Israel in the primary, in a deeply progressive district, underscores the extent to which Middle East politics have shifted and criticism of the Jewish state has become a litmus test in left-wing circles and districts. The shift comes as a new Gallup poll shows, for the first time, that Americans are now more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israelis.

Allam’s comments centering the U.S. as the perpetrator of atrocities in the Iran war also point to how radical she could end up being if elected to Congress.

The race also raises a key questionfor pro-Israel groups and voters going forward: when the two choices are a critic of Israel and an even more extreme critic of Israel, how should they respond? Is it worth backing someone critical of Israel to prevent someone with even stronger views from being elected?

Robert Peters, a far-left state senator from Illinois who is now competing in a crowded Democratic primary for a safely blue Chicago-area House seat, has made anti-AIPAC messaging a central focus of his campaign, castigating the pro-Israel group as a corrupting force in congressional elections funded by Trump-aligned interests scheming to promote a “right-wing agenda.”

Just last week, for instance, Peters joined forces with a coalition of progressive House candidates in Illinois to decry AIPAC’s recently reported political engagement in key congressional races in the state, claiming that anyone who accepts support from the group will become “a ‘yes man’ to Trump donors to commit unspeakable horrors in another part of the world.”

Not long after he had launched his campaign last year, however, Peters met privately with an AIPAC official in Chicago and then filed an Israel position paper at the group’s request, according to a person with close ties to the organization who reviewed the document at the time it was submitted. 

The behind-the-scenes engagement — rumors about which have circulated among Peters’ opponents — raises questions about the sincerity of his hostile rhetoric toward AIPAC as he now is building support from prominent Israel critics.

Most likely, the source familiar with the matter suggested to Jewish Insider this week, Peters was “seeking AIPAC’s good grace” in a strategic effort to preempt attacks from its super PAC, United Democracy Project, which often targets candidates who stray from pro-Israel messaging. 

“Israel is a vital partner to the United States, and Congress must ensure that this special relationship is preserved,” Peters wrote in his paper, confirming in a separate section he is “committed to ensuring the U.S. continues to be an essential ally of Israel, including funding foreign aid to protect the people of Israel from terrorism, cyber threats and missile attacks.”

The group is now facing scrutiny over its alleged covert funding of a newly formed super PAC, called Affordable Chicago Now!, which is investing heavily in Peters’ race to help boost a top rival, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, a pro-Israel Democratic candidate. Peters, for his part, has accused “AIPAC and Trump donors” of “pouring cash” into Miller’s primary bid, warning “AIPAC and Trump allies” are now “trying to buy this seat,” though AIPAC has not endorsed her and UDP is not publicly involved in the race in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District. (UDP did not respond to a request for comment.)

The policy paper that Peters allegedly submitted to AIPAC — screenshots of which were obtained by JI — is far more measured than the anti-Israel stances he now espouses. Most strikingly, he voiced support for upholding continued U.S. military aid to Israel, which the group views as one of its top litmus tests. Earlier this month, for example, UDP invested millions on attack ads in a special House primary in a wealthy suburb of northern New Jersey, hitting an erstwhile ally, former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who had entertained policies to condition assistance to Israel. 

“Israel is a vital partner to the United States, and Congress must ensure that this special relationship is preserved,” Peters wrote in his paper, confirming in a separate section he is “committed to ensuring the U.S. continues to be an essential ally of Israel, including funding foreign aid to protect the people of Israel from terrorism, cyber threats and missile attacks.”

By contrast, Peters has more recently condemned AIPAC-backed candidates as pro-Israel pawns “OK with unconditional military aid” to support what he calls Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “war machine,” which he says committed genocide in Gaza. If elected, Peters has pledged to sign on to the Block the Bombs Act, a bill that seeks to impose sweeping new conditions on U.S. weapons transfers to Israel.

Matthew Fisch, a spokesperson for Peters, said in a statement to JI on Wednesday that the state senator has shared his Israel position paper “with a range of stakeholders and individuals upon request, some of whom responded with feedback for our campaign.”

“Among those stakeholders was AIPAC staffer Martin Ritter, who has a longstanding relationship with Robert going back to his days as an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union,” Fisch said. He claimed that Ritter, who directs AIPAC’s Midwest outreach in Chicago, “requested the document and provided feedback, which our campaign promptly rejected.”

Peters “is not and has never been open to receiving support from AIPAC for his campaign,” Fisch said, noting the candidate’s “positions on this issue are well documented and have been widely discussed.”

When JI first reached out to Peters’ campaign last October to inquire about the paper, Fisch said the document had been “drafted in the early months of the campaign to share with any and all stakeholders from across the spectrum of viewpoints,” and that it had “reflected Robert’s nuanced position on a range of subjects in the context of that moment.”

He did not respond to follow-up questions from JI at the time asking if the paper had been submitted to AIPAC.

Peters, a Jewish convert, had long been prominently opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza, joining at least one anti-Israel protest affiliated with the far-left Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, the latter of which is now backing his campaign. He called for a ceasefire in mid-November 2023, just over a month after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, writing in an opinion piece that he had “watched the unprecedented bombing campaign rain down on” Gaza and “saw that it was being done in our name, as Jews and as Americans.”

But even as Peters’ outspoken views on Israel would seem to preclude any outreach to AIPAC, the source familiar with his engagement, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic, said he had regularly been in touch with the group at least until January, when he spoke with Ritter to express his concerns that the paper had been leaked.

Fisch confirmed that a call took place last month but said Ritter initiated it. “At the time, he falsely insisted to Robert that AIPAC was not supporting Commissioner Miller,” he told JI, “something that proved demonstrably false just a few days later.”

“Robert has always supported conditioning aid and ensuring it is in full compliance with the Leahy Law and international law,” Matthew Fisch, a spokesperson for Peters, told JI, adding the paper “does not mention the Block the Bombs Act because it was drafted prior to the bill’s introduction.”

Ritter, for his part, referred questions to an AIPAC spokesperson. “Like many advocacy organizations,” the spokesperson said in a statement to JI, “AIPAC routinely meets with candidates across the country to understand their views on issues important to its members.”

In some ways, the paper seems written specifically to meet AIPAC’s approval — including in its support for “fully” implementing the Taylor Force Act, a key legislative tool favored by the lobbying group that withholds direct aid to the Palestinian Authority until it ceases payments to convicted terrorists or members of their families.

But Fisch insisted that the paper is consistent with Peters’ long-standing Middle East policy positions. “Robert has always supported conditioning aid and ensuring it is in full compliance with the Leahy Law and international law,” he told JI, adding the paper “does not mention the Block the Bombs Act because it was drafted prior to the bill’s introduction.”

In a section of the paper on foreign aid to Israel reviewed by JI, Peters made no explicit argument for conditions, saying only that he supports “the continuation of aid in the framework of President Obama’s 2016 Memorandum of Understanding, compliant with existing U.S. law.” The 10-year agreement, set to expire in 2028, provides $3.8 billion in military aid and missile-defense funding to Israel annually — assistance the Block the Bombs Act is designed to challenge. Critics have argued the proposed legislation would effectively amount to an arms embargo on Israel for many key weapons systems.

Peters, 40, has largely positioned himself as a progressive front-runner in the March 17 primary, where 10 candidates are competing to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), who is running for Senate. In addition to Peters and Miller, the primary field includes former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL), who is drawing support from an AI-backed super PAC, and state Sen. Willie Preston, among others candidates.

During a recent candidate forum, Preston accused Peters of being dishonest in his AIPAC messaging. “Robert Peters tells you AIPAC hates him,” Preston said, according to video of the event reviewed by JI. “He sought their support — they just didn’t give it to him.”

Peters, in his own remarks at the forum, said that he shared a “position paper” with “Palestinian-led organizations,” among other organizations he claimed “groups like AIPAC fundamentally hate,” according to the video. He denounced AIPAC as a “right-wing, Trump-allied” organization, and said that “anybody taking” its support “is disqualified to represent” the district in Congress.

Peters has claimed major endorsements from leading Israel critics, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL) — who introduced the Block the Bombs Act last May. He has also won support from anti-Israel groups such as the Working Families Party, which endorsed his campaign on Tuesday, and the anti-Israel AIPAC Tracker, which has argued that candidates “only submit a policy paper to AIPAC if” they are “angling for” support from the organization.

Peters is not the only Israel critic now seeking the Democratic nomination in an Illinois primary race to have allegedly engaged in discussion with AIPAC. Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston who is hoping to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in the suburbs of Chicago, sought backing from the group before he announced his run for Congress last year, JI has reported, though he denies having done so.

Biss has claimed publicly he met with AIPAC in an effort to stave off potential spending by the group in his race.

In recent weeks, AIPAC has become a particularly divisive subject of debate in Illinois as the group has ramped up its spending while facing accusations it is attempting to hide its involvement in some districts by operating under the cover of newly created super PACs not required to disclose their funding sources until after the primaries.

“He is practiced in the ways of politics,” Tom Bowen, a Democratic strategist in Chicago who is not involved in Peters’ primary, told JI on Wednesday. “That he submitted a paper in order to demonstrate he would be a collaborative elected official, I’m not surprised at all. Robert understands politics, and you have to build coalitions in order to legislate.”

Last week, for example, Schakowsky said she was rescinding her endorsement of Miller because of support the county commissioner has reportedly received from AIPAC-aligned forces in her primary. “Illinois deserves leaders who put voters first,” the congresswoman said in a statement, “not AIPAC or out-of-state Trump donors.” 

In a separate Democratic House primary in the state, meanwhile, Anthony Driver Jr., a progressive candidate critical of Israel, said recently that he was rejecting a campaign contribution from a prominent Jewish party donor in Chicago, Michael Sacks, over his ties to AIPAC — a move Sacks lamented as a sign of growing “anti-Israel sentiment and outright Jew hate.”

Tom Bowen, a Democratic strategist in Chicago who is not involved in Peters’ primary, said he would not be surprised if the candidate had privately engaged with AIPAC, calling him a savvy political operator.

“He is practiced in the ways of politics,” he told JI on Wednesday. “That he submitted a paper in order to demonstrate he would be a collaborative elected official, I’m not surprised at all. Robert understands politics, and you have to build coalitions in order to legislate.”

As for why he is “saying what he’s saying today,” Bowen suggested that there is “obviously political opportunity in corralling support from the folks in Congress who make” Israel “a top issue for national fundraising.”

“In many races in Illinois now, it is very difficult to forge broad coalitions,” Bowen added. “Ultimately,” the candidates are working to build coalitions “they think they need to win.”

With progressive activist Analilia Mejia’s expected victory in the special election Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, attention is now turning to the upcoming April special general election and the June regular election primary as the last chances for moderates and pro-Israel groups to defeat her.

AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, which spent $2.3 million attacking former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), said in a statement that its “focus remains on who will serve the next full term in Congress” and that it will be “closely monitoring … the June NJ-11 primary, to help ensure pro-Israel candidates are elected to Congress.”

Mejia is on track to receive less than 30% of the primary vote in a relatively moderate suburban district, creating an opportunity for a moderate candidate to challenge her. But several Jewish leaders, as well as a local analyst, said that that will be difficult to achieve.

“June is potentially irresistible for the other candidates who ran … if any of these candidates could get a one-on-one shot at making it in June,” Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said. But unless the field can consolidate, Rasmussen said, it’s hard to see how the result would be any different in June.

Rasmussen said he doesn’t share the view of some Democrats that voters would be frustrated with a Democratic candidate who decides to challenge Mejia.

Though they haven’t formally endorsed her yet, other members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation appear to be coalescing around Mejia — Reps. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Rob Menendez (D-NJ) participated in a town hall focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement organized by Mejia on Saturday, and Menendez — a relative moderate aligned with the state’s party machine — posted a photo with her on Sunday.

Malinowski has not yet conceded the race, but said during the primary that he would not run again in June if he lost. Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill also does not plan to run again. That leaves the most likely moderate challenger as former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who was endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel and is believed to be AIPAC’s choice in the race.

Way is holding in third with 17% of the vote. Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether she plans to run again.

Local Jewish leaders on Friday were generally pessimistic about the chances of taking Mejia down in the June primary — for the full term in Congress — but there could be a path to defeating the ascendant progressive.

“I sat on a debate stage with Analilia Mejia when she said that Israel has a right to exist, but not as a Jewish state,” Jeff Grayzel, a local Jewish leader who ran for the seat with ambitions of uniting the Jewish community behind his campaign, said. “It is said that Jews will be blessed when they stand together and will experience misfortune when they are divided. My pleas for Jewish unity in this race went unheeded. In my messaging to the Jewish community, I warned of a repeat of New York City in NJ-11, and this result is a consequence of a house divided. I pray our people can unify to find a path forward.”

Rasmussen said that Malinowski, who came closest to beating Mejia, would be the strongest candidate in a head-to-head race against Mejia in June, and Rasmussen said he could envision a scenario in which Malinowski ultimately took another shot at the seat despite his previous pledge not to.

“I think it’s a little bit tougher for Tahesha Way to do that,” Rasmussen said. “She would very clearly have outside spending with her. She’d very clearly have fundraising with her. But it’s a little tough to go from a 17% result to a majority result. We’ll see what happens. It doesn’t mean she shouldn’t think about it, she shouldn’t consider it, but it’s probably a stretch.”

Jeff Grayzel, a local Jewish leader who ran for the seat with ambitions of uniting the Jewish community behind his campaign, lamented Mejia’s victory as a disappointing development for supporters of Israel, and said the Jewish community needs to come together.

“I sat on a debate stage with Analilia Mejia when she said that Israel has a right to exist, but not as a Jewish state,” Grayzel said. “It is said that Jews will be blessed when they stand together and will experience misfortune when they are divided. My pleas for Jewish unity in this race went unheeded. In my messaging to the Jewish community, I warned of a repeat of New York City in NJ-11, and this result is a consequence of a house divided. I pray our people can unify to find a path forward.”

Though Mejia is well to the left of candidates that the district typically picks, Rasumussen said that it’s “hard to come up with a situation” where the district — drawn to favor Democrats with a highly motivated Democratic voter base in a midterm year — would become competitive for Republicans in the April 16 special general election to fill out the remainder of Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s House term.

“However, that’s not to say that Republicans won’t try,” Rasmussen said. “If I were a Republican who had the ability to invest resources, I would certainly be taking a very close look at this race on these next three elections that are going to be happening this year in this district, and trying to see if I can take advantage of the very particular circumstances.”

“I think it’s pretty clear why voters went to Mejia, and it’s not because she is a socialist or because she is the most left of any candidate in the race,” Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said. “Voters were driven away from Malinowski because of that advertising. They did not view a machine candidate as a viable alternative. They saw Mejia as the candidate in the race who could most stand up to Trump … the candidate who had the clearest position on ICE.”

Rasmussen said that UDP’s advertising against Malinowski “very clearly … worked,” citing the significant drop in Malinowski’s share of the vote from the first early votes to be submitted — where he was receiving 60-70% of the vote — and votes submitted later in the cycle, as well as votes on election day.

“It’s pretty clear that the reason they went in [Mejia’s] direction is because she carved out a different position on ICE, which is very clearly on voters minds, and just convinced voters that she was the person who could best stand up to Trump, and that, it seems is what Democratic voters are looking for,” Rasmussen said.

He was skeptical of the narrative that the result was a sign of a broader voter appetite for socialist or socialist-adjacent policies in moderate suburban districts.

“I think it’s pretty clear why voters went to Mejia, and it’s not because she is a socialist or because she is the most left of any candidate in the race,” Rasmussen said. “Voters were driven away from Malinowski because of that advertising. They did not view a machine candidate as a viable alternative. They saw Mejia as the candidate in the race who could most stand up to Trump … the candidate who had the clearest position on ICE.”

The race also saw substantially higher turnout than most anticipated — surpassing 2024 primary turnout levels in not just the 11th District but every congressional district in New Jersey, according to Rasmussen — a sign of strong Democratic motivation to vote, likely spurred by President Donald Trump.

Gill’s fourth-place finish — despite entering the race as the favorite given the backing he received from New Jersey Democratic institutions — is a clear signal that the state’s Democratic machine has largely lost its ability to shape elections to its will, Rasmussen added.

Tomorrow’s New Jersey special Democratic primary election to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s vacant House seat will offer an early test of AIPAC’s ability to continue showcasing its political clout. The pro-Israel group’s super PAC, in a potentially risky move, has spent over $2 million in ads attacking former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who has come out in favor of conditioning some aid to Israel, in hopes of electing a more reliable ally in former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way.

The group’s ad hits Malinowski not for his views on Israel, but for a bipartisan vote in 2019 funding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and over stock trades he made as a congressman. The ICE attacks, in particular, are expected to resonate in the affluent, center-left district. Because of his name recognition representing a neighboring district before losing reelection in 2022, Malinowski started out as the early front-runner but is taking a serious hit on the airwaves.

But complicating that strategy is the presence of a far-left, anti-Israel candidate in Analilia Mejia, who leads a progressive advocacy group and has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Mejia has been polling in second place, according to some reports, and has a path to winning the nomination — and the seat, given the 11th Congressional District’s Democratic lean.

The race also features Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, an establishment-oriented politician — endorsed by former Gov. Phil Murphy — who has expressed consistently pro-Israel views on the campaign trail and in an interview with Jewish Insider. 

Even as the political environment within the Democratic Party has shifted to the left, AIPAC isn’t backing down from its aggressive, on-offense playbook from 2024, when a number of mainstream pro-Israel Democrats backed by the group won their elections to Congress — while two of AIPAC’s most extreme opponents, former Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), fell short in their reelection bids.

Given the changed intraparty mood, there was a question about whether pro-Israel groups would need to play a little more defense this election cycle, or at least refocus attention on stopping the most radical candidates with a chance of winning instead of going all-out for the most principled allies.

That’s looking — at least for now — not to be the case. 

In Illinois’ upcoming primaries, state Sen. Laura Fine has emerged as the pro-Israel favorite against one frequent critic of Israel (Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss) and one outspoken anti-Israel activist (social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh) in another affluent Democratic district just outside of Chicago. The pro-Israel community isn’t hedging its bets in a bid to prevent Abughazaleh from prevailing.

The confident pro-Israel playbook looks like it’s working. Fine just announced raising a whopping $1.2 million in the last three months of 2025, and a new internal poll for Fine’s campaign shows her tied with Biss in first place, holding the momentum in the crowded primary.

That same dynamic is playing out in Michigan’s three-way Senate primary, where Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) is being rewarded with political support and donations for her long record of pro-Israel allyship. Her opponents offer two different shades of opposition to Israel: state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who tagged Israel’s war against Hamas as a genocide but has now been looking to pivot away from talking about the Middle East; and virulently anti-Israel physician Abdul El-Sayed, who has made hostility to Israel a central part of his campaign message. But McMorrow doesn’t appear to be winning — at least for now — much support from pro-Israel Democrats worried about stopping El-Sayed at all costs.

The New Jersey special election primary also features some quirks that incentivize AIPAC’s involvement. The district, in the northern part of the state, has a significant Jewish constituency, and is one of the most affluent districts in the country, making it uniquely well-suited for a mainstream pro-Israel centrist regardless of the national party trends. “This is a capitalist district,” one Democratic strategist who lives in the district told JI. 

In addition, there will be another regularly scheduled primary in June for the full two-year term starting in 2027 — as opposed to the special election, which will only elect a lawmaker for the remainder of the year. If Malinowski gets elected, he’ll likely maintain a lock on the seat for as long as he wants it.  As a former congressman, he’d reenter Congress as a more-influential, longer-tenured member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But if a left-wing candidate like Mejia surprisingly squeaks through, she’d likely face difficulty winning the primary for a full term. 

AIPAC’s super PAC — the United Democracy Project — also has another good reason to play an active role in this year’s primaries. It reported $96 million cash on hand at the end of 2025, more than twice as much financial firepower as it had last cycle at this time. 

As she competes in a crowded Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 7th District, Carol Obando-Derstine is hoping support from the former Democratic incumbent, her Latina immigrant background, her experience in politics and activism and her expertise in energy will help her stand out in the competitive field of Democrats vying to unseat Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) in the upcoming midterms.

Asked by Jewish Insider about her path to victory in the Democratic primary — facing opponents with, variously, stronger fundraising numbers and backing from popular Gov. Josh Shapiro — Obando-Derstine emphasized that she was endorsed by Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), who held the seat from 2018-2025.

She said she also understands firsthand the difficulties that voters in the district are facing, as well as the “strength of our community.” She said has a record in getting results for the district through her work with community organizations, while working for former Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) as an advisor on Latino affairs and her background in the energy industry.

Though she didn’t speak at length about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Obando-Derstine is taking a positive approach to the U.S.-Israel relationship on the campaign trail, telling JI, “America has a special relationship with Israel … and I will ensure that we continue to have [that] … there’s a deep connection between our two countries that spans generations.”

She said she supports continued aid to Israel and rejected characterizations of the war in Gaza as a genocide. She also called for the U.S. to continue to pursue a two-state solution.

Obando-Derstine also said that it’s “essential for [Iran] not to have access to a nuclear weapon, for our safety as well as Israel” and that she approves of any necessary methods, including military strikes or sanctions, to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, adding that “diplomacy is always the first approach that we should have.”

At home, Obando-Derstine said she’s very concerned by the rise in antisemitism, alongside rising hate against Latinos and immigrants, and said that “there is no place for that type of hate in America.”

She praised the approach taken by the Biden administration, including its national task force to combat antisemitism, and said that Congress must work to protect people from being attacked for their religion or the color of their skin.

“I know what that’s like to be targeted because I’m Latina and we have that, we have a firm and very clear responsibility to protect all Americans,” she continued. 

Obando-Derstine noted she’s the only woman, the only Latina candidate and the only bilingual and bicultural candidate in the race, and has made outreach in Spanish a component of her campaign since its launch — in a district, the 7th, in the Lehigh Valley, that’s about one-fifth Latino.

She also highlighted her experience as an energy expert, at a time when voters are struggling with utility costs and are grappling with the rapid spread of data centers.

Obando-Derstine is backed by EMILY’s List, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ PAC and 314 PAC, which supports candidates with STEM backgrounds. Obando-Derstine and fellow primary candidate Bob Brooks are both designated by J Street PAC as “primary approved” candidates.

“I decided to run for Congress because I had had enough of watching working families struggle while politicians like Ryan Mackenzie voted to cut health care, food assistance and raise prices, all the while giving trillions in tax cuts to billionaires,” Obando-Derstine said. “And I’m also an immigrant, and I see blatant attacks on immigrants and Latinos in particular, and I just couldn’t stay on the sidelines.”

Like many candidates nationwide, she said her top priority is improving affordability and expanding health-care access. She said she’s also focused on supporting the workforce and small businesses, promoting clean energy and fighting back against the “reckless agenda that’s coming out of Washington … the prioritization of billionaires over working families, the targeting of law-abiding folks by ICE and health-care cuts.”

Former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) has emerged as an early front-runner in the Illinois 8th Congressional District primary, though she’s facing off against a number of anti-Israel candidates.

Bean, who maintained a pro-Israel record in office, is running as a relative moderate. One of her leading challengers is likely to be Junaid Ahmed, who supports an arms embargo and end to all military aid to Israel, making a second run for the seat, with another candidate who has expressed support for policies cutting off aid to Israel, Yasmin Bankole, also showing some early strength in polling.

“Coming into it, you’d say Melissa would probably be the one to beat. The question is, has the party changed a lot, especially in primaries, since she was in the House last?” Pete Giangreco, a longtime Chicago-based Democratic political strategist, told Jewish Insider. “Has the party moved — or at least Democratic primary voters, have they moved to the left more than where Melissa is, is sort of an open question.”

Internal polling by the Bean campaign last September showed her with a narrow lead but only polling at 10%, followed by Ahmed at 8%, Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison at 5% and Bankole, a Hanover Park trustee, at 3%, with more than two-thirds of respondents undecided.

A late November poll by the campaign of military veteran and attorney Dan Tully found Bean leading at 20%, followed by Morrison at 10%, Bankole at 7% and Ahmed at 5%, with 46% undecided.

Businessman Neil Khot, who is self-funding his campaign, is also a wild card assuming he spends enough money to build name recognition ahead of the primary campaign.

The seat, in Chicago’s western suburbs, is currently held by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), who is running for the Senate.

Frank Calabrese, a Chicago political analyst, said he anticipates Bean will have a significant fundraising advantage in the next filing period, given her history in Congress and her post-congressional career as a banker. He named Bankole, Morrison and Ahmed as other top Democratic candidates.

Ahmed was endorsed last June by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), and has also been backed by Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, Justice Democrats, Track AIPAC and IfNotNow Chicago.

He has a degree of name recognition and an established fundraising base — particularly among progressive and Arab-American voters — from an unsuccessful run for the same seat in 2022, a political strategist involved in the race said. The strategist rated him as Bean’s strongest competitor.

As of the end of September, Ahmed led the race in fundraising, with $838,000, fueled by small-dollar donations from Arab-Americans.

Bean, who did not join the race until mid-September, raised $530,000 in her first few weeks in the race. Morrison raised $382,000 and Bankole $293,000 during the last fundraising quarter.

Khot was the first candidate to go on air with television advertisements, which Giangreco said could give him early momentum. 

“I think you’d have to say Melissa is the favorite here, but she’s got to raise money and make her pitch, and I imagine that she’ll be on the air soon,” Giangreco said. “She got a little bit of a late start, so I think that’s probably why she’s not quite there yet on resources, and it’ll be interesting to see what the early spending for Neil Khot does.”

Morrison has a record as a local official and backing from various local leaders, as well as Reps. Eric Sorensen (D-IL), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Becca Balint (D-VT), Mark Takano (D-CA), Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Equality PAC, the campaign arm of the Congressional Equality Caucus, which supports LGBTQ+ candidates.

Bankole is backed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), but Giangreco was skeptical that she’ll be able to put together a winning coalition.

“There are a number of candidates who are trying to kind of reinvent the Raja coalition. And you do have a large South Asian population there,” he said. “How many will vote in a Democratic  primary is an open question, and there are multiple candidates who are going after Raja’s base, so I don’t know if that feels like a winning strategy.”

The strategist involved in the race noted that it has received significantly less attention than several of the other open-seat races in the Chicago area. The strategist characterized Bean and Ahmed as the candidates to beat at this point.

Bean, who served from 2005-2011 is likely to highlight her work in Congress, particularly her support for the Affordable Care Act, as she works to build up support. But the strategist said that Bean could be vulnerable, among the liberal base, to attacks on her as a banker, linking her to Wall Street.

They predicted that Ahmed and his backers will work to rally support from progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and to turn out support among the socialist-leaning left.

Giangreco was more skeptical of Ahmed’s chances running on a progressive platform.

“Unlike [in Illinois’s 9th Congressional District] and [5th Congressional District], that are far more progressive, or even [the 2nd Congressional District] … there isn’t a liberal bastion like those other places have, where there’s a well-grounded progressive round structure,” Giangreco said. “It doesn’t mean there aren’t progressive voters. It’s just less part of the culture of the Democratic primary electorate there.”

Though the Tully campaign polling put Ahmed behind other progressive candidates in the race, the strategist said that Ahmed’s fundraising has been strong and should be sufficient to help him pull ahead into the top tier of the race, and he will be best positioned to capture progressive left voters.

Other candidates currently polling lower, like Tully — who raised $630,000 as of the end of the previous quarter — are hoping that a heated battle between some of those more prominent candidates will push voters away and give them a chance to capture a share of the voters.

“Dan Tully is a really interesting candidate, veteran and all that, but — not to put everybody into a box — but veterans usually have a tough time raising primary money, they actually tend not to do as well in primaries,” Giangreco said.