Plus, why UDP passed on NJ-12
Ilia YEFIMOVICH / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony commemorating Israel's Remembrance Day on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on April 21, 2026.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to local Jewish leaders in New Jersey about the decision by pro-Israel PACs to sit out the Democratic primary in NJ-12, in which a candidate with past terror ties eked out a small plurality that sets him on a glide path to Washington, and talk to Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman about their concerns over rising antisemitism. We cover comments made by a senior State Department official blaming the Oslo Accords for the rise in global Islamist terrorism, and have the exclusive on a new Senate bill that would coordinate Middle East air-defense acquisitions. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ambassador Charles Kushner, Nirel Zini and Argentine President Javier Milei.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump is slated to meet today at the White House with Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Jerusalem, who will present the president with the Great Bearer of the Cross of the Order of Cross-Bearers of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the church’s top honors.
- The Senate will begin a series of votes this morning on a range of issues — known on the Hill as a “vote-a-rama” — that is expected to last for hours.
- The House Armed Services Committee is holding its markup of the 2027 NDAA this morning.
- The House Ways and Means Committee will hear from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this morning, a day after Bessent appeared before the Senate Finance Committee. (Of note: Bessent clarified an exchange that occurred last summer between himself and acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte in which Bessent said he told Pulte that he “was going to kick his a**.”)
- New York’s PIX11 will host a debate for candidates in the NY-12 Democratic primary, a day after candidates Alex Bores, Laura Dunn, Micah Lasher, Jack Schlossberg and Nina Schwalbe participated in a debate hosted last night by the Jewish Democratic Council of America. Bores, Lasher and Schlossberg will be joined by George Conway at tonight’s debate.
- New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is slated to mark Holocaust Survivor Day at the headquarters of UJA-Federation of New York, where she’ll meet with survivors and their families.
- Elsewhere in New York, Tech Tribe is hosting a dinner tonight with Yossi Farro and Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone on the sidelines of NYC Tech Week.
- In Geneva, Switzerland, UN Watch is holding its annual gala dinner. This year’s dinner will feature French journalist Abnousse Shalmani and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
It’s a strange moment when the leader of the free world explains to a reporter why he cursed out the prime minister of a major ally.
But we live in an increasingly strange moment, one in which President Donald Trump confirmed to the New York Post this week that he had indeed called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” during a discussion about Israel’s plans to expand operations in Lebanon, even as he stressed that he and the Israeli leader have “worked very well together.” (Trump’s confirmation came after Netanyahu’s office denied the remarks.)
The tense nature of the Trump-Netanyahu call this week underscores the increasingly divergent tactics the two are taking to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East as Trump leans into diplomacy while Netanyahu pushes for intensified military action — and as questions loom over the future of U.S. aid to Israel.
With the House’s passage of a war powers resolution yesterday (with four Republicans breaking with House GOP leadership), and a Senate vote on the issue still pending, the Trump administration’s appetite for a resumption of hostilities is even smaller than it was last month (when, as we reported, it was already quite low, owing to rising gas prices and the approaching midterms).
On paper, Washington and Jerusalem do appear in lockstep — alongside Beirut — on deepening relations between Israel and Lebanon and rooting out Hezbollah. To that effect, the White House announced in a joint statement with Lebanese and Israeli officials on Wednesday that the parties had agreed to a renewed ceasefire — though it is contingent on the cooperation of Hezbollah, which did not take part in the talks and continues to launch drones and missiles at northern Israel.
But even as officials in Washington reach an accord on Lebanon, the challenges on the ground remain much the same. It was, after all, the issue of Lebanon — and Netanyahu’s announcement that the IDF would attack Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut — that triggered Trump’s expletive-laden outburst on Monday, causing Netanyahu to walk back Israel’s military plans in Lebanon.
And while Netanyahu needs to stay in Trump’s good graces, it is voters in Israel — including those in the country’s north who are living under daily Hezbollah fire — whom Netanyahu will need to sway ahead of the fall elections.
SITTING IT OUT
UDP faces questions from N.J. Jewish leaders why it stayed on sidelines against Hamawy
Adam Hamawy’s victory on Tuesday in a closely watched congressional primary in New Jersey, which elevated an outspoken critic of Israel whose past ties to a convicted terrorist had drawn scrutiny during the campaign, is raising questions over why the far-left Democrat did not face outside opposition from the pro-Israel group AIPAC or its well-funded super PAC,Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. Hamawy, who won 28% of the vote in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, prevailed with a modest plurality over the multi-candidate primary field competing to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).
Sitting it out: With 93% of the vote counted on Wednesday, Brad Cohen, the mayor of East Brunswick and a Jewish Democrat who touted his support for Israel while identifying as an AIPAC member, placed second with 15%. Despite a double-digit deficit, Cohen’s performance exceeded many expectations, indicating that he likely could have finished in a stronger position with help from AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, some local Jewish leaders suggested in interviews on Wednesday.
Capitol concerns: Some lawmakers are warning that Hamawy’s past terrorist ties could pose a national security risk and that he should be barred from serving on sensitive committees working on national security issues, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
KEEPING IT GOING
Israel and Lebanon agree to extend ceasefire, establish joint security zones
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to extend their ceasefire — which in practice has been tenuous — on the condition that Hezbollah disarms and withdraws from Israel’s northern border, and to jointly establish “pilot zones” where the Lebanese Armed Forces “will take exclusive control of the territory,” Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Pushing forward: The parties, together with the U.S., announced the developments in a joint statement at the conclusion of the second and final day of the fourth round of peace talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials at the State Department. The group will reconvene for the next round of talks the week of June 22 “with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement,” the statement said. A State Department official told JI that the exact time and venue for the upcoming discussions have not yet been decided.
SUPPORTIVE VOICE
Stutzman introduces resolution backing Netanyahu’s call to wind down U.S. aid
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) introduced a resolution on Wednesday endorsing and praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to wind down U.S. aid to Israel over the next decade, the latest twist in the rapidly evolving U.S. conversation over the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship and U.S. aid to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Major moves: Few Republicans, at this point, have publicly endorsed Netanyahu’s effort, which comes amid talks between the U.S. and Israel over the next memorandum of understanding on military aid. Top U.S. officials have confirmed in recent days that ending U.S. aid to Israel is part of those discussions. Netanyahu himself offered a letter of support for the resolution, which Stutzman publicized alongside the resolution.
Setting a timeline: Netanyahu said in an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen on Wednesday that he wants to start the process of winding down U.S. aid to Israel in the final two years of the Trump administration, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports.
PEACE PARADOX
At AMIA commemoration, State Department official blames Oslo Accords for wave of terrorism
The State Department’s top legal advisor on Wednesday drew a direct connection between the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 — which sought to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians — and the global rise in Islamist terrorism, in remarks delivered at an event in Washington marking the anniversary of the deadly 1994 terror attacks on the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
What he said: Reed Rubinstein, the State Department legal advisor, used his remarks to herald President Donald Trump’s efforts to fight terrorism, which he described as a course correction from decades of failed leadership. “The fruit of those accords paradoxically included a massive increase in brutal terrorism,” Rubinstein said, referring to the Oslo Accords. “Oslo led to an unprecedented wave of suicide bombing and death.”
SHARED ASSESSMENT
Fetterman, McCormick say Democrats have worse antisemitism problem than GOP
Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod on Tuesday that they believe antisemitism is worse on the left than on the right, arguing that the electoral success of far-left candidates with antisemitic records in Democratic primaries distinguished the left from the right, as similarly controversial candidates have struggled in GOP primary contests.
A pox on both houses: The Pennsylvania senators spoke to JI on the sidelines of the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum. While both men acknowledged onstage and to JI that antisemitism exists within the conservative movement, they rejected the notion that it had taken hold of the GOP, arguing that the rise of Graham Platner’s Senate campaign in Maine and Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb’s nomination for a Philadelphia-area House seat showed that the Democratic Party had already normalized antisemitism within their party.
Tehran talk: Fetterman also told JI’s Emily Jacobs that he is growing increasingly concerned that President Donald Trump may agree to a deal with Iran that does not ensure the retrieval of Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium or that the regime will never acquire a nuclear weapon.
EXCLUSIVE
Senate lawmakers introduce bill to establish coordinated Middle East air-defense acquisitions
Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and James Lankford (R-OK) are set to introduce a bill on Thursday directing the Pentagon to develop a coordinated air- and missile-defense acquisition strategy with Israel, Abraham Accords members and other Middle East allies, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Details: The Optimizing Acquisition Strategies for Integrated Security (OASIS) in the Middle East Act, which expands on existing legislative and administrative efforts to establish a coordinated air- and missile-defense system throughout the Middle East to protect the U.S. and its partners, would aim to ensure that the necessary resources are in place to protect the U.S. and its allies in future conflicts, sponsors said.
Worthy Reads
War Gains: In The Wall Street Journal, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice considers the accomplishments of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. “The three-month military campaign degraded Iran’s ability to project power by significantly damaging its conventional forces, missile stockpiles and proxies. It drew America, Israel and the Arab states closer together through defense cooperation and intelligence sharing. In this regard, Israel has never been more secure. … The war demonstrated that the Iranian regime’s leaders were physically vulnerable to U.S. military power and allied intelligence.” [WSJ]
Hands Off AI: In the Financial Times, Argentine President Javier Milei argues in favor of unregulated AI. “At the beginning of the industrial revolution, Adam Smith illustrated the potential of technology and economies of scale in his celebrated recollection of the pin factory. And, as much as the industrial revolution freed us from the constraints of the human muscle, AI will free us from the constraints of the human brain, pushing productivity beyond our wildest dreams.” [FT]
The Center Holds: Puck’s Peter Hamby suggests that the results of California’s primaries this week underscore the degree to which many voters prefer moderate Democrats over candidates from the more extreme wing of the party. “As with other elections around the country dating back to last year, Democrats won or advanced by focusing on the basics. Yes, there were promises to stand up to Trump — table stakes for any Democratic messaging. (‘California is bigger than Trump,’ [former HHS Secretary Xavier] Becerra said in his primary night speech. ‘Our values are undeniable — and undeportable.’) But Tuesday’s winners, generally, ran on the cost of living, safe streets and playgrounds, good schools, and healthcare costs. Not exactly peak woke.” [Puck]
No Strait Jacket: In The New York Times, Christopher Smart, who served as a Treasury Department official during the Obama administration, posits that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is prompting a readjustment of global supply chains less dependent on the waterway. “The longer the Strait remains blocked, however, the less important oil from the Strait becomes. The S&P 500 is setting records not because investors believe peace is at hand, but because corporate earnings continue to grow and American consumers, particularly wealthier ones, are still buying. … The winners of this adjustment include U.S. oil and natural gas producers that can fill the Strait’s shortfall, as well as nuclear and renewable energy providers. ” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
Federal officials announced charges against a resident of Newport Beach, Calif., alleging that the man, the CEO of an Iran-based tech company, provided “computer technology to Iranian companies and Iran’s government — including technology to help with Iran’s military and nuclear program”…
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) became the first Republican to co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act, arguing the U.S. is “morally obligated to end support of Israel’s devastation of Gaza and its people” — going beyond his usual arguments against foreign aid generally. The bill now has 71 co-sponsors…
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) on the House floor accused Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) of “advocat[ing] for terrorists on a daily basis” and of “hang[ing] out with” with Hezbollah “butchers”; Miller’s remarks were ultimately struck from the record with Tlaib’s objection, but he said in a statement read on the House floor by a colleague that he stood by his comments…
California Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who has made several failed runs for Southern California-area congressional seats, said that after falling short in his latest bid, in the state’s 48th District, his “political career is permanently over”…
The NYPD arrested an NYU student Wednesday for raising a flag that displayed swastikas and a Star of David atop a university building last month, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
Former President Joe Biden, making a surprise appearance at his wife’s debut book event at the 92nd Street Y, told attendees he has a book coming out in September…
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square is set to sell its remaining stake in Universal Music Group — amounting to approximately 80.6 million shares — in a deal that will garner Pershing Square at least $600 million, following failed attempts to take over the company…
The Qatar Foundation announced the launch of new study abroad partnerships for students at Hampton University, Xavier University and Prairie View A&M University — all HBCUs — to study at the Gulf state’s Education City…
Former Columbia University President Katrina Armstrong will step down as the CEO of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center to launch the Vagelos Institute for Basic Biomedical Research within the medical school…
The U.K.’s National Health Service will implement a series of measures designed to address what a new government-authorized report calls “routine ostracism” faced by Jewish patients and staff in the British healthcare system, including limiting the political symbols that staff can wear on their uniforms and requiring antisemitism training for the heads of the country’s health trusts…
Companies operating under Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are seeing the departures of foreign CEOs and being replaced by locals as the fund focuses on domestic financial priorities ahead of the Gulf state’s hosting of the World Cup in 2034…
Israel’s High Court ruled against a government policy banning Red Cross officials from visiting Palestinian security prisoners, citing violations of both Israeli and international law…
Israeli forensic specialists are conducting DNA testing on bones found in Kfar Aza by relatives of Nirel Zini, who was killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks; Zini, whose girlfriend, Niv Raviv, was also killed, was decapitated during the attack, and his family buried his partial remains…
Kuwaiti officials said that one person was killed and more than 60 injured in an Iranian drone attack early Wednesday that caused significant damage to parts of the passenger terminal of the Gulf nation’s main airport; the airport reopened Wednesday evening…
Miami-based LGBTQ activist Ruth Shack died at 94…
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner participated in a ceremony earlier this week organized by Operation Benjamin at the Meuse-Argonne American Military Cemetery in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France, to replace the headstones of five fallen Jewish servicemembers with Stars of David.
Birthdays
Lineman for the Miami Dolphins for 12 seasons, which included three Super Bowl appearances and four Pro Bowls, then a judge on the Miami-Dade County Court, Ed Newman turns 75…
Co-founder of Boston Properties and owner of U.S. News & World Report, Mort Zuckerman turns 89… Professor emeritus of organic chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science and winner of the 2012 Israel Prize, David Milstein turns 79… Retired chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Stephen J. Markman turns 77… Former judge on the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, he was the longest tenured member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Mark B. Cohen turns 77… British journalist, author of 11 books and socially conservative columnist for The Times of London, The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Chronicle, Melanie Phillips turns 75… First-ever Jewish governor of Hawaii and then COO of Illinois, she serves on the board of directors of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Linda Lingle turns 73… President and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC until 2023, now president and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Daniel H. Weiss turns 69… Co-founder of Ripco Real Estate, Todd Cooper… Artist and art educator, she was born in Kibbutz Beeri, where she currently resides, Ziva Jelin turns 64… Chair in human cancer genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Matthew Langer Meyerson turns 63… Law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Ayelet Shachar turns 60… U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) turns 55… French-Israeli entrepreneur, angel investor in over 360 startups, Jeremie Berrebi turns 48… Party photographer in Washington for the Washingtonian, Daniel Swartz… National politics reporter at The Washington Post, Colby Itkowitz… Israeli supermodel, Bar Refaeli turns 41… Clean energy portfolio planning program manager at Orange and Rockland Utilities, Adam E. Soclof… Director at Dentons Global Advisors, Jason Hillel Attermann… Managing editor at eJewishPhilanthropy, Judah Ari Gross turns 37… Gena Wolfson… Coordinating producer at MS NOW, Emily Gold… VP of government relations at UJA-Federation of New York and former Member of the New York state Assembly, Daniel Rosenthal turns 35… Ken Moss…
State Del. Adrian Boafo is Steny Hoyer’s favored candidate, and is getting support from Democratic leaders across the state
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Del. Adrian Boafo, Democratic candidate for Maryland's Fifth Congressional District, speaks during a press conference to kick off a series of meet-the-voter events, at Kenhill Center in Bowie, Md., on Monday, March 2, 2026.
In one of its largest independent expenditures of the campaign cycle, the super PAC affiliated with AIPAC spent nearly $1.2 million this weekend to help boost Adrian Boafo, a Maryland state delegate running in a packed Democratic primary to succeed longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
While the super PAC, United Democracy Project, has invested heavily in several House primaries this year, its latest salvo is particularly notable because AIPAC has frequently avoided engaging openly in contested races — instead using several cutouts — as a growing number of Democratic candidates have disavowed accepting funds from the pro-Israel group.
In Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, which spans southward from the eastern Washington suburbs of Prince George’s County, UDP’s aggressive play suggests that it is comfortable openly courting a more moderate constituency that Hoyer has represented as a prominent supporter of Israel and close AIPAC ally.
The primary, where Boafo is well-poised to prevail later this month thanks to his institutional support from prominent state party leaders, could deliver a major victory for AIPAC after its negative publicity over a series of recent Democratic contests in which its involvement or potential engagement was a lightning rod for progressive voters.
UDP began spending in the race in mid-May with a modest direct mail investment of $50,000 to bolster Boafo, who has consolidated endorsements from the state’s Democratic leadership. In addition to Hoyer, for whom Boafo served as a campaign manager, the 32-year-old claims backing from Gov. Wes Moore as well as Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), among other establishment officials.
The super PAC significantly added to its investment over the weekend with a new television ad buy exceeding $1 million. The ads cite Boafo’s legislative efforts to counter federal immigration and customs agents while promoting support from Hoyer, Moore and Alsobrooks.
“We’re proud to be working alongside Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrook and Congressman Steny Hoyer to help elect Adrian Boafo,” Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for UDP, said in a briefly worded statement to Jewish Insider on Tuesday.
AIPAC, whose affiliated political action committee has not officially backed Boafo, declined to comment on the June 23 primary election.
Prior to Maryland, UDP had most recently devoted its considerable resources to unseating Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), an anti-Israel Republican who lost to a Trump-backed primary challenger in Kentucky last month. UDP and affiliated shell PACs ended up winning two of the four congressional races in Illinois they engaged in, helping nominate former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) and Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller but falling short in a high-profile and expensive contest to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).
Earlier this year, UDP faced Democratic blowback for opposing a moderate former congressman running in New Jersey who entertained conditioning U.S. aid for Israel — in a failed foray that inadvertently elevated a far-left candidate holding far more antagonistic views on Israel.
With nearly $95 million on hand heading into May, according to the latest federal campaign filings, UDP has a massive war chest at its disposal, but the group has been reticent about discussing how it plans to use its reserves in the remaining months of the campaign season.
While Boafo has drawn scrutiny from some rivals who have questioned his support from UDP, most experts who spoke with JI said they did not believe those investments alone would prompt major voter backlash of the sort that has driven other primaries in Illinois and New Jersey, where AIPAC found itself on the defensive.
“In contrast to some other races,” UDP’s spending “won’t be as much of a tension except from the other candidates who are going to blast it,” Susan Turnbull, a Jewish Democratic leader in Maryland, told JI in an interview. “I wouldn’t be surprised,” she added, “if AIPAC feels that it could be out front in the district because Steny always was.”
Still, she suggested that Boafo’s ties to the tech industry as a former lobbyist for Oracle, owned by the billionaire Republican donor Larry Ellison, and support from crypto-linked spending could stoke suspicion if voters draw a connection to AIPAC’s outside investment. “It could be a problem,” she predicted.
Turnbull said, however, that AIPAC likely did not need to engage in the multi-candidate race, given what Boafo’s supporters interpret as his favorable position just under three weeks before the election. There is no public polling available on the primary.
A prominent Jewish leader in Maryland, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, likewise said that AIPAC’s “money likely isn’t needed to put Boafo in first place” in what is expected to be a “low-turnout election,” citing Hoyer’s ability to call in “well-earned chits” with high-profile Democrats who followed his lead in backing the retiring congressman’s preferred candidate. “I don’t know of bad candidates who could win the seat now.”
“AIPAC would be better off spending money to back good candidates in races where bad candidates could win,” the Jewish leader told JI this week, referring to Michigan’s Senate race as well as a House primary in New York City where a pro-Israel Democrat is facing a formidable challenger from the left.
In other races, though, where candidates backed by AIPAC are running, the group is viewed negatively by Democrats, raising questions about whether it would hurt their prospects if it engaged openly or even with a shell PAC. UDP is not expected to spend in support of Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), two Democrats endorsed by AIPAC who are facing anti-Israel challengers in progressive districts.
Boafo, for his part, has been more openly supportive of Israel, vowing on his campaign site to “strengthen the U.S.–Israel alliance and ensure” the country “has the security assistance it needs to defend itself.”
A spokesperson for Boafo’s campaign did not return a request for comment regarding UDP’s support for his bid. He is also endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, whose CEO, Brian Romick, is a former chief of staff to Hoyer.
More than 20 candidates are now running in the Democratic primary, including Rushern Baker, a former Prince George’s County executive; state Sen. Arthur Ellis; Quincy Bareebe, who challenged Hoyer in 2024; and Harry Dunn, the former Capitol police officer who ran for a separate House seat in Maryland last cycle and drew outside attacks from UDP that are now inflecting his criticism of Boafo’s support.
Echoing his past complaints about UDP’s spending, Dunn, who also maintains his support for Israel on his campaign site, denounced the group in a recent statement that accuses Boafo of “benefiting from the MAGA donors who fund AIPAC.”
In a possible reflection of voter sentiment in the district, however, Dunn said in an interview with JI on Tuesday that he did not mean to single out AIPAC for its involvement in the race.
“This isn’t just about AIPAC,” he explained. “I feel the same way about Coca-Cola or Walmart,” he said. “This is about special interests” influencing elections.
“I just wanted to make that clear,” he added, because “AIPAC gets a bad rap sometimes.”
Lander defended Park Slope Food Coop BDS advocates in duel with Dan Goldman — but explained he left the DSA over group’s ‘vile’ response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks
Screenshot/C-SPAN
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander debates Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), June 1, 2026
Israel was on the menu — in more ways than one — in former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s televised clash with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) Monday night as Lander seeks to oust the incumbent congressman in this month’s Democratic primary.
The Jewish state was the centerpiece over which the two congressional contenders clashed for much of the hour-long debate on Spectrum News NY1, as Lander ripped Goldman’s support for former President Joe Biden’s policy toward the conflict in Gaza, touted his own pledge to deny further military aid to Israel and voiced sympathy for the successful push to ban Israeli products from the Park Slope Food Coop, though the self-described progressive Zionist maintained he still opposed the effort. So intensely did the two chew over the issue that Goldman at one point burst out, “Israel is not the most important issue in this district!”
But when asked for the best place in the Brooklyn-Manhattan district to break bread, Lander returned to the Holy Land once more: or rather, to its cuisine.
“I love Masalawala on Fifth Avenue, I love Miriam — I’ll go with those two,” the candidate answered.
The first is a popular Bengali spot in Park Slope, but Miriam is an Israeli restaurant a short walk away that has become a target of anti-Israel protesters’ rage. In early 2025, vandals struck the eatery with a splattering of red paint and and the words “Genocide Cuisine” and Israel Steals Culture.”
At the time, Lander was among the local officials who decried the attack, offering support to the Petah Tikva-born owner, and declaring the incident “a clear example of when anti-Zionism becomes antisemitism.” At the time, Lander was a contender for Gracie Mansion and had not yet embraced the politics of now-Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Lander had to defend his political evolution onstage, when Goldman pivoted back to the subject of Israel himself later in the evening and pressed the former comptroller on his announcement as a mayoral candidate that he had left the Democratic Socialists of America after 30 years as a member following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Lander stood by his decision to exit the group after it held an anti-Israel demonstration one day after the bloody assault.
“On October 8 they advertised a rally that I thought was heinous, that spoke about Hamas in ways that I just thought were vile, and I could not continue to be a member,” he said, even as he defended his cross-endorsement late in the race with Mamdani, the DSA’s standard-bearer. “The choice was between him and Andrew Cuomo.”
Mamdani has since returned the favor and backed Lander’s bid to oust Goldman.
Among the district’s leading Jewish constituents is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who both men declined to endorse for another term in 2028: Lander declared it “time for new leadership in the Democratic Party,” while Goldman questioned whether the lawmaker would run again.
‘The lack of transparency calls into question who he really is, and whether or not he's the right person for the 12th Congressional District,’ said Hamawy opponent Mayor Adrian Mapp
Islam Dogru/Anadolu via Getty Images
Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, is seen during an exclusive interview at in New York, United States on April 24, 2024.
Several of Adam Hamawy’s opponents in the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District are challenging the candidate to explain his ties to Omar Abdel-Rahman, the convicted terrorist known as the Blind Sheikh, as well as his service with a charity later shuttered as a front for al-Qaida years after he volunteered.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is now also joining them in seeking more clarity on the first-time congressional candidate’s background.
Many of Hamawy’s other Democratic rivals appeared hesitant to address the military veteran and physician’s past ties to Islamist extremists, with only Mayor Adrian Mapp of Plainfield publicly addressing the weeks-old reporting about Hamawy testifying in defense of Abdel-Rahman.
Mapp told JI he was “shocked” at the news of Hamawy’s time in Bosnia with the Benevolence International Foundation, an al-Qaida-tied group — and disturbed at what he described as the plastic surgeon’s “refusal to be forthcoming” about his involvement with either Benevolence International or his testimony on behalf of the Blind Sheikh.
“Can you explain why you were in Bosnia in association with an entity that was raided, and believed to be a front for al-Qaida? Can you explain that to the American people and especially to the people in the 12th Congressional District?” Mapp posed to his opponent. “The lack of transparency calls into question who he really is, and whether or not he’s the right person for the 12th Congressional District.”
Hamawy has so far dismissed questions about his associations in the 1990s as Islamophobia, but Mapp maintained he had no objection to a Muslim serving in the seat. He added that the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, that Abdel-Rahman was convicted for inspiring, was personal to him, as he said his brother worked as a security guard in the complex at the time.
Brad Cohen, the mayor of East Brunswick, N.J., likewise said Hamawy’s past ties require further explanation.
“Adam Hamawy has never denounced his association with the terrorist responsible for murdering six Americans and injuring more than 1,000. He stuck by a terrorist who called for death to Jews and Christians and to Muslims whom he did not consider radical enough,” Cohen told JI. “Adam has never explained why he traveled to Bosnia with an al-Qaida-linked organization just a year after his mentor tried to bring down the World Trade Center. These are questions that demand urgent answers and it is deeply troubling that Dr. Hamawy has refused to provide them.”
Somerset County Commissioner Shanel Robinson, another candidate in the race, called on Hamawy to explain his relationship with the Blind Sheikh further, while also praising his military service.
“As a fellow veteran I truly appreciate Adam’s service to his country, and know that it speaks to his patriotism. Adam’s relationship with Sheikh Abdel Rahman was thirty years ago, but Adam and I are both asking the people of New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District to select us for positions of authority in the federal government,” Robinson said. “The voters will judge us on our entire adult lives, the choices we have made, and the people we associate with regardless of whether it was 30 days or 30 years ago. Therefore, the voters deserve to hear directly from Adam about this. In the end, it will be up to them to decide.”
Gottheimer emphasized the connections between the Blind Sheikh, al-Qaida and the 9/11 attacks.
“This hits close to home. I represent a lot of families who lost loved ones on 9/11. I also co-chair the Intelligence Committee’s Review of the 9/11 Commission Report,” Gottheimer said. “Based on what I’ve read, I have serious questions and deep concerns about his associations with terrorist organizations and leaders who have attacked America, from the ‘Blind Sheik’ to Al Qaeda. He needs to answer these questions and explain himself to New Jersey voters.”
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) did not address the substance of the issue, but told JI, “It’s going to be up to the voters in New Jersey’s 12th District to consider these allegations.”
Sam Wang, a Princeton University professor, offered a defense of Hamawy, the only one of his opponents reached by JI to do so.
“At the time that Adam Hamawy was in Bosnia, Muslims were under attack. I take him at his word that he was performing a humanitarian mission. It is consistent with his character,” Wang said.
In a statement, a Hamawy campaign spokesperson said that “these questions have been asked and answered” and said that his “entire career and life have been defined by his patriotism and deep love of this country,” noting his military career and work at Ground Zero after 9/11.
The spokesperson noted that Hamawy was and remained in the military during the time of the Blind Sheikh trial.
“As a witness, he performed his civic and legal duty to testify truthfully under oath and contribute to the system of laws and justice he defended while serving our country in the Army,” the spokesperson said. “At the time, the man in question was one of very few religious figures in what was then a very small Muslim community in New Jersey – he saw him speak in religious settings in his early 20s. Dr. Hamawy condemns that man’s violent rhetoric and actions, and all violence, hatred, and terrorism — and he will always. Dr. Hamawy had no contact with this person after they were arrested.”
The spokesperson also called attacks on his work with Benevolence International in Bosnia, “desperate,” “absurd,” and “gross and bigoted.”
“Dr. Adam Hamawy, as a young medical student and member of the US military, volunteered to provide medical assistance to victims of the Bosnian genocide, per the suggestion the Bosnian mission made to him on how to help via a United Nations approved route,” the spokesperson said.
Several other competitive candidates in the race contacted by JI about Hamawy’s past ties did not respond to requests for comment or declined to comment. No other Democratic members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation — including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) — responded to requests for comments.
Hamawy, boosted by $1.5 million in spending from the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC, his own strong internal fundraising and unified support from national progressives, has emerged as the apparent front-runner ahead of Tuesday’s primary race.
More moderate candidates have divided the vote, with their support mainly concentrated in their local communities. But a last-minute infusion of nearly $400,000 by a largely unknown super PAC, Project 218, is set to boost Sue Altman, a former progressive organizer and staffer for Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), ahead of the primary election on Tuesday. Altman has faced more than $250,000 in attack ads from the Florence Avenue Initiative, a super PAC whose backers are unknown.
Two of the four Democrats in the race have also faced scrutiny over antisemitic activity online
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
In the contentious Democratic primary in Montana’s 1st Congressional District, Israel and antisemitism have become flashpoints in ways that members of the local Jewish community say they find concerning and potentially dangerous.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who currently represents the seat, is retiring at the end of his current term, and Democrats view it as a potential pickup opportunity in a favorable midterm climate. Former Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) narrowly won the district in 2024, despite losing statewide. However, the Cook Political Report rates the district as “Likely Republican,” and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn’t put the district on its target list at this point.
Though the district leans Republican, that hasn’t stopped a majority of Democrats in the field from racing to the left on Israel policy, a dynamic that was on clear display at a recent debate.
Ryan Busse, a businessman and author who is the top fundraiser among the Democratic candidates, declared that the U.S. has been “forced into a war by another country,” alleging that Israel dragged the U.S. in its military campaign against Iran.
“This war that we’re fighting, that you’re funding, that your tax dollars are funding, is largely a war propagated by Israel,” Busse said. “I’m not taking any AIPAC dollars, wouldn’t dream of it. I think we should be really wide-eyed about the degree to which Israel has too much influence over our foreign policy. “
He also declared that Israel is not a “functioning democracy” and said that Israel is committing war crimes with American tax dollars and that he would fight to stop that aid in Congress.
Russell Cleveland, a Navy veteran and entrepreneur, said that Israel “has a right to exist without fear, but that doesn’t mean that those rights can infringe on other countries’ rights or other people’s rights to exist without fear as well” and said that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
He asserted that Israel is being held to a different standard than other countries and is effectively controlling U.S. policy.
“We have hitched our wagon so hard to Israel in turning a blind eye to their actions on a national stage that we’re willing to disregard what we would hold to account any other country for the same exact violence and war crimes and violations of international law,” Cleveland said. “We cannot allow another country to have that type of control on not only what we’re doing in terms of sending armaments and money, but also that’s an ally to the United States, so everything that they do, we too are responsible for.”
Sam Forstag, a wildland firefighter and union leader with the backing of prominent national progressives and D.C.-based groups, said that he agreed with Busse and Cleveland, also disavowing AIPAC support while blaming U.S. support for Israel for a lack of services and government assistance at home.
“We need to have strict enforced humanitarian requirements on any aid that we are providing countries overseas,” Forstag said. “That needs to apply to Israel, that needs to apply to any country, because if we cannot afford to feed our hunger, if we cannot afford to make sure that the elderly in this country are not living on the streets, we sure as hell cannot afford to rain cruelty in chaos overseas, Israel or Iran.”
Matt Rains, an Army veteran, rancher and photographer, was the only one of the four Democratic candidates to stake out an opposing view and offer a defense of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
He emphasized that he has spent time in the region, and that he understands “we need to value our alliance with Israel, and I am in support of that because I am against hatred, I’m against racism, I’m against antisemitism, I’m against terrorism.”
Rains said that actually working toward a two-state solution requires people who have firsthand experience and understand the situation on the ground, arguing that many draw incorrect conclusions from news reports.
Busse has been the top fundraiser in the field, pulling in $529,000, followed by Forstag with $448,000, Cleveland with $325,000 and Rains with $125,000. Cleveland, however, trails the rest of the field in cash-on-hand.
Antisemitic activity online has also cast a cloud over two of the candidates in the race.
Cleveland liked an antisemitic Instagram comment that read, “I wouldn’t vote for anybody who takes money from those stinking Jews,” on a post endorsing him.
Cleveland denied any knowledge of the post and disavowed it. He told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that his campaign “incidentally liked [this] comment” and that “My team and I do not condone these types of antisemitic comments, nor support them. … This is antisemitic. I don’t approve of that comment. I wouldn’t have liked it intentionally.”
Busse’s son Lander has also landed in hot water over a series of controversial social media posts which included a spat with a local rabbi.
The younger Busse responded to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that “Free Palestine is today’s version of Heil Hitler” with a gif of a “Breaking Bad” character saying, “Well, Heil Hitler b****.”
He also demanded that a local Chabad rabbi, Chaim Bruk, acknowledge that Israel is an apartheid state and conducting a genocide. When Bruk declined to do so, the younger Busse responded “aight then f*** you.”
He also said in another post “F*** ISRAEL.”
The elder Busse told the New York Post, “I don’t condone any language or actions that minimize the very real tragedy of the Holocaust, and I don’t condone any antisemitic behavior or language.”
He said he opposes antisemitism and that his son is “definitely not antisemitic in any way shape or form,” but denied having seen his son’s social media posts, which were subsequently deleted.
Bruk, the longest-serving rabbi in Montana, told Jewish Insider that he felt it was necessary to engage with Lander Busse as the son of a person running for office, when the younger Busse was spreading comments that could prompt hate against the Jewish community.
Bruk said that he also wanted to give the elder Busse “an opportunity to reach out and see if he has a very different opinion than his son — which he has not done as of today.”
Bruk argued that he’s seen little evidence that Busse’s own opinions differ from those of his son, noting that, while they haven’t engaged in the same sort of vulgarity, Busse, Cleveland and Forstag had all made concerning comments about Israel and Jews.
“I have always strongly opposed antisemitism and will continue to do so unequivocally. I am deeply troubled by the rise in antisemitic activity and rhetoric across our country, and I stand firmly with Jewish communities,” Busse said in a statement to JI. “At the same time, I am troubled by the current Israeli government’s policies and leadership. In my view, criticism of a government’s actions and policies should not be conflated with prejudice against an entire people or faith. We should be able to reject antisemitism in all forms while also engaging in honest and thoughtful discussion about the actions of governments, including Israel’s.”
But Bruk said he takes Cleveland at his word that he did not personally or intentionally like the antisemitic Instagram post.
Cora Neumann, a Jewish state senator who was a previous Democratic nominee for the 1st District seat, said she feels that many of the candidates for the seat are “getting pulled into national issues that don’t impact us, just to posture and play political games,” particularly when it comes to Israel.
She said she has found the attacks on AIPAC, which come despite the fact it hasn’t been involved in the race, “very problematic,” and has been concerned by candidates blaming Israel for the war in Iran. She said she has reached out to several of the candidates to share her perspective.
But she said she hasn’t seen many of the candidates in the race “take pause and think twice about the way you speak” about Israel, even after being warned that their rhetoric might fuel antisemitism, “which shows a disregard for a vulnerable population in the U.S. and around the world.”
“I think this is a poison that has taken hold in our party and it has made my family less safe, and there has been little to no action taken to combat it, locally or nationally,” Neumann told JI. “Democrats need to reflect on our values and who we are and if we really feel that this is acceptable. … Democrats need to seriously reflect on why they’ve let it get so out of hand.”
Asked about concerns from members of the local Jewish community about the way Israel and AIPAC have been invoked in the race, Cleveland said in a statement to JI that, “Being critical of the actions of Israel with regard to its military aggression and violation of international law is not antisemitic.”
“We cannot simply label criticism of any one country as prejudice just because many of us oppose more war, death and destruction. The best possible outcome in the region is one where all people, no matter whether they are from Israel, Palestine, or Lebanon, are treated equally and without prejudice,” Cleveland said. “I want peace for the people of Israel, just as I do for those in any other country or territory. I believe this can be achieved through application of freedom of religion, coexistence, and seeking strength through diversity. This, however, can only be achieved through strict adherence to international law and practice of equal rights of all people.”
In an interview with JI, Rains, an Army captain who served in Iraq and traveled throughout the world in that role and a subsequent one as a photojournalist, said that he has a “vital perspective” of understanding the dynamics in the region firsthand, rather than being “told by other people how to think and believe” on the internet.
His travels took him throughout Israel and the West Bank, and he said that he found many of the media narratives that people in the United States hear about Israel and the conflict to be exaggerated.
He said he feels that the other candidates in the race are “jumping on [the anti-Israel] bandwagon” without a proper understanding of the situation. “You just want to scream because it’s truly a lack of understanding and knowing what is reality and what you’re just being fed through the internet and buying into.”
He said that growing animosity toward Israel and calls to cut off aid are jeopardizing a critical alliance, which will ultimately make the United States less safe and lead to more regional instability and more wars.
He said that he’s also been stunned by what he has seen as an embrace of antisemitism in the United States, pointing significant blame toward the Trump administration for spreading and normalizing “comments that are there to rile up people.” He said that he would be vocal as a member of Congress in emphasizing that antisemitism is not acceptable.
He called the spread of antisemitic rhetoric in the primary race “one of the most shocking things of this campaign.” He said he didn’t anticipate that the issue would be one that he would campaign on, but said he felt a responsibility to not “let hatred creep in” in his own party.
Rains’ photojournalism work also brought him to Myanmar, where he said he was the first photojournalist on the ground documenting the Rohingya genocide in the early 2010s. Having seen such atrocities firsthand — and encountering fierce police resistance to documenting them — he called the accusations of genocide against Israel “absolutely frustrating,” and criticized those in his party who have spread that narrative.
Having worked on strategic planning matters in Iraq, Rains said that he’s been frustrated by what he saw as a failure of proper planning in the U.S. operations in Iran. “The threat of the regime [was] horrific,” Rains said, but he doesn’t have faith in the Trump administration to ensure that Iran is more stable and has better governance at the end of war.
“My biggest frustration is there’s a risk — kind of what happened in Afghanistan when we left there — for a worse government to backfill and make it more hostile than it was,” Rains said.
Bruk and Neumann both spoke positively of Rains’ stance on issues of concern to and of his engagement with the Jewish community.
Bruk said Rains is the only one of the four Democratic candidates who has visited the local synagogue and Chabad center and “made it clear that he stands with the Jewish people and he stands with the people of Israel and their right to their own nation.” He said Rains and his campaign had reached out to visit the synagogue of his own initiative.
Bruk said it’s important to him that the growing Montana Jewish community has a representative who cares about them and who “isn’t ready to throw them locally under the bus because of some international issue with which they agree or disagree” — regardless of potential policy differences on Israel.
Neumann said that she’s also been impressed by the “moral clarity” Rains has shown on the issue and others.
“I think to be able to stand up against the intense headwinds and national pressure to speak on Israel, even if it’s not relevant to your constituents, to be able to stand up against that pressure shows incredible moral character, and that’s what I look for in candidates,” Neumann said.
Bruk said he’d also had a conversation with Forstag and was optimistic that his rhetoric would change going forward. “I think he genuinely didn’t realize that it’s not just about some lobbying PAC that gives, you know, very little money to Montana at all, but it ends up creating an environment in which Jews become fair game,” Bruk said.
He said that he felt from their conversation that Forstag didn’t realize that AIPAC had had little to no involvement in politics in the state. Bruk said he emphasized to Forstag that invoking AIPAC on the campaign trail can increase the dangers to the Jewish community.
“I don’t think he realized the practical ramifications,” Bruk said, and said he was comforted to see Forstag’s rhetoric seemingly shift since then.
Neumann said she also found Forstag to be “receptive and sensitive to feedback on how problematic this disproportionate focus on Israel is.”
Democrats accused national Republicans of promoting the extreme candidate in a Texas swing district that both parties are contesting
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on October 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) political spokesperson denied on Wednesday allegations that Johnson was involved in boosting Maureen Galindo, an antisemitic Democratic candidate in Texas’ 35th Congressional District.
The spokesperson said that Johnson had no involvement in the district’s Democratic primary, which Galindo lost on Tuesday.
The statement came after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee blasted Johnson in response to an article in the newsletter Popular Information that linked Lead Left PAC, the shadowy super PAC that supported Galindo, to a prominent GOP compliance consulting firm. One of the founders of that group, Caleb Crosby, has served as the treasurer for the Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund, the primary super PAC arms of House and Senate leadership.
The origins of the pro-Galindo effort have been heavily shrouded in mystery, but national Republicans would have had an interest in boosting the less-electable Galindo in a swing-district race that Democrats hope to win. It’s unclear the extent to which Crosby or his firm, which advertises compliance reporting, budgetary and fiscal management and other similar services, would have been involved in any strategic decision-making for the Lead Left PAC.
“Mike Johnson’s political operation boosted a dangerous antisemite in the TX-35 Democratic primary runoff in an attempt to gain political power,” DCCC spokesperson Courtney Rice said in a statement. “This should shock the core of the Republican Party, and every single Republican needs to stand and speak out against this cynical political move.”
CLF and Crosby’s consulting firm, Crosby Ottenhoff Group, did not respond to a request for comment.
The group, Progressive Voters Network, also endorsed Maureen Galindo, the antisemitic Texas Democrat repudiated by her party
Derek French/Sipa USA via AP Images
Democratic congressional candidate Michael Blake speaks during the 'Mayoral Candidate Forum All Faiths, All Candidates' event at Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Michael Blake, the anti-Israel candidate challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) in a Democratic primary in the Bronx, accepted an endorsement on Wednesday from a small progressive group that, in its announcement, attacked Torres for his relationship with “Jewish donors.”
The group, Progressive Voters Network, also maintains an active endorsement of Maureen Galindo, the antisemitic Texas Democratic primary candidate who faced condemnation from across the party and was repudiated even by other far-left groups.
Blake’s campaign shared the Progressive Voters Network endorsement announcement attacking Torres on Blake’s Instagram account.
“This AIPAC puppet has raked in millions from the zionist lobby while our people struggle with rent, groceries, and crumbling NYCHA buildings,” the announcement reads. “Torres prioritizes his Jewish donors over his own Black and Brown constituents, cheerleading genocide and shielding war criminals instead of fighting for affordability and justice.”
The group said Torres “must be crushed” and the Democratic Party must be “purge[d] … of these corporate zionists who value zionist interests and fat checks over our community’s survival.”
In its endorsement of Galindo, posted in February, long before Galindo gained nationwide attention, the group obliquely acknowledged her long-standing controversial rhetoric, saying “her calls for systemic overhaul may scare the faint-hearted, but they rally the bold to action.”
After Galindo, who lost the Tuesday primary, made further extreme comments, including calling for the imprisonment and castration of American Zionists, other groups like TrackAIPAC pulled their endorsements.
The Progressive Voter Network has endorsed a slew of challengers to incumbent Democrats and Republicans, as well as a handful of sitting progressive Democratic lawmakers.
Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The congressional frontrunner bashed Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in an address at the Al Khoie Islamic Center in Queens
Ryan Murphy/Getty Images
Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander speaks to members of the media, alongside supporters, before appearing in court on February 12, 2026 in New York City.
Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander — favored to defeat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in next month’s Democratic primary — broadened his already sweeping criticism of Israel in a speech to a Queens mosque earlier this month, suggesting the country’s actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon could constitute genocide.
As shown in a video of May 15 services posted to the Al-Khoei Islamic Center’s YouTube page, Lander told worshippers that he is “a very proud Jewish New Yorker,” quoted a Quranic verse on unity and recalled his cross-endorsement in the 2025 election with now-New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
He drew a parallel with the Jewish concept of B’tzelem Elohim, or the creation of humanity in the divine image — and pivoted then to a topic that has animated his campaign: what he called “Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” which Lander described as “a Jewish requirement” to denounce.
He also repeated a pledge to vote against further military aid to Israel in Congress, but went even farther in his criticism of the country than he has in the past.
“I will not vote for any more U.S. military aid to Israel, not the bombs that are destroying the hospitals and schools in Gaza, not the occupation in Lebanon which is now I believe on its way potentially to being a genocide as well,” he said from the pulpit. “I pray for the day when Palestinians and Lebanese and Israelis can come to know one another, recognize each other’s equal humanity, the spark of divine image, the need for safety and peace and not for occupation and apartheid and genocide and oppression and war.”
He further vowed to work closely with anti-Israel Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) if elected to Congress.
The comments mark an even further swing leftward for Lander, who has long identified as a “progressive Zionist” and once drew fire from now-allies like Jewish Voice for Peace for participating in a City Council delegation to Israel.
Goldman, who has been a reliable supporter of Israel in Congress, has also grown increasingly critical of the Jewish state but remains supportive of continued U.S. military aid.
Al Khoei, a Shi’ite mosque named for a rival to late Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, sits well outside the Brooklyn-Manhattan House district Lander hopes to represent but has been a common stop for politicians, including former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Councilmember Trayon White posted a video to social media in 2018 blaming a snowstorm on ‘the Rothschilds controlling the climate’
Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George speaks during the Free DC candidate forum on March 14, 2026 in the Southeast neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Trayon White, a member of the Washington, D.C. Council with a history of promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, was expelled from the Council last year as he faced federal bribery charges before being voted back in months later.
Now, weeks before a heavily contested mayoral election in Washington, White is hitting the campaign trail with Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a leading Democratic mayoral candidate who voted with the rest of her colleagues on the Council to expel White.
“We don’t agree on everything, but we agree on most things,” White said at a weekend event with Lewis George, video of which was shared on social media. He encouraged his supporters to vote for her in the Democratic primary on June 16, which will all but decide the election in the heavily blue city.
Lewis George spoke highly of White in her speech, saying that when she first joined the Council in 2021, White offered to mentor her.
“You’re somebody who deserves to be shown love for the love that you give to everybody else,” Lewis George said at a weekend event with White. “D.C. loves you. I love you.”
White posted a video on his Facebook page in 2018 attributing a recent snowstorm to “the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters” and made similar comments at a municipal planning meeting, prompting an uproar from fellow councilmembers and the local Jewish community.
He said that he did not know that such language about the Rothschilds was an antisemitic conspiracy theory, and he attempted to make amends with the Jewish community by attending a Passover Seder, meeting with community leaders for bagels and going on a tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. But White left the museum tour early, without explanation, driving further criticism.
Soon after, it also came to light that White donated $500 from a local fund, earmarked for Ward 8 constituents, to an event in Illinois featuring the antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
White was arrested in 2024 for allegedly taking more than $150,000 in bribes in order to boost certain companies in their bid for city contracts. On Monday, a federal judge denied his request to dismiss the case, which is set to go to trial in September.
A spokesperson for Lewis George did not respond to a request for comment.
Lewis George has had her own dust-ups with the Washington Jewish community in the course of the mayoral race this year. She responded in the affirmative to an endorsement questionnaire from the Democratic Socialists of America’s Metro DC chapter that asked local candidates to reject the “Zionist lobby,” and vowed to avoid events that “promote Zionism.” Lewis George, herself a DSA member, earned the group’s backing.
In a meeting with local rabbis, Lewis George privately apologized for her answers to the questionnaire, but did not say the same publicly.
As Alex Bores and Jack Schlossberg woo the left, Micah Lasher emerges as favorite among Jewish voters
Brian Stukes/Lev Radin/Roy Rochlin/John Nacion
George Conway/Micah Lasher/Jack Schlossberg/Alex Bores
With seven weeks remaining until the Democratic primary for an open House seat in Manhattan, the crowded race is beginning to show emerging signs of division over Israel and rising antisemitism, key issues in the heavily Jewish district where many voters closely identify with liberal Zionist sentiments.
The last week — which included two candidate forums focused on Jewish community issues and was punctuated by an anti-Israel protest near a synagogue in the district hosting an Israeli real estate event — highlighted some of the subtle ideological fault lines inflecting the June 23 race to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
From recent efforts to block U.S. weapons sales to Israel to the intersection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the four top candidates in the closely contested race — state Assemblymembers Alex Bores and Micah Lasher, Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg and former Republican attorney George Conway — are by varying degrees staking out differing views on Middle East policy as well as domestic concerns affecting the Jewish community, while continuing to reaffirm their support for the Jewish state.
Meanwhile, some recent endorsements that Bores received from left-wing advocacy groups hostile toward Israel have fueled skepticism of that support among Jewish leaders, along with speculation he is seeking to carve out a progressive lane for himself that has been largely unoccupied for most of the campaign.
The starkest disagreements were on display last Wednesday during a candidate forum at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the Upper West Side, where Schlossberg, a social media influencer with a narrow lead in most private polls, notably said he would have joined most Senate Democrats who voted last month to restrict arms sales to Israel — even as he continues to back defensive aid to help boost Israel’s Iron Dome system.
For their parts, Conway and Lasher both confirmed they would have opposed the legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “I don’t support the withholding of aid from Israel,” Conway explained, drawing applause from the audience, while Lasher said he did not believe the bill “would have actually improved the lives of people on the ground,” echoing comments he had made in a candidate questionnaire opposing House legislation to block weapons sales to Israel.
Bores, who had previously committed to the event, pulled out the day before, citing a scheduling conflict in Washington.
The forum, which took place a day after anti-Israel demonstrators had chanted antisemitic slogans near Park East Synagogue to oppose an Israeli real estate event featuring some advertising for settlements in the West Bank, drew other distinct contrasts among the candidates.
Schlossberg, for instance, condemned what he called the “antisemitic rhetoric” used by demonstrators who had shouted slogans such as, “We don’t want no Zionists here,” “Death to the IDF” and “We don’t want no two-state, we want ‘48.”
Still, he added, “I don’t think that a land sale for real estate that is in violation of international law should be happening in a house of worship.”
In comparison, Lasher, a Jewish protégé of Nadler’s, questioned the protesters’ aims. The demonstration was more broadly about “framing Israel, and the idea of making aliyah to Israel, as illegitimate,” he argued. Earlier, he said the protest was “intended to create fear in the hearts of Jewish New Yorkers and stigmatize our community.”
“I think it’s important to speak with clarity,” added Lasher, who has touted his state legislation to ban protests directly outside houses of worship, which has been opposed by anti-Israel activists in the city. “When people are outside a synagogue shouting, ‘We don’t want two states, we want ‘48’ — that’s not about the question of West Bank settlements. That is about the legitimacy of Israel.”
Bores, whose state Assembly district includes Park East Synagogue, said in a joint statement with City Councilmember Virginia Maloney before the protest on Tuesday that the demonstration evoked “painful memories of times when people have been harassed while entering houses of worship.” He did not appear to have commented on the protest after it occurred.
While Bores has recently accepted support from some groups opposed to U.S. funding for Israel, he has indicated that he does not share such positions. He has rejected legislative efforts to condition aid — stating in one candidate questionnaire, for example, that “determining foreign policy through legislation that targets individual countries has overall not been beneficial for achieving universal rights.”
He reiterated that view last Monday during a separate forum at The Jewish Center, a Modern Orthodox synagogue on the Upper West Side, where he appeared with Lasher. “I support the consistent application of Leahy Laws across all countries,” he said, referring to U.S. laws banning security funding to foreign military units that engage in human rights violations.
Lasher also agreed with that position. “It should be a universal standard,” he said.
“We should be able to stand up to people in our party,” Bores added at the forum last week, “and say how important our relationship is with the State of Israel and how important it is to ensure the rights of everyone in the region, including the Palestinians.”
Still, his recent endorsement from Our Revolution, a Sanders-aligned group that has advocated for cutting military funding to Israel, has fueled questions about the sincerity of his positions. His decision to pull out of the Stephen Wise candidate forum on short notice last week also raised eyebrows, particularly as he had done so after winning support from a City University of New York union that has called for divesting from Israel.
Bores has otherwise claimed backing from New York Progressive Action Network, which likewise supports efforts to withhold U.S. military aid to Israel.
“There’s a lot of skepticism now,” said one Jewish community leader who is closely following the race, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue. “You don’t get the endorsements of Our Revolution and PSC CUNY,” which represents faculty and staff in the university system, “without saying something differently privately than you do publicly.”
“There’s concern now that there wasn’t a few weeks ago,” the Jewish leader said, noting Bores had been calling community members to do “damage control” after receiving the Our Revolution endorsement. He has explained that the nod extends from their shared goal of regulating the AI industry, which is targeting the former Palantir employee aggressively in the race, according to the Jewish leader.
A spokesperson for Bores’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the endorsement last week.
While some Jewish voters in the district feel that Lasher’s views on Israel are to the left of their own, his outspoken opposition to rising antisemitism and commitment to Israel’s security are now appealing to a segment of the community that is questioning the apparent dissonance between Bores’ publicly stated positions and his endorsements from organizations with which he is not aligned on Middle East policy.
A graphic circulating in local Jewish WhatsApp groups on Friday, which was shared with Jewish Insider, warned that “a Bernie Sanders PAC just endorsed Alex Bores” and that “Jack Schlossberg wants to cut arms sales to Israel,” highlighting the names in red.
“Micah Lasher is the clear choice. The community and rabbis are rallying behind him,” the message continued. “It’s time to unite to win this seat.”
Garth Symonds, who chairs The Jewish Center’s committee to get out the vote, said in a statement to JI on Friday that Bores “has proven his toughness in the face of well-funded attacks by those resistant to AI regulation” and that he “appears to have a strong legislative record, but so does Lasher.”
“On Israel, Lasher has a supportive track record, whereas Bores appears close to some people in the Working Families Party, which is anti-Israel, and has been endorsed by One Revolution,” he said, claiming Lasher, a veteran Democratic operative, “has deeper political experience.”
The Working Families Party, which supports conditioning aid to Israel, chose not to issue an endorsement after soliciting questionnaires from Bores, Lasher and Schlossberg. But the group has recently indicated it could rethink that decision as Schlossberg has gained traction, saying “we can do better than that.” It is most likely to support Bores if it does weigh on the primary, City & State New York has reported.
Democratic leadership, who had backed the Maine governor in the primary, voiced tepid support for Platner moving forward
Robert F. Bukaty/AP/Graham Platner campaign
Gov. Janet Mills and Graham Platner
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said on Thursday that she was suspending her primary campaign to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), clearing the path for her Democratic primary rival, Graham Platner, to secure the party’s nomination.
“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else — the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” she said in a statement.
Her sudden exit, with just over a month until the June primary, marks a stunning development in the closely watched race that Democratic leadership has regarded as one of its best pick-up opportunities this cycle as the party seeks to reclaim the majority in the upper chamber.
Mills, a moderate two-term governor who had been favored by the Democratic establishment, struggled to gain traction in the race against Platner, a far-left political newcomer who had continued to maintain a commanding polling and fundraising lead, even as he has faced ongoing scrutiny for his extensive record of incendiary statements and personal controversies.
Since he entered the primary last year, Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and former Marine, has weathered criticism over a now-covered Nazi tattoo whose imagery he claims not to have recognized until recently as well as a series of past online comments in which he praised Hamas’ tactics during a violent raid into Israel in 2014, among other posts that have been surfaced amid his campaign.
He has otherwise drawn blowback for boosting extremists — telling a podcast host who has spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, for instance, that he was a “longtime fan” of his show.
In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair, called Mills “a formidable governor who has broken barriers and never hesitates to stand up to bullies to fight for Maine,” adding that they “will work with the presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner to defeat” Collins, viewed as among the most vulnerable Senate Republicans up for reelection.
The statement, hardly a ringing endorsement of the now-presumptive nominee in a crucial battleground state, underscored the uncomfortable nature of their relationship with Platner, who has been a vocal critic of the Democratic establishment and its support for Israel.
Platner, casting himself as a populist, had won an early endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that helped him rise to prominence at the beginning of his campaign, and has continued to claim backing from a handful of other national progressive leaders such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Nirav Shah, a Democrat running for governor of Maine, also announced he was endorsing Platner on Thursday after Mills had bowed out of the primary.
Mills, whose comments did not mention Platner, has not indicated if she will back her now-former rival.
In a statement, Platner voiced gratitude for Mills’ “service to Maine” and said he looked “forward to working with her between now and November” to defeat Collins.
Republicans, for their part, have seemed particularly eager to go up against Platner, whose vulnerabilities the Senate GOP campaign arm had been aggressively highlighting even before Mills ended her campaign.
“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, said in a statement on Thursday. “Susan Collins has always put in the work for her constituents and delivered. Washington Democrats always fall short in Maine and will again, because they just nominated a dishonest radical.”
Collins, in comments to a CNN reporter on Thursday, praised Mills but would not weigh in on Platner as she prepares for what is now expected to be a bitterly contested general election.
Adam Hamawy is running as an anti-Israel activist in a crowded primary to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, and is backed by well-financed outside groups
DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images
Dr. Adam Hamawy speaks during an AFP interview after meetings on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC, on June 14, 2024.
The wide open Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District could pose a difficult dilemma for local Jewish voters and national pro-Israel groups, given the candidacy of Adam Hamawy, a physician who served in Gaza and has made criticism of Israel a centerpiece of his campaign.
With a crowded field of candidates staking out a range of views on the U.S.-Israel relationship, the race poses tough strategic questions for the pro-Israel community — if it wants to block Hamawy from becoming the Democratic nominee. With such a divided field, a candidate could win the nomination in the June 2 primary with a small plurality.
The seat is currently held by the retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).
Hamawy, who posted strong first-quarter fundraising and is winning support from national progressive groups and leaders, is now being championed by American Priorities, an anti-Israel group that aims to counter AIPAC. American Priorities has indicated it’s prepared to spend $2 million supporting Hamawy.
Pro-Israel groups are thus far uninvolved in the race and aren’t indicating any plans to engage.
But a Hamawy victory would create red flags in the Jewish community, given his outspoken anti-Israel stance. Despite his extreme views on Israel, he has a compelling personal biography — he is a veteran combat physician credited with saving Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-IL) life.
A New Jersey Jewish leader told JI that the race presents tough choices for the Jewish community, predicting that Jewish voters are likely to be split among several of the candidates, including Sue Altman, a former state director for Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), and East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen.
Other candidates, including state Rep. Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, could also prove to be viable challengers, with the support of local political machines.
In addition to recent comments on far-left streamer Hasan Piker’s show in which he said he does not support Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system because it insulates Israel from the consequences of war, Hamawy is now also facing scrutiny for comments he made in 2024 after volunteering at the European Gaza Hospital in the enclave during Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Washington Free Beacon resurfaced past comments by Hamawy saying definitively that Gaza’s hospitals were not being used as bases or hideouts for Hamas terrorists, saying that he saw “no fighters at all,” no guns, no combatants and “definitely no tunnels underground.”
A year later, Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar was killed in a strike on a tunnel that ran directly under the European Hospital’s emergency department during a meeting with other top Hamas leaders. Israel has said that the hospital served as a command center during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and that it found evidence that Hamas hostages were held under it.
Altman ran on a pro-Israel platform in 2024 in a neighboring district but now says she opposes U.S. financial aid for Israel and wants to restrict and condition weapons sales, while arguing strongly in defense of the Iron Dome system and stridently criticizing Hamawy for opposing it. The former progressive organizer is trying to stake out a middle ground to attract both progressives critical of Israel and more pro-Israel Jewish voters.
Cohen is Jewish and has been the strongest supporter of Israel in the field, facing criticism and, in some cases, antisemitic attacks for that position. He once described himself as a member of AIPAC and faced criticism from Watson Coleman over his stance on Israel — she called him a “hard-line supporter of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu” and specifically urged voters to reject him.
Both candidates, the Jewish leader said, are “reasonable people” who are willing and able to have nuanced conversations about Israel and the Jewish community — though they hold differing views on Israel. Jewish voters, they said, could play a significant role in the election, particularly in Cohen’s home area of East Brunswick.
“They both have their followings, and they’re both, I would argue, relatively well-liked both in and out of the Jewish community,” the leader said, highlighting that both also have experience in government.
The leader predicted that Cohen, given his strong and clear support for Israel and his positive reputation in the Jewish community statewide, is likely to be able to unify much of the Jewish vote.
Though he has the support of the local Democratic county organization, whether Cohen can win district-wide remains a question.
A Sunday night debate highlighted the range of views among the candidates on Israel, and the specific nuances that some candidates are trying to capture.
Hamawy, asked about potential conditions on U.S. aid globally, said that “this isn’t about defense.”
“Every country has a right to defend itself, but what we have from the International Criminal Court, what we have from Human Rights Watch, from Amnesty International and what I have seen and experienced in my own eyes isn’t self-defense,” Hamawy said. “It’s a country that is committing genocide and continues to bomb innocent people every day.”
He suggested that, in addition to cutting off aid to Israel, the U.S. should also cut off aid to the United Arab Emirates over its alleged support of a faction in the Sudanese civil war that the U.S. has determined is committing genocide.
Hamawy, who largely agreed with Piker’s positions on various issues when he appeared on his stream, distanced himself from Piker’s recent comments in a New York Times interview advocating for shoplifting.
“We have to abide by the laws. There’s no room for crime. We have to be able to make food affordable for people when they need it,” Hamawy said, “but crime is not the way to go about it, and so I disagree with that.”
Altman emphasized that she was “the only candidate in this race that AIPAC has actually endorsed against” — when she ran against incumbent Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in 2024.
She said that she believes Israel should exist and that Netanyahu is a war criminal.
“I believe that we should not be sending our taxpayer money to Israel to kill civilians. But I also think the Iron Dome should exist,” Altman said. “Israel’s a prosperous country, however, it doesn’t need our money to support the Iron Dome. It can pay for it on its own.”
She condemned the “atrocities” in Gaza and the war in Lebanon, but she also emphasized that Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis “are terrorist organizations, and Israel should be allowed to defend itself against those organizations.”
Altman also emphasized that antisemitism and Islamophobia at home are not an acceptable reaction to the conflict in the Middle East.
Reynolds-Jackson took criticism from a fellow candidate over past affiliations with AIPAC, and for a trip she took to Israel in 2018.
She said that the “world is a different place” than it was at the time, and emphasized that she visited both Israel and the “Muslim side,” describing them both as “beautiful.” But she also emphasized that a kibbutz she visited in 2018 had been destroyed.
“When we talk about protecting the right for Israel to defend itself, when we talk about the innocent lives that [have] been lost, I am not afraid to say that I am pro-Israel and I am pro-Muslim. These are people that deserve to live in peace,” she said.
Asked earlier in the event about whether she would support suspending any U.S. aid to Israel, Reynolds-Jackson said, “I support Israel, I support the two-state solution,” before criticizing the amount the U.S. spends on military aid in Israel and elsewhere, and emphasizing her opposition to the war in Iran.
Cohen took the most unequivocally pro-Israel stance of the group.
“I believe very strongly in Israel’s right to exist, and not only exist, but to thrive in the Middle East, along with its neighbors. Everybody in that region of the world deserves to live in peace,” Cohen said. “The U.S. has always been an ally of Israel, and we have allies throughout the world that we support with military aid. That aid should not only be for defense, which Israel uses to defend its citizens, 20% of which are Muslim, it also must be able to fight back when attacked, just like we do for every other U.S. ally that we have around the world.”
He emphasized that Israel is a democracy facing threats from terrorists that want to destroy both it and the United States, even as he said he strongly disagrees with Israel’s current leadership.
Cohen also said that his disagreements with Watson Coleman, in spite of her criticism, are “really very few compared to the multiple things which we’ve agreed upon.” He praised her record and legacy in Congress.
Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp, also running for the seat, said he firmly believes that U.S. aid to Israel should be conditioned, while also calling Israel “a very important ally of the United States” with “the right to defend itself against terrorism.”
“I believe that Israel should exist within secure borders and should continue to be a very important ally and partner of the United States,” Mapp said. “On the other hand, I do believe that Palestinian people have a right to exist and a right to defend [themselves] within secure borders, and so we must make sure that we negotiate a peace agreement that will bring the Palestinians and the Israelis together, existing in borders of their own.”
Jay Vaingankar, a 28-year-old former Department of Energy official, also struck out a strongly anti-Israel stance and went on the attack against several other candidates on the stage over their alleged views on the issue or ties to the pro-Israel community.
Conley, Davidson distance themselves from Senate votes to block Israel aid in Jewish community forum
The two Democratic candidates hoping to take on Rep. Mike Lawler generally defended continued aid; both emphasized the need for proper oversight of and accountability for U.S. aid
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Senior Advisor to the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Cait Conley speaks to Politico Cybersecurity reporter Maggie Miller during Politico's annual AI and Tech Summit on September 17, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Cait Conley and Beth Davidson, two of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary in New York’s 17th Congressional District — among the most Jewish districts in the country — distanced themselves in a Thursday candidate forum from efforts by 40 Senate Democrats last week to block certain military sales to Israel.
Conley, a veteran who has worked in a variety of national security roles, said that she doesn’t believe that lawmakers should be trying to determine which specific systems should be provided to allies, but she also argued that the U.S. must continue to enforce global standards to ensure that all aid recipients are meeting U.S. standards.
“What I’m concerned about is what we are seeing is politicians now trying to make calls on what assistance should or should not go, whether this system or that, whether this thing or that, instead of actually relying upon the process that was designed where informed professionals are shaping what those packages are. There is a politicization of security that I do not believe is good for America’s national security or global stability,” Conley said during the Jewish Democratic Council of America forum.
She said that interference by lawmakers in determining what systems should be provided to Ukraine ultimately hurt the country’s ability to defend itself.
“I think we need to take politicians out of that equation and have a discussion on are the standards being met or not, and that is neutral to whatever ally we’re talking about,” she continued.
Conley also said she continues to believe in the importance of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, but also wants to see long-term peace, guaranteed by a trusted third-party peacekeeping force in Gaza supported by U.S. reconstruction aid.
Davidson, a Rockland County legislator, said that she wants to see the U.S. use diplomatic tools and oversight to help bring about peace, rather than threatening aid to Israel. “I never want to have to be in a position where we are not in a position to provide Israel the aid it needs to fully defend itself and keep not only Israelis but Americans safe,” she said.
But she added that, “before voting for more funding, I would want to see a plan of how we bring this [Iran] conflict to a close, especially with a second conflict going on right next door,” and said that the “illegal war in Iran is actually making it more difficult to implement the [Gaza] peace plan.”
“It’s more important than ever that we understand what is happening with our tax dollars, what aid is being used for, and ensuring that it’s truly making Americans, Israelis, Palestinians and everyone in the region more safe.”
Davidson, who is Jewish, emphasized that the challenges the Jewish community are facing are personal to her and her family, and that her involvement in her synagogue leadership was what led her to public service.
She said that it’s “no secret” that Jewish support has been key to Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) past victories in the district because Jewish voters “felt homeless in the Democratic Party.”
“I’m the strongest candidate in this primary, because with me, Democrats and Jewish Democrats in particular don’t have to choose,” Davidson said. “I bring a strong voice against antisemitism, but also in favor of clean water, gun safety, hunger relief, lowering costs for working families, fighting for affordable health care, a proven record that I bring on so many of the issues that we all care about. So if you felt homeless, you have a home in my campaign.”
Davidson accused Lawler of politicizing the fight against antisemitism, and of turning a blind eye to President Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
She also highlighted her work to organize a solidarity event following the antisemitic stabbing attack in the predominantly Orthodox village of Monsey, N.Y., and to improve Holocaust education as a school board member.
Conley emphasized that she has past experience fighting antisemitism as an official at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which sent teams to faith-based institutions to help them improve their security. She said that the administration should be increasing funding and support for such programs, alongside the Department of Education, instead of slashing them.
Effie Phillips-Staley, who is staking out the progressive lane in the race and has adopted an increasingly anti-Israel platform, did not attend the forum.
‘I didn't seek, nor would I accept, the endorsement of Democratic Socialists of America,’ McDuffie told JI in an interview
Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (I-At Large) is seen before Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) testifies to the DC City Council outlining the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget in Washington, D.C., on April 03, 2024.
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.
Lander supported Iron Dome funding when running for mayor, but as he vies for far-left support in primary against Rep. Dan Goldman, he’s now declining comment
Ryan Murphy/Getty Images
Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander speaks to members of the media, alongside supporters, before appearing in court on February 12, 2026 in New York City.
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.
Adam Hamawy has been endorsed by CAIR, Justice Democrats and a new group affiliated with the Institute of Middle East Understanding
DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images
Dr. Adam Hamawy speaks during an AFP interview after meetings on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC, on June 14, 2024.
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.
The ER physician and former government official is making support for Israel and outreach to Jewish voters central to her bid to unseat Rep. Tom Kean Jr.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Tina Shah attends the 2024 Forbes Healthcare Summit at NYU Langone on December 04, 2024 in New York City.
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.
McMorrow: ‘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’
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat from Michigan speaks during the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, United States on August 19, 2024.
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.”
Kenyan McDuffie did not name his rivals, though Janeese Lewis George recently said she would avoid events ‘promoting Zionism’
Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie speaks during the Free DC candidate forum on March 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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.”
Former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way announced she would not run for the seat, allowing Mejia to run essentially uncontested in the upcoming regular election Democratic primary
Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Analilia Mejia, Democratic House candidate for New Jersey, speaks to supporters and members of the media at Paper Plane Coffee Co. in Montclair, N.J., on Jan. 29, 2026.
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.
Pro-Israel groups appear to be focusing their firepower against the most vocal anti-Israel candidate in the primary, after initially hitting Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss
Nam Y. Huh/AP
Democratic candidates for Congress, State Sen. Laura Fine, center, speaks as Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, left, and Kat Abughazaleh listen to her during U.S. House 9th District primary debate, in Chicago, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
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.
The race to the left on Israel in the primary 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
Cornell Watson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Campaign signage for Democratic Congressional candidates Valerie Foushee and Nida Allam ahead of the North Carolina primary election in Durham, North Carolina, US, on Sunday, March 1, 2026.
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?
The far-left state senator is now making his attacks against the pro-Israel group a central message of his campaign
Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for People's Action
Sen. Robert Peters, IL State Senate 13th District, speaks during the protest in Chicago to hold AT&T accountable for contracts with DHS, CBP, and ICE on November 16, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
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.”
Already several members of the state’s congressional delegation have begun to coalesce around Mejia’s campaign
Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Analilia Mejia speaks to supporters and members of the media at Paper Plane Coffee Co. in Montclair, N.J., on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.
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.
The pro-Israel group’s super PAC has spent over $2 million in ads attacking Tom Malinowski, who has come out in favor of conditioning some aid to Israel, in hopes of electing a more reliable ally in Tahesha Way
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New Jersey Lt. Gov. Tahesha L. Way, speaks during a Naturalization Ceremony at Liberty State Park on September 17, 2024 in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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.
Carol Obando-Derstine told JI she supports continued aid to Israel and rejected characterizations of the war in Gaza as a genocide
Carol Obando-Derstine/Facebook
Carol Obando-Derstine
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, who compiled a solidly pro-Israel record when in Congress last decade, is facing opposition from the far left in the Democratic primary
Melissa Bean campaign page
Former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL)
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.
Stevens is hoping to parlay her record in tough races and pro-Israel record in Congress into broad support in a crowded field
Sarah Rice/Getty Images
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) speaks before Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a rally at the Crofoot Ballroom on November 6, 2022 in Pontiac, Michigan.
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) announced on Tuesday morning that she’s entering the Democratic primary for Michigan’s open Senate seat, setting up an intraparty showdown in one of the most consequential battleground states in the country.
Stevens is a leading contender for the seat of retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI). She will be facing state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, who led the Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services. Former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, a former NFL player, is also seriously considering a run.
Stevens represents a district in the Detroit suburbs and has made supporting local manufacturing a centerpiece of her time in Congress, as well as her work in the Obama administration in supporting the auto industry recovery.
That work took center stage in Stevens’ campaign announcement video, where she also attacked President Donald Trump, accusing him of endangering Michigan jobs and driving up prices with tariffs and other policies.
“I remember being handed the keys to my first car. I’m Haley Stevens and I bet you do too,” Stevens said in her launch video, which prominently features footage of Michigan factories. “That used Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, it meant more to me than just freedom. It meant I had a piece of Michigan. You know, the Michigan that helped build this country. The Michigan that shaped me. It’s not just what I sound like, it’s who I am.”
In a statement, Stevens’ campaign also went after White House advisor Elon Musk, accusing him and Trump of undermining essential services and endangering citizens’ private data.
Stevens is a favorite within the state’s Jewish community for her outspoken support for Israel and condemnation of high-profile antisemitic incidents at a time when many Michigan Democrats have pandered to anti-Israel activists.
She represents a sizable Jewish community in the Detroit suburbs with which she forged a strong relationship in part during her successful primary campaign against then-Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI).
But pro-Israel groups also view McMorrow as a reliable ally, and are more concerned with blocking the candidacy of El-Sayed, a Bernie Sanders-endorsed progressive who supports cutting off aid to Israel.
Because of that dynamic, outside pro-Israel groups may not formally endorse a favorite in the Democratic primary — even as Stevens will likely benefit from widespread support from Jewish voters in the early stage of the campaign.
AIPAC and the affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC have been rumored to be planning to spend in support of Stevens despite not usually intervening in statewide races.
“Although we have not yet made a decision in this race, Rep. Stevens has emerged as a pro-Israel stalwart during her tenure in the House of Representatives,” AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told Jewish Insider.
Stevens also boasts an electoral record that demonstrates she can win over swing voters — her district was a battleground when she was first elected in 2018 before redistricting made it more safely Democratic — along with ousting Levin, an anti-Israel Democratic incumbent, in a member-on-member primary.
McMorrow has demonstrated a knack for earning glowing national media attention — at first through a state Senate speech in which she pushed back against accusations against her by a GOP colleague of grooming and sexualizing children and her outspoken support for abortion rights after Roe v. Wade was overturned — even though she’s only been serving as a state senator in Michigan.
In a sign of McMorrow’s attentiveness to the Jewish community, she’s returned policy papers to at least one Democratic pro-Israel group underscoring her support for Israel’s security, according to a source familiar with her outreach. She also has personal ties to the Jewish community — while she’s Catholic, her husband is Jewish and they are raising their children in a mixed-faith home.
One of McMorrow’s top advisors is Lis Smith, who engineered Pete Buttigieg’s out-of-nowhere 2020 presidential campaign and who has been a prominent critic of the party’s left-wing activist class.
Adrian Hemond, a Michigan political strategist, told JI he views Stevens as holding significant institutional advantages in the hotly-contested primary.
Hemond noted that Stevens has been a strong fundraiser in her congressional seat and has proven her ability to win close elections, which Hemond said will be “paramount” to Democratic primary voters. Stevens also boasts a strong relationship with organized labor and Black voters in her district, Hemond added.
He acknowledged that McMorrow is “trying to position herself as somewhat more moderate” but argued that her base and brand remains strongest among progressives — and El-Sayed, with Sanders’ endorsement, is playing in the left-wing lane.
Hemond said that El-Sayed did not prove to be a strong fundraiser in his 2018 gubernatorial race and failed to build support statewide, only winning 30% of the vote in the primary contest. But he’s well-positioned to do well with Arab-American voters in the state, and other single-issue, anti-Israel voters.
On the Republican side, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) has already declared his second run for the seat after losing by less than 20,000 votes to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in 2024. He won Trump’s endorsement, giving him a critical edge against any potential GOP challengers.
Challenger to Rep. Cori Bush opens up six-point lead in new poll
FERGUSON, MO - JUNE 17: St. Louis County Prosecutor, Wesley Bell gives remarks during the Ferguson mayoral inauguration ceremony for Ella James at the Urban League Empowerment Center on June 17, 2020 in Ferguson, Missouri. Ella Jones becomes the city's first African-American Mayor in it's 165-year history. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
A new poll commissioned by Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm suggests that momentum is building for Wesley Bell as he prepares to take on Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in a hotly contested primary next week.
The poll shows Bell, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis, with a six-point lead over Bush, a prominent Squad-affiliated lawmaker who has faced backlash from Jewish voters over her strident criticism of Israel. Among 400 likely Democratic primary voters surveyed between July 21-24, Bell led Bush, 48-42%, according to a polling memo shared on Monday.
His performance was an improvement over a previous poll released by DMFI PAC and conducted in mid-June, which showed Bell — at 43% — with a one-point lead in the race. Both polls were conducted by the Mellman Group.
Other recent polls have shown Bell strongly positioned to prevail as he seeks to become the second challenger this cycle to unseat a Squad incumbent, replicating Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s victory over Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) in New York last month.
In an echo of that race, the St. Louis primary has quietly become one of the most expensive of the congressional cycle — with a diverse coalition of outside groups spending millions to boost Bell’s campaign. The biggest spender has been AIPAC’s super PAC, which has invested more than $7 million on ads and mailers.
For its part, DMFI PAC, which is also backing Bell, has spent nearly $500,000 in the race. “As voters hear from the candidates,” Mark Mellman, DMFI PAC’s chairman, said in a statement, “Democrats in Missouri’s 1st District are increasingly disillusioned with Bush and attracted to Bell.”
'The term social distancing is just about the perfect antonym to the term political campaign'
Courtesy
Jake Auchincloss Courtesy
The coronavirus is shaking up congressional races around the country, causing candidates to shift their messaging to address the pandemic and its effects on their districts.
Campaigning at a distance: “The term social distancing is just about the perfect antonym to the term political campaign. We’ve had to recalibrate everything,” said Jake Auchincloss, who is running in a crowded Democratic primary in Massachusetts’s 4th district. Auchincloss, who serves as a city councilor in Newton, told JI he’s doing outreach through video and phone calls. “If you can’t canvass by door, and if you can’t do meet-and-greets in people’s homes, how do you still establish connections with voters? Because conversations with voters at the end of the day [are] what matters.”
Dominating the conversation: The virus is now the leading issue in campaigns across the country, congressional candidates tell JI. “This is by far the number one issue” voters are talking about, Gina Ortiz Jones, the Democratic nominee in Texas’ 23rd district, told JI. “People have real concerns about their ability to meet the bills that are due here in just over a week. So this is by far the number one issue. It’s a health issue but it’s also an economic issue.”
Feeling the effects: Sara Jacobs, who’s running in California’s 53rd district, told a similar story. “It’s clear that everyone is feeling this crisis and is scared of what is happening right now. And especially so many folks in the district whose small businesses are not getting any money, whose incomes are being cut because of this,” Jacobs said. “I think it’s affecting every single person, and it’s clearly dominating the conversation.”
Sara Jacobs
Not forgotten: Mike Garcia, a Republican running in a special election in California’s 25th district on May 12, said voters have been asking about other aspects of the campaign as well. “Folks are talking about the coronavirus for the first few seconds, but right away, the focus is the campaign and how we’re gonna win,” Garcia said. “I think people have resigned themselves to the quarantine and they’re trying to just do what they can.”
Change of strategy: As social distancing has put an end to most in-person campaigning, candidates are doubling down on their digital strategy and operations, including holding digital town halls and other online and phone-in events. “We’re a young, nimble campaign, so we’re able to adjust and use technology to our advantage,” said Ammar Campa-Najjar, who is running in California’s 50th district. “And so we’re going to use the fact that we’re a young campaign, more tech-savvy, and use that to kind of overcome the obstacles of this moment.”
Looking ahead: Campa-Najjar said his campaign will continue to rely on mailers, postcards and phone-banking, and he’s hoping he’ll be able to get back to meeting voters face-to-face later in the race. “Hopefully by the time October and September roll around, we’ll be past this — and not just for campaigns but for the country,” he added.
Campaign finance: Candidates are also developing new strategies to keep cash flowing in during the crisis. Garcia has been holding “flash-funding teleconferences,” bringing groups of 15 to 30 donors onto a 45-minute phone call: “We’re still getting great support from the donors.”
Resources for communities: Campaigns throughout the country are also working to provide resources to their potential voters to help them through the crisis. Alan Khazei, who is running in the Democratic primary in Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district, is using social media to reach out to constituents. “I feel privileged, I have this platform. And I’m just trying to use it to connect with people and inform them and share policy ideas and get access to experts,” Khazei told JI, noting that the next digital event he is hosting will feature Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a former classmate of his from Harvard.
Gina Ortiz Jones
Advocacy: In Texas, Jones and her campaign are trying to help people access information about the virus — efforts that have included translating materials into Spanish, connecting constituents with federal resources and advocating for vulnerable communities. “What we tried to do is fill the void of information that’s not getting out,” she said. “We’ve pivoted in a major way, in light of the need that we’re seeing in the community,” Jones added. Jacobs said that since the current situation has made it difficult for critical workers to find childcare, her campaign has set up a fund to subsidize childcare costs.
Empty seat: Garcia has been taking on a similar role, which he said is especially important in his district, which currently has no representation in Congress following the resignation of Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) in October. “I have taken on a responsibility to make sure that we’re getting the information out to our district, to our constituents, both sides of the aisle,” he said.
Continuing the work: California Assemblywoman Christy Smith is running against Garcia in the state’s 25th congressional district at the same time that she’s serving her assembly district, and the work, she says, sometimes overlaps. “As a state assemblymember, at this critical time, I am currently focused on my work as this community’s public servant, ensuring state response to my local constituents and connecting people with essential information, services, and resources,” Smith said. “My campaign has moved to prioritizing remote voter contact, through tools like texting with voters, at-home, phone banking, and encouraging supporters to speak with their friends and family about early voting by mail in advance of our May 12th special election.”
Online only: Ben Sigel, another candidate in Massachusetts’s 4th district, told JI that he’s gone “fully digital” — as part of that effort, he’s held a series of Facebook Live sessions with local experts and doctors to provide information to constituents to help them navigate issues related to the coronavirus crises.
Democrats attack Republican leadership: Democratic candidates are also focusing their attacks on the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. Jones said the federal government could do more, including ensuring that medical equipment is available and affordable.
Democratic hopeful pushes back against ‘smears’ from ‘political elites’
Credit: Marc Nozell/Flickr
Insisting that claims she has not broken through in the Democratic primary are “an illusion,” author Marianne Williamson brought her campaign to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Speaking to a crowd of a few dozen journalists and supporters, Williamson touted her plans for a Department of Peace and her broader goal to move American politics away from “a very 20th century mindset… infiltrated by the undue influence of money.”
Williamson told the crowd that the past century “was dominated by a mindset that’s basically a product of Newtonian physics, that saw the world as a huge machine… that 20th century mindset dominates our politics today.” In contrast, the Democratic hopeful urged a 21st century mindset that was “far more integrated” and “far more holistic.”
The presidential candidate said she had been targeted in a smear campaign by “political elites” after the second presidential debate in Detroit, where she warned of “the dark psychic force of collectivized hatred” that Trump was evoking.
“I sure as hell did break through,” Williamson said of her performance, suggesting “the political hits began” as a result of her popularity. Williamson has faced scrutiny over a variety of past statements including skepticism towards mandatory vaccination. The author did not meet the polling qualifications for the last two DNC debates, although she garnered a sufficient number of small donors to participate.
Advocating for a Department of Peace, a proposal pushed in past Democratic primaries by former congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Williamson argued, ”our national security agenda is dominated — as you know — basically by a constant perpetuation of war.” In contrast, she claimed “peace-building exemplifies skill sets and expertise [that are] just as sophisticated, just as important and, in many ways, take just as much courage” as those shown by the armed forces.
In her view, the building blocks were already there for this agency inside of government: “We already have the experts,” insisted Williamson. “It is simply not what we fund. We don’t need to bring in new people but to coordinate among the agencies that exist.”Williamson also outlined her foreign policy vision and reiterated her longstanding support for reentering the nuclear deal with Iran. She harshly criticized the Iraq War, saying “it was an absolutely horrible transgression on every level” — and argued that “the genesis of ISIS comes from that” — but insisted that the United States should have intervened militarily in Rwanda in the 1990s. She also expressed her support for the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after September 11 by noting the brutal treatment of the Taliban towards women.
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