All of the open primaries in and around Chicago feature matchups between more mainstream candidates and anti-Israel opponents
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
Protesters gather in Chicago, United States on May 17, 2025.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleWith numerous incumbent House members retiring or seeking higher office, the 2026 election will bring four open seats to the deep blue Chicago area — a level of turnover unprecedented in recent history — each of which is being hotly contested by a series of diverse candidates. And in each of the districts — the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th — at least one viable candidate is staking out positions strongly critical of Israel.
Illinois’ Second District (of Rep. Robin Kelly, who is running for Senate):
The sizable Second District stretches from the south side of Chicago and runs nearly three hours south along the border with Indiana. It includes liberal, highly educated areas around the University of Chicago and Hyde Park, where anti-Israel state Sen. Robert Peters is likely to pull most of his support.
Peters, who converted to Judaism, has been critical of Israel’s operations in Gaza and joined at least one anti-Israel protest affiliated with the far-left Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, calling in mid-November 2023 for a ceasefire.
“I watched the unprecedented bombing campaign rain down on a densely populated community in Gaza — one that had no easy means to escape — and I saw that it was being done in our name, as Jews and as Americans,” Peters wrote in an op-ed. “I thought of the story of my own biological father’s family. I knew that the massive humanitarian crisis that is still unfolding in Gaza will not make the world safer for Jews, whether in Israel or anywhere.”
More recently, he condemned the “forced famine of millions of people in Gaza” and said on X, “No wonder the Trump administration supports the destruction of Gaza, Trump and his allies want to do the same thing to Black people here.”
Peters was adopted as a child, and discovered in 2022 that his biological father was Jewish; he went on to join a congregation and begin the process of formally converting. The state senator has the support of national anti-Israel activists.
“Robert is the only Jewish candidate in the race for Congress in Illinois’ 2nd District, and this issue is deeply personal for him. Robert believes the U.S. must lead the effort to broker a diplomatic resolution that brings home the hostages, ends the war, and that ultimately leads to a solution where both the Israeli and Palestinian people can enjoy lasting security and self-determination,” a Peters campaign spokesperson told JI.
Peters, according to Frank Calabrese, a Chicago political analyst, has established himself as the favorite of the progressive class, raised substantial amounts of money and picked up an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). But Calabrese said he will struggle among the more moderate Black voters that live in the Chicago suburbs.
Calabrese said he sees former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. as the prohibitive favorite to win the seat, describing Jackson as someone with “universal name ID,” hailing from a family that is “as close to royalty as you get. It’s comparable locally to the Kennedy family, in the south side of Chicago.”
As a member of Congress from 1995 until 2012, Jackson visited Israel on trips organized by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation and the Jewish United Fund — taking criticism from anti-Israel activists. He was the keynote speaker for a pro-Israel event in Chicago in 2009, saying at the time, “I am honored to stand in solidarity with you today as we stand in support of Israel.”
Jackson’s brother, Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has grown increasingly critical of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, including supporting a call for the U.S. to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state and serving as an original cosponsor of the “Block the Bombs Act,” which critics describe as an effective permanent arms embargo on Israel for many critical weapons systems.
Jackson resigned from office under investigation for misuse of campaign funds. He later pleaded guilty to fraud and served 30 months in prison. Calabrese said he thinks voters will largely be forgiving of that history.
He said that it would be “mind-blowing” for Jackson to rack up less than 25% of the vote, which might not be enough to win if there were a small number of other competitors, “but when you put seven, eight, nine people in the race on the ballot — it’s going to be Jesse Jackson.”
Other candidates Calabrese predicted will be most competitive include Yumeka Brown, a member of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, both of whom he suggested could siphon some of the suburban Chicago vote.
Illinois’ Seventh District (of retiring Rep. Danny Davis):
Justice Democrats-affiliated Kina Collins is expected to make a third bid for the 7th District seat, after two primary challenges to retiring Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL). She has been opposed in past races by the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC.
Collins has a long record of taking anti-Israel stances, having described the war in Gaza as a genocide just nine days after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, called for conditions on U.S. aid to Israel and repeatedly accused Israel of committing war crimes.
She has also suggested Israeli training is the source of American police brutality against Black Americans.
Collins finished third in the 2024 primary, with 19% of the vote. Calabrese said her core base lies with white progressive voters.
Davis’ handpicked replacement is state Rep. LaShawn Ford. But due to Ford’s poor performance during his 2019 mayoral campaign — he received just 1% of the vote — Calabrese said it’s “hard to call him a [clear] frontrunner,” even with Davis’ backing.
Calabrese described the field in general as “chaotic” and said none of the candidates have yet to pull away from the pack.
Ford joined a statement on Oct. 11, 2023, condemning violence against both Israelis and Palestinians.
“Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed, and thousands injured,” the statement read. “We will not be able to achieve peace when millions of Palestinians are denied human rights.”
Facing criticism that the initial statement had suggested a moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas, Ford later offered his unequivocal condemnation of the “cowardly Hamas terrorists,” according to local media reports.
Melissa Conyears-Ervin, the city treasurer, is mounting her second bid for the seat, after challenging Davis in the 2024 primary, lagging well behind the congressman with just 21% of the vote. She ran on a strongly pro-Israel platform in 2024 and claimed Collins was antisemitic for accusing Israel of genocide.
Jason Friedman, a businessman who entered the race as a primary challenger to Davis, has a base in downtown Chicago and he may have a financial advantage, Calabrese said, but is an untraditional candidate for the majority-minority district, which has historically been represented by a Black lawmaker.
Friedman has been a member of the leadership of the Jewish United Fund and Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and was a board member of the Jewish National Fund. He led at least one JUF trip to Israel for young business professionals, and was honored with JUF’s Young Leadership Award. He testified before the Chicago City Council in 2012, urging divestment from Iran’s energy sector
“Trump and the United States have a moral obligation to create an environment to end the war and this humanitarian crisis, bring the hostages home, and create a path towards a true two-State solution,” Friedman said in a statement to Jewish Insider. “Netanyahu and his government have inexcusably put their own self-interests over the interests of Israel and the U.S.-Israeli relationship, and it must stop.”
Others in the race include Richard Boykin, a former chief of staff to Davis, and Anthony Driver, a former leader of the Chicago police oversight board and the former state executive director of the Service Employees International Union, which is supporting his campaign.
Illinois’ Eighth District (seat of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is running for Senate):
The suburban 8th District race is also up for grabs — a recent poll conducted by one of the candidates found over two-thirds of voters undecided — and features an ideologically diverse set of candidates, including at least two prominent antagonists of the Jewish state.
Yasmin Bankole, a Hanover Park trustee, is vowing to cosponsor the “Block the Bombs Act,” saying, “Our tax dollars are supporting an unjustifiable humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” She has accused the Trump administration of being complicit in potential ethnic cleansing.
“What’s happening in Gaza is immoral, unconscionable, and it is the responsibility of Congress to act,” Bankole said in a position statement on her campaign website.
Earlier this year, she shared a photo of an emaciated child in Gaza, later revealed to suffer from cerebral palsy, writing in the caption, “This heartbreaking and deeply alarming photo has stopped me in my tracks. We must not look away while this modern day tragedy rages on. We must continue to shine a light on ALL injustices. I call on the U.S., Israel, and those in the international community to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches and is safely distributed in Gaza.”
She also signed onto a Jan. 9, 2024, statement organized by JVP calling for a permanent ceasefire.
Bankole is a former staffer for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and has the senator’s backing in the race. Calabrese said she is “getting a lot of buzz” and has a similar profile and potential support base to Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), who represents a neighboring district.
Junaid Ahmed, a local small business owner, is making a second run for the seat, after attempting to challenge incumbent Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) in 2024, winning just 30% of the primary vote. Ahmed is aiming to capture the progressive lane, according to Calabrese.
On his campaign website, Ahmed lists “Peace in Gaza and Palestinian self-determination” as a top campaign priority and describes the war in Gaza as a genocide.
On the site, he called for a “comprehensive arms embargo and the ending of all military aid to Israel, demonstrating the U.S. stands with our fellow democracies in enforcing international law” and for the U.S. to realize “the self determination of the Palestinian people and an end to the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.”
Ahmed also said he supports “a multilateral effort [to] ensure equal protections for Palestinians under international law” and “[c]omprehensive strategies to tackle Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-Palestinian discrimination here at home and across the globe.”
He said in September that “the United States has a moral duty to stop Israel from committing more [war] crimes” and that Israel’s actions “are hurting America’s standing in the world.”
“As humans, we have the moral obligation to stand up and speak out against these heinous and genocidal acts,” he said in August.
Ahmed’s advocacy against the U.S.-Israel relationship dates back well before the war in Gaza. In 2021, he said, “Your tax dollars are going towards oppressing the Palestinian people,” condemning government funding packages that included aid for Israel.
In 2022, he commemorated the “Nakba” — a term that translates to “catastrophe” and refers to the founding of Israel and exodus of Palestinians — describing it as a “a horrific tragedy that led to the ethnic cleansing of 800,000+ Palestinians from nearly 530 villages at the hands of settlers who would later found Israel in 1948.”
The leading moderate in the race is former Rep. Melissa Bean, who served in the House from 2005 to 2011. The district is significantly different than it was when Bean first ran, Calabrese noted, and she has been less active in local Democratic politics since she retired, meaning she’ll have to re-introduce herself to many voters.
Bean, in a 2016 story, was described as close with Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) when he was a pro-Israel advocate before his time in office, and she has spoken out in support of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
In addition to Bean, Bankole and Ahmed, other candidates include Kevin Morrison, a Cook County commissioner, businessman Neil Khot and Dan Tully, a former JAG officer who has donated a significant sum to his own campaign and could be a strong fundraiser.
In the case of Morrison, Calabrese said the Cook County Commission, where he serves, has traditionally served as a launching pad for officeholders including Johnson and Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL) — but the district is split between Cook County and DuPage County, where Morrison’s support is weaker.
Calabrese said that Khot could rally support from the sizable local Indian-American community, and that he has been a strong fundraiser, supplemented by his own personal funds.
Illinois’ Ninth District (seat of retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky):
The Ninth District, which has one the largest Jewish constituencies in the state, has been the most-watched of the open Chicagoland seats, with prominent candidates including state Sen. Laura Fine, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and influencer and anti-Israel activist Kat Abugazaleh.
The race in the “very liberal district” which includes “the most liberal parts of Chicago” is turning into a sprint to the left, Calabrese said. The district also includes a large Middle Eastern population unfriendly to Israel, in addition to a sizable Orthodox Jewish community.
Fine represents the wealthier areas of the district and the more mainstream side of the Democratic Party. In an interview with Jewish Insider in May, Fine, who is Jewish, touted her pro-Israel platform and described herself as a staunch defender of the Jewish state who has long been outspoken against rising antisemitism fueled by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The 58-year-old state lawmaker, who served in the state House before rising to the state Senate in 2019, is a co-chair of the legislative Jewish Caucus and calls herself a “proud Jewish woman,” noting that her bat mitzvah was held in Israel. “I have been on the front lines of the fight against antisemitism,” she told JI.
Calabrese said he believes Abugazaleh, despite widespread skepticism over her lack of political experience and short period of residence in the district, stands a serious chance of winning because “this [is a] very transient part of [the Chicago area]. It’s a lot of renters, it’s a lot of single people, it’s a lot of young people and they’re very activist. It’s people like Kat. … She’s raising money, she’s getting volunteers and she represents a good part of what the district’s like.”
Biss has also leaned into criticizing Israel on the campaign trail, calling for the U.S. to stop all offensive weapons shipments to Israel and unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. A campaign spokesperson said he would support the “Block the Bombs Act.”.
“Years of experience have taught us that stern words from allies mean nothing to Netanyahu,” Biss said in a recent Substack post.
He added that recognizing a Palestinian state “would help lay the groundwork for a free and democratic Palestine, with a government that has no place for and provides no material support to Hamas or any other terrorist organization.”
He also wrote that, while he has deep familial connections to the state of Israel — his mother grew up in Israel, he spent significant time there and he had a cousin who served in the IDF after Oct. 7 — “other families have stories that paint a dramatically different picture. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 was itself a violent trauma for Palestinians. And I have also spent time in the West Bank, decades ago, witnessing first-hand the cruelty of the occupation — and the way, already then, that it warped Israeli attitudes.”
Biss also criticized Israeli airstrikes on Iran and said the U.S. should “work to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon through diplomatic means, not reckless military strikes.”
Biss, as mayor of Evanston, represents the largest political entity in the district — a large potential pool of votes — is well known from a past run for governor and is politically well-suited to the district, Calabrese said.
“He’s liberal but not really leftist …. So he’s a really good compromise between what I consider establishment and activists,” Calabrese continued, though Biss has leaned more into an activist posture on the campaign trail, participating in heated protests in the area against ICE.
There are other candidates in the race, including Bushra Amiwala, an activist and member of the Skokie Board of Education and the first Gen Z woman elected to public office in the country and the youngest Muslim elected official as of when she was elected.
Amiwala also has a history of anti-Israel activism. She opposes all military aid to Israel, said the U.S. should “demand reparations” from Israel and urged senators to support legislation blocking certain arms transfers.
“To have so much of our taxpayer dollars funding a humanitarian crisis in Palestine is not OK. And I don’t think we need to spend any more money on this. We need to leverage the money we’ve already given Israel to force them to sit at the table and come to a ceasefire,” she told Chicago magazine.
She also accused Israel of deliberately starving Palestinians and said opponents unwilling to describe the war in Gaza as a genocide should drop out of the race.
“This is the new litmus test for Democrats and it doesn’t take a focus group or opinion poll to find the right answer,” Amiwala wrote in a fundraising email. “If you are so morally and ethically compromised on this issue, you are no better than a MAGA Republican and are undeserving of even calling yourself a Democrat.”
Amiwala also said that “we’ve seen AIPAC buy our elected officials,” referring to the group’s political spending, and suggested that U.S. aid to Israel is the reason Americans lack access to education and universal healthcare.
And she has condemned Israel’s “continuous illegal bombing of sovereign nations. Israel has caused countless bloodshed and ignored international law while bankrolled by the U.S. every step of the way.”
But Calabrese said he’s skeptical that anyone other than Abugazaleh, Biss and Fine stands a realistic chance of winning the seat.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton opposed the Sanders-led resolutions, but Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) said she would have voted for them
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A divide is emerging in the Democratic Senate primary in Illinois over resolutions the Senate voted on earlier this week to block certain arms sales to Israel.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s campaign and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi told Jewish Insider on Friday that they wouldn’t have supported the resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), even as they condemned the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
But Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) announced earlier in the day that she would have voted for the resolutions if she’d been in the Senate.
The split could help shape the potentially crucial Jewish community vote in the upcoming Senate primary.
“As a mother, it’s heartwrenching to see images of children forced to go without food. Israel and the United States need to take every possible step to end the humanitarian crisis and ensure aid is immediately and widely made available,” Stratton said in a statement to JI. “I continue to pray for a ceasefire that ends the suffering in Gaza, for the return of the hostages still held by Hamas to their families in Israel, and for lasting peace in the region.”
Stratton’s campaign elaborated that the lieutenant governor believes, “[w]e should all be speaking with a clear voice that the Netanyahu administration must be doing more to get food and aid to the citizens of Gaza right away, but Juliana believes that cutting off U.S. military aid to Israel could risk standing in the way of the ultimate goals of a true ceasefire and sustained peace.”
The campaign also said that Stratton believes in Israel’s “right to defend itself as one of the United States’ closest allies and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
The campaign said Stratton “strongly disagrees” with how the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has executed the war in Gaza, but she “has been vocal in her support of Israel in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7th.”
Krishnamoorthi — who, in an interview with JI earlier this year, said he did not support efforts to cut off or condition U.S. aid to Israel — said Friday that the Sanders resolutions would not have solved the humanitarian crisis.
“We need an immediate ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and regional partners and that is swiftly accepted by Hamas, along with the release of the remaining hostages and the emergency provision of humanitarian aid,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement to JI. “The U.S. must use all of its diplomatic influence to make that happen as quickly as possible. Ultimately, the only path to a lasting peace is a two-state solution. The first step and my focus today is ending the current humanitarian disaster and getting food in as quickly as possible. Wednesday’s resolutions did not right that wrong.”
He said that he has “long been a steadfast supporter of our nation’s alliance with Israel” and that it “had every right to defend itself,” but said that “[w]hat we see going on today in Gaza is a moral catastrophe.”
“As Americans, we can never sit by and allow widespread starvation and disease among a civilian population that includes the elderly, the disabled, women, and children,” Krishnamoorthi continued.
He highlighted that he wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday, urging them to surge aid into the strip and to ensure accountability that it reaches its intended recipients.
He said in the letter that, despite acknowledging the starvation in Gaza, the administration has not done enough to remedy the situation. Krishnamoorthi also urged others in the region, including Hamas, to cooperate in the proper delivery of aid.
Kelly, meanwhile, said in a statement Friday that she would have voted for the resolutions.
“Israelis and Palestinians must work to secure a path forward where both peoples can live in peace, safety and security,” Kelly said in a statement. “I have supported Israel, but in this moment, I cannot in good conscience defend starving young children and prolonging the suffering of innocent families. Now is the time for moral leadership in the U.S. Senate.”
Both Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) — who is retiring — and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) supported the resolutions.
Durbin has supported every similar effort Sanders has made since November to block various arms sales to Israel, but Duckworth had voted against them in the past and, in fact, argued forcefully against them in a letter to constituents.
The votes on Sanders’ proposal to cut Israel aid are also proving to be a dividing line in Michigan’s Senate primary: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) announced Friday that she would have opposed them, while state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said she supported them.
Plus, Bibi plans a Beltway blitz
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fair Share America
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy speaks at the rally to Say NO to Tax Breaks for Billionaires & Corporations at Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at Sen. Chris Murphy’s leftward shift on Israel, and spotlight Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi’s congressional votes and relations with Illinois’ Jewish community as he mounts a bid for Senate. We cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Washington, and report on a new lawsuit alleging the Nysmith School in Northern Virginia discriminated against Jewish students. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Doron Spielman, Karen Diamond and Susan Rice.
What We’re Watching
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting in Washington today with his counterparts from Japan, China and Australia.
- The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Aaron David Miller is hosting a web event this morning with former CIA Director David Petraeus and analyst Karim Sadjadpour focused on Israel, Iran and the U.S.
- Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro is speaking this morning at a Center for International & Strategic Studies event on ties between North Korea and Iran.
- The Christians United For Israel summit continues today in Washington. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, the Brandeis Center’s Ken Marcus and Israel Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon are slated to speak today.
- The Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado wraps up today.
- New York City is slated to release the first round of ranked-choice voting results from last week’s primaries
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
The political developments over the last week couldn’t send a more dispiriting message about the viability of the political center — in both parties.
Last Tuesday, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on a far-left agenda on issues ranging from the economy, crime and antisemitism, emerged as the Democratic standard-bearer for mayor of New York City.
Over the weekend, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), one of the most pragmatic Republicans in the upper chamber, announced he wouldn’t be running for reelection after signaling he’d be one of two GOP votes against President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill. His decision to retire came after Trump, in a Truth Social post, threatened to support a primary challenger.
Tillis, notably, was the deciding Republican vote scuttling the nomination of interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin for, among other issues, his associations with a Nazi sympathizer.
And on Monday, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), one of only three House Republicans who represents a district that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, formally announced his retirement, making it all the more likely a more-partisan Democratic lawmaker will succeed him in the seat.
These are just the latest developments that underscore that moderation, pragmatism and bipartisanship are becoming endangered principles in a polarized political environment that rewards extremism and hot takes over thoughtful policymaking.
SOLIDARITY SNUB
Connecticut’s Jewish community wonders: What happened to Chris Murphy?
Two days after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) spoke emotionally at the “Rally for Israel” in West Hartford, Conn. “This is a moment where we are going to have to stand as a nation with greater force, with greater purpose than ever, to make sure that Israel has what it needs,” Murphy said. But members of Connecticut’s Jewish community say Murphy strayed from that promise just weeks later. In late November 2023, Murphy said on CNN that he was open to placing conditions on U.S. aid to Israel, a position that astounded many of the people who had stood with him in West Hartford not long before. Since then, he has emerged as a vocal critic of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza, and more than 18 months after the attack, the Connecticut Jewish community’s frustration with him has only grown, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Veering off: Murphy voted twice in support of resolutions put forward by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would block certain arms sales to Israel. Following Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Murphy slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for sending the Middle East into a “new, deadly conflict.” His shift to the party’s left flank on Israel comes as Murphy positions himself as a leading voice in the Democratic Party in opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies and builds a stronger public profile for himself. He’s a regular on cable news shows and recently created a new political action committee to encourage protests against Trump, with plans to spend $2 million in the 2026 midterms, sparking rumors that he could mount a presidential bid in 2028. It’s not just Murphy’s foreign policy views that are concerning his Jewish constituents. Recently, the senator has emerged as one of the most prominent boosters of presumptive New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, even as some of his Democratic colleagues have raised concerns about Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”
Communal concerns: Rabbi Tuvia Brander, the spiritual leader of Young Israel of West Hartford, told JI that Murphy’s praise of Mamdani is “so beyond the pale of what is just in the basic interests of many of his constituents.”
PRAIRIE STATE OF PLAY
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi hopes to win the Jewish vote in Illinois Senate contest
As he competes for Illinois’ open Senate seat, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is hoping that the state’s sizable Jewish community, concentrated in the Chicago area, will help him chart a path to victory in the Democratic primary, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Making his pitch: “I do think that [Jewish voters] have a desire for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” Krishnamoorthi said, “and I don’t think there’s anybody else with the track record in this race that I possess, showing strong support for that relationship, but also knowing why that relationship needs to continue to be strong on a bipartisan basis, and we need to take this out of politics.” Krishnamoorthi spoke to JI about his approach to antisemitism, Iran and the U.S.-Israel relationship.
WAR OF WORDS
Responding to Mamdani, Senate Democrats say ‘globalize the intifada’ slogan must be condemned
Several Senate Democrats told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod on Monday that calls to “globalize the intifada” are unacceptable and must be condemned, amid concerns from Jewish leaders and organizations over presumptive New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s defense of the slogan.
Mamdani musings: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has thus far not endorsed Mamdani, told JI he plans to meet with Mamdani in a few weeks, when asked about Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan. “Sen. Schumer condemns the phrase ‘Globalize the Intifada’ and believes it should not be used because it has such dangerous implications. As Senator Schumer said after the death of Karen Diamond, the attack in Boulder continues to serve as a grave reminder of the deadly consequences of the rise in antisemitism,” a spokesperson for Schumer told JI. “I don’t know what [Mamdani’s] position is on it, but I certainly think that the call to spread the intifada is the kind of incitement that can lead to extremist violence,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told JI.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY).
TRIP TALK
Netanyahu heading to D.C. next week to ‘take advantage of the victory’ in Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit next week is a chance to “take advantage of the victory” in Iran, he said at the start of a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday,Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
On the agenda: The trip to Washington “comes as a continuation of the great victory we achieved in Operation Rising Lion,” Netanyahu said, referring to Israel’s 12-day operation against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, which the U.S. joined. “Taking advantage of the victory is no less important than achieving the victory.” An Israeli official told JI on Tuesday that “everything” is on the agenda, including U.S.-Israel cooperation to stop Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program, next steps in Gaza and the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations with Syria and other Arab and Muslim countries.
Meanwhile at Aspen: Susan Rice, who served as national security advisor during the Obama administration’s inking of the nuclear deal with Iran, sharply criticized Trump’s decision to strike Tehran’s nuclear program while defending the 2015 agreement during a panel discussion at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival on Monday,Jewish Insider’s Jake Schlanger reports. Rice joins a chorus of former Obama and Biden administration officials who have criticized Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, despite many experts concluding the damage to the program was significant.
Worth noting: The New York Times’ David Brooks, writing in a piece headlined “I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right,” adds context to consider when evaluating the strikes. “We may know in time what the bombings accomplished. In the meantime, we do know that Israel and the United States have the will and capacity to attack Iran anytime and anyplace. We do know that if Iran reconstitutes its nuclear program, Israel and America have the capacity to deliver a much more devastating and regime-threatening blow. We also know that Iran and its proxies have made some insanely self-destructive miscalculations since Oct. 7, 2023, and they must know that, too. These are ominous omens for the theocrats in Tehran.”
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
Brandeis Center files complaint alleging antisemitism at Virginia private school
The parents of an 11-year-old Jewish student at a private school in Northern Virginia say their daughter faced months of antisemitic harassment that went unaddressed by school officials, who also cancelled an annual event featuring a Holocaust survivor due to concerns that the event might exacerbate tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war. Days after the parents addressed the campus environment with school leadership, all three of their children were expelled, according to a complaint filed on Tuesday with the Office for Civil Rights in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned.
The allegations: According to the complaint, Kenneth Nysmith, headmaster and owner of The Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, Va., canceled the event with the Holocaust survivor and expressed concern that it might inflame tensions within the school community in light of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. The complaint, filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law and Washington-based firm Dillon PLLC, alleges several antisemitic incidents that the parents of the 11-year-old Jewish student say she faced in the months leading up to the cancellation of the Holocaust survivor event. The complaint recounts that in October 2024, their daughter’s history teacher asked students to work together on an art project to create a large drawing featuring the attributes of “strong historical leaders.” The students collaborated on a large artistic rendering of a strong leader, featuring Adolf Hitler’s face.
Elsewhere: The Brandeis Center, working with the Anti-Defamation League and Mayer Brown, filed a brief on Monday with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging that officials in a Massachusetts school district did not adequately protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and discrimination.
BOOK REVIEW
‘When the Stones Speak’: Doron Spielman connects Jewish history to present-day Israel
After Israel waged war against an Iranian regime that has vowed to destroy the Jewish state and diaspora Jews face a heightened atmosphere of antisemitism stemming from the Israel-Gaza war, a new book aims to equip Israel supporters with “a foundation” to refute claims that Jews do not have ancient roots in the land of Israel. When the Stones Speak: The Remarkable Discovery of the City of David and What Israel’s Enemies Don’t Want You to Know, written by former IDF spokesperson Doron Spielman, does so by recounting discoveries made in Israel’s largest excavation site, the City of David, where Spielman has worked closely with archaeologists for two decades to uncover and promote the site’s historical significance. The book, Spielman suggested in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen, is aimed at what he calls “the middle group of people” — “logical, reasonable people” who don’t know whether they’re pro-Israel or anti-Israel.
Lay of the land: “When they understand that ‘when the stones speak,’ they tell the story of the truth of the Jewish people’s connection to the land,” that could help sway the conversation on college campuses. This middle group will come to understand, he said, that “at the very least [the Israeli-Palestinian conflict] is a fight between two people who think they’re indigenous, and at the very best they understand the Jews are people who have only one land, they’ve been there for 3,800 years and therefore they have a right to defend it.”
New York state of mind: Spielman hopes the book’s impact will also reach supporters of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive winner of the Democratic primary last week amid his refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” and denial that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. “He’s denying the Jewish people their right to live as a nation in the one place they ever called home,” Spielman told JI. “When the Stones Speak cuts through the lies with facts on the ground — literally.”
Worthy Reads
Knockout Blow, But Not the End: The Times of Israel’s David Horovitz reflects on the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. “There is, however, absolutely no room or reason for hubris. Israel allowed itself to slip into existential peril, and the astounding success of the 12-day war is a temporary accomplishment. Iran is not going anywhere. And so long as the ayatollahs retain power, they can be relied upon to recommit to their efforts to wipe out Israel. … Along with delight and profound relief at the achievements of the war, the military and security top brass are resolved not to underestimate the regime and its single-minded determination to destroy Israel. This was a knockout blow in a life-or-death fight. But it is not the end of the existential struggle.” [TOI]
Not Science Fiction: In The Free Press, Matti Friedman considers the impact of Iran’s ballistic missile attack on the Weizmann Institute of Science. “When [neurobiologist Oren Schuldiner] heard that his lab was hit, he said, he had trouble grasping what this meant, and kept texting colleagues to ask what could be salvaged — there were two microscopes in the lab, for example, each worth nearly $1 million, and thousands of fruit fly specimens that he uses to map neural changes that may one day help us better understand diseases like schizophrenia and autism. Finally, a colleague who’d lost her own lab sent him a link to the Wikipedia page detailing the five stages of grief. ‘I understood that I was in denial,’ he said. Only when he made it back did he understand that the lab wasn’t damaged — it was gone, along with most of his work of the past 17 years.” [FreePress]
Lula’s Lurch:The Economist spotlights Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose declining domestic popularity has coincided with his country’s deepening ties with Iran, Russia and China. “On June 22nd, hours after the United States struck Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-buster bombs, Brazil’s foreign ministry put out a statement. It said that Brazil’s government ‘strongly condemns’ the American attack, and that the strikes were a ‘violation of Iran’s sovereignty and international law.’ This strength of language put Brazil at odds with all other Western democracies, which either supported the strikes or merely expressed concern. Brazil’s friendliness with Iran is set to continue on July 6th and 7th when the BRICS, a group of 11 emerging-market economies including Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa, holds its annual summit in Rio de Janeiro. Iran, which became a member of the BRICS in 2024, is expected to send a delegation. The club is currently chaired by Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula. Originally, being a member had offered Brazil a platform from which to exert global influence. Now it makes Brazil look increasingly hostile to the West.” [TheEconomist]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting the majority of sanctions imposed on Syria over the last 50 years; the executive order includes steps to lift the Foreign Terrorist Organization status of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa previously led, as well as a review of Damascus’ role as a state sponsor of terror…
An Iran-linked hacking group that had previously accessed email accounts associated with Trump’s 2024 campaign threatened to release a new tranche of emails sent from Trump aides…
Satellite images obtained by CNN over the weekend indicate “ongoing activity at and near the ventilation shafts and holes caused by last week’s airstrikes” on Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility…
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights issued a 57-page report accusing Harvard of having acted with “deliberate indifference” toward antisemitism and anti-Israel discrimination on the Cambridge campus…
Elon Musk said he planned to support Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who is facing an effort by the White House to recruit a primary challenger over Massie’s refusal to back the administration’s budget reconciliation bill; Musk was prompted by a social media post from former Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) calling on the X owner to back Massie, but is already facing pushback from some in the Kentucky Jewish community…
Former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who fell short in his bid to unseat Sen. Tex Cruz (R-TX) last year, announced his entry into Texas’ Senate race; Allred is seeking to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is already facing a tough primary battle…
Karen Diamond, one of the more than two dozen people injured in last month’s antisemitic firebombing attack targeting a Boulder, Colo., march in support of the remaining Israeli hostages, died from her injuries, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
Unilever cut off financial support for the charitable arm of its Ben & Jerry’s subsidiary, alleging that the ice cream company foundation’s trustees “have continued to resist basic oversight” and refused to provide audit documents…
A British court rejected a legal challenge by the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq that sought to stop the government’s exports to Israel of components of F-35 fighter jets; the court determined it lacked jurisdiction over the U.K.’s defense sector…
British musical group Bob Vylan is facing a criminal investigation over chants the duo led at the weekend Glastonbury music festival calling for “death to the IDF”; U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer also denounced the chants, which resulted in the State Department’s canceling of group members’ visas ahead of a planned U.S. tour…
An Australian court ordered a Sydney imam to remove from the internet past speeches that the court said were “fundamentally racist and antisemitic”; the cleric was also instructed to refrain from making similar speeches in the future…
The newly created Kinetica VC fund, founded by Yoav Knoll, Aaron Applbaum, Yitz Applbaum and Frederic Landau, is raising $150 million for investments focused on Israel’s tech industry; the firm has also recruited former U.S. Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite, Joe Lonsdale and former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) to join its advisory board…
Former Israeli hostages Liri Elbag, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Danielle Gilboa and Agam Berger visited the set of “Fauda” as the series films its fifth season…
Pic of the Day
Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl spoke on Monday at the Christians United For Israel conference in Washington.
Birthdays
Television, film and theater actor, including early career roles in Yiddish theater, Michael Burstein turns 80…
Applied mathematician, statistician and physicist, professor emeritus at both MIT and Harvard, Herman Chernoff turns 102… Former U.S. assistant aecretary of education and research professor at NYU, Diane Silvers Ravitch turns 87… Nobel laureate in economics for 1997 and co-creator of the Black-Scholes model for valuing options and other derivatives, Myron Scholes turns 84… Noted British art dealer and founder of an eponymous London art gallery, Victoria Marion Miro turns 80… Born in a DP camp to her Holocaust survivor parents, she was the first Jewish woman to serve on the Canadian Supreme Court, Rosalie Silberman Abella turns 79… Israeli-Russian businessman, with holdings in energy and international real estate development, Shalva Chigirinsky turns 76… Partner in the Encino, Calif.-based law firm of Nolan Heimann, Douglas E. Mirell… Hall of Fame player and coach in the Women’s National Basketball Association and now an NBA broadcaster, Nancy Lieberman turns 67… Attorney and longtime Democratic activist in Pittsburgh, he is a regional chair of the ADL, Steven D. Irwin turns 66… Contributing editor at The Forward and CEO of the A-Mark Foundation, Rob Eshman… President emeritus of the Orthodox Union and a retired partner at Ropes & Gray, Mark (Moishe) Bane… Undersecretary of state for political affairs during most of the Biden administration, Victoria Jane Nuland (family name was Nudelman) turns 64… Journalist, filmmaker and educator, he is the co-founder of Aish[dot]com, Shraga Simmons turns 64… Professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University, Benjamin Brown turns 59… Member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2014, Marcus Bertram Simon turns 55… U.S. senator (R-IA), Joni Ernst turns 55… Screenwriter, producer and film director known for romantic comedy films, Marc Silverstein turns 54… Los Angeles resident, Adam B. Siegel… NASA astronaut, on her 2019 trip to the International Space Station she took novelty socks with Stars of David and menorahs, Jessica Meir turns 48… Co-founder of Edgeline Films, Elyse Steinberg… Hasidic musician mixing elements of dancehall, reggae, hip-hop and R&B, known by his stage name DeScribe, Shneur Hasofer turns 43… Rising senior and president of the school of business and finance at Ocean Township High School in Oakhurst, N.J., Samuel Peretz Fields…
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton are also competing to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) speaks next to the famous tank man photo during a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre on June 4, 2025 in Washington, DC.
As he competes for Illinois’ open Senate seat, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is hoping that the state’s sizable Jewish community, concentrated in the Chicago area, will help him chart a path to victory in the Democratic primary.
Analysts see the Jewish vote as potentially up for grabs in the election to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), which pits Krishnamoorthi against Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. Krishnamoorthi, a suburban Chicago lawmaker seen as more moderate than his challengers in the race, says he’s best positioned to claim that lane.
“I think Jewish Americans are just like everyone else, first of all, and they care about the full range of issues that all voters care about,” Krishnamoorthi said, when asked by Jewish Insider in a recent interview why the Jewish community should back him.
“However, I do think that they have a desire for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” Krishnamoorthi continued, “and I don’t think there’s anybody else with the track record in this race that I possess, showing strong support for that relationship, but also knowing why that relationship needs to continue to be strong on a bipartisan basis, and we need to take this out of politics.”
On a series of key votes on Middle East and antisemitism issues since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel, Krishnamoorthi has sometimes voted against legislation supported by Jewish and pro-Israel groups, but his record on those issues has been stronger than Kelly’s. On several occasions when the two have voted differently, Krishnamoorthi has sided with positions supported by leading Jewish and pro-Israel groups.
Krishnamoorthi was endorsed by AIPAC in his 2024 reelection race; Kelly was not.
The Illinois Senate hopeful took a mildly critical position, however, on the U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear program. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Cannot,” Krishnamoorthi said, while adding that the President Donald Trump “cannot take unilateral military action in Iran without congressional approval,” calling for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Several days later, Krishnamoorthi said in a letter to the president that conflicting reports about the strikes’ effectiveness “are deeply alarming and require further evaluation from the intelligence community,” and condemned the administration for reported plans to limit intelligence-sharing with Congress.
The Illinois congressman said in a CNBC interview the morning following Israel’s initial strikes on Iran that he “can understand why the Israelis would take action, especially when Iran is so intransigent at the bargaining table,” noting the International Atomic Energy Agency’s findings of Iranian malfeasance.
Krishnamoorthi went on to say that he is “100% in favor of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship” but also is “hoping we can de-escalate a little bit for a second, maybe give Iran a chance to come back to the negotiating table and make sure that we protect our U.S. troops and interests in the region.” He said he believed it was not too late for an agreement.
He characterized Iran as desperate for sanctions relief, adding that “there has to be a verifiable way that we know that their nuclear program is dismantled,” and that a deal should also address Iran’s other malign activities, such as its support for the Houthis.
Krishnamoorthi spoke to JI days after an antisemitic extremist attacked a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., and after he joined 74 other Democrats — less than half of the caucus — in voting for a Republican-led resolution that condemned the attack while also praising Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Kelly voted against that resolution.
“I think there’s been a rise in antisemitism in this country … and I don’t think we have done enough to stem the rise. And I wanted to send a very clear message that this is intolerable,” Krishnamoorthi said, of his vote. “I also think that people need to understand that antisemitism is kind of the canary in the coal mine for a host of other ills that accompany it. If we don’t stamp this out with one voice, it’s not going to go away.”
Asked about the fact that the Boulder attacker, the Capital Jewish Museum shooter and the arsonist who attacked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home all cited the war in Gaza as the motivation for their actions, Krishnamoorthi said that leaders need to be mindful of the role their rhetoric can play in driving a nationwide surge of political violence.
“I think that what you say is important because it could potentially ignite violence. Politically violent rhetoric can then lead to violence,” Krishnamoorthi said. “We should, as politicians, as elected officials, be very careful with what we say about the conflict, any conflict — that goes for what’s happening in Gaza, but it really goes for what happens anywhere.”
He cited the phrase, “from the river to the sea” as one slogan that “to a lot of people … is code for potentially taking violent acts against a certain people.”
To address the antisemitism crisis in the United States, Krishnamoorthi said that Congress needs to move beyond nonbinding resolutions to binding legislation. He noted that he was a lead sponsor of the 2023 Hate Crimes Commission Act, which was supported by some Jewish groups, that would study the rise of hate crimes and issues of underreporting and provide recommendations on how to prevent hate crimes.
Krishnamoorthi voted in favor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which Kelly opposed. He opposed some resolutions the House has voted on regarding antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023, voting “present” on a resolution describing anti-Zionism as antisemitic, and against a resolution calling for college presidents to resign after their testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
On the former, he said he’d heard from Jewish and other constituents “that there’s a difference between being against Zionism and being against Jewish people” and that he didn’t “want to necessarily broaden the definition so much that people could not somehow be critical of the policies of Israel, and if they were, would be called antisemitic, because it turns out that a lot of Jewish Americans told me that they fell in that category.”
On the latter, he said that he thought the college presidents’ testimony was “terrible” and “unacceptable” but felt that government intrusion into private universities or other organizations’ hiring decisions “opens a Pandora’s box of potentially really bad outcomes.”
Looking at the ongoing war in Gaza, Krishnamoorthi said that the immediate goal should be to reach a ceasefire and hostage-release deal as soon as possible, and to work in the long term toward a two-state solution. He said that a Palestinian state must be peaceful and cannot be led by Hamas.
“The good news is there’s a lot of other neighbors that are willing to help fund this type of situation, if we would just like keep our eyes on the prize,” he said, “because ultimately, what we want to see is the Abraham Accords fully blossom into full recognition of Israel by her neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and all the Gulf states and the Palestinian state being funded by them, and then real trade and other commercial ties binding the region.”
He said he’s been particularly impressed by Jordan’s King Abdullah II in annual meetings between the Jordanian monarch and the House Intelligence Committee.
“When you have people like that — he’s literally putting his life on the line every day for this vision — then I have hope,” Krishnamoorthi said. “But getting there is obviously a huge challenge. But we have to kind of seize this moment.”
On the Intelligence Committee, Krishnamoorthi said he sees on a daily basis the value of the U.S.-Israel relationship, which provides “remarkable intelligence sharing” and innovative defense technologies that help protect U.S. personnel and interests.
He voted in favor of supplemental U.S. aid to Israel last year, and said he would not support legislation like that pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and other Senate progressives that seeks to block various arms transfers to Israel. He noted that all U.S. arms sales are already subject to conditions, that placing additional “onerous conditions” on aid to Israel to defend itself would not be consistent with U.S. interests.
Rabbi Barry Axler, a Chicago-area supporter of Krishnamoorthi who is co-chairing a fundraiser for the Jewish and pro-Israel community, told JI that Krishnamoorthi is a longtime friend of the Jewish community and hopes it will stand behind him.
“Of the three candidates running here, he’s the strongest by far for Israel, and I’m getting behind him as best as I can,” Axler said. “One is Robin Kelly, who … has not been the best friend of our community, of Israel. The other one is the lieutenant governor, Stratton, and she’s got no background at all with us.”
“Even if the other two had more or less strong records on Israel, Raja’s been there before and we just can’t abandon him,” Axler continued.
He said that Krishnamoorthi has told him that his family has strong ties to the Jewish community, having sent his children to a local Jewish Community Center preschool.
“He said, ‘Every Friday they used to come home and sing ‘Shabbat Shalom’ — but I put my foot down when they wanted to build a sukkah,’” Axler recounted.
One Jewish Democratic strategist said that none of the three major candidates have deep ties to the Jewish community, leaving Jewish voters up for grabs
Pete Marovich/Getty Images
Ranking Member Lauren Underwood (D-IL) questions acting FEMA Administrator Cam Hamilton as he appears before a Homeland Security Subcommittee Hearing on Oversight on Capitol Hill on May 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. Hamilton is testifying about the administration's disaster relief efforts, including why it has frozen nearly all FEMA's grant funding.
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) said on Monday that she would pass on an anticipated run for the Illinois Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) in 2026, leaving what’s likely to be a three-way race among Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Robin Kelly (D-IL).
“Our work is not done, and I’ve decided the most powerful way for me to defend our values and hold Donald Trump accountable is to help Democrats win back the House,” Underwood said in a statement, highlighting her leadership roles in the House Democratic Caucus and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Stratton is backed by billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, as well as Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), while Krishnamoorthi has $19 million in the bank for the race and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are backing Kelly.
Pritzker could put significant funding behind Stratton’s run and reportedly worked behind the scenes to block Underwood and other candidates from entering the race. Underwood, on CNN, denied that Pritzker had forced her to stay out of the race.
A Jewish Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the race candidly, told Jewish Insider they see the Chicagoland Jewish vote — a sizable community — as largely still up for grabs given that none of the candidates have particularly deep ties to the Jewish community coming into the race. They said Jewish voters will likely take time to evaluate each of the candidates.
“I think there’s a lot of inroads for them to make,” the strategist said. “None of these have that long history with the Jewish community … [and] don’t come from natural Jewish areas.”
Kelly and Krishnamoorthi have mixed voting records on priority legislation for the Jewish community, having both opposed several bills and resolutions to combat antisemitism, counter Iran and sanction the Houthis and the International Criminal Court, among other issues.
On the handful of occasions the two have diverged on votes, Krishnamoorthi has generally come down on the side of Jewish and pro-Israel groups — for instance, he supported the Antisemitism Awareness Act, while Kelly opposed it.
The strategist said Kelly may have a shot at gathering Jewish voters’ support given that she has some existing connections with community leaders, from her time as state party chair in 2021 and 2022.
Krishnamoorthi does not currently represent a sizable Jewish community and has not been prominently involved in Jewish issues, the strategist added.
While Pritzker, who is Jewish, has strong ties to the Jewish community, he has led most of the Jewish outreach from the governor’s office, leaving less of a role for Stratton. The strategist said that Stratton “has a lot of room to grow, especially with Pritzker backing her,” and predicted she’ll make a play for the Jewish vote. “She has a very compelling story that I think will resonate with the Jewish community also.”
Chicago also has one of the nation’s largest Palestinian communities, potentially creating competing political incentives for candidates if Israel policy becomes a prominent issue in the race.
Frank Calabrese, a Chicago-based political strategist, said he sees Stratton and Krishnamoorthi as the likely frontrunners in the race overall at this early stage, with Stratton having an advantage given her relationship with Pritzker.
He said that Underwood’s decision not to run caught many, even well-connected political figures in the state, off guard. Calabrese said Underwood likely felt she would not be able to match Stratton and Krishnamoorthi in fundraising, even though she could have been an “ideal type of candidate.”
“I believe Robin Kelly is the weakest of the three just because it’s going to come down to fundraising,” Calabrese said, adding that Pritzker and his political operation have made strong inroads with the Black community, leaving Kelly at a disadvantage with a potential base. He noted that Kelly and Pritzker have preexisting tension — Pritzker forced her out as state party chair in 2022.
But Calabrese said that Stratton’s close ties to the state’s Democratic establishment — Pritzker and Duckworth — could end up being a liability with some Democrats and progressives, particularly the wing of the party that supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaigns. That said, Krishnamoorthi is not strongly aligned with the Sanders wing of the party either, he noted.
Tom Bowen, a Democratic strategist in the Chicago area, argued that the outcome of the race will ultimately be shaped by events over the course of the coming year and that early metrics are often unreliable, especially in multi-candidate races. He predicted that Democratic voters would “take their time” in deciding.
“It’s very obvious the governor’s hand is at work in this, and that he has a preference for the woman he believes should lead the state,” Bowen said. But he argued that might not help Stratton as much in a cycle when some Democrats are looking for big changes. “I’m not sure anybody else’s opinion but their own is going to be the deciding factor here.”
He said that candidates’ backgrounds, endorsements and fundraising are “not insignificant, but voters pay pretty close attention when there’s a moment of crisis, so the one who meets the moment is going to be the one who is successful.”
The Jewish Democratic strategist said they believe the field may not yet be entirely set, noting that businessman Chris Kennedy — brother of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — may also enter the race.
The strategist said that Underwood’s decision not to run makes sense given that she would have been competing against Stratton and Kelly, two other Black women, she is gaining seniority in the House Democratic Caucus and she is young, giving her time to continue to build her national profile.
They said that it’s likely a wide-open race at this point, adding that, while Kelly may currently be the underdog, there’s plenty of runway for her to gain ground if her allies in the CBC put significant backing behind her.
“Most people have no clue who these people are,” the strategist said, “Money helps, but at the end, they have to connect with the voters. And it’s such a diverse state.”
State Sen. Laura Fine is emerging as a pro-Israel front runner, among other Jewish candidates
State Sen. Laura Fine/Facebook
State Sen. Laura Fine
The next big intra-Democratic primary battle over Middle East policy is shaping up on the North Shore of Chicago in one of the most heavily Jewish House districts in the country, where longtime Jewish Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said on Monday that she would not seek reelection.
Her widely anticipated retirement announcement had set off a behind-the-scenes scramble among several potential candidates eyeing the coveted open seat in Illinois’ deep blue 9th Congressional District, which includes part of Chicago and northern suburbs such as Evanston and Skokie.
The first major Democratic candidate to enter the race, Laura Fine, a Jewish state senator, launched her campaign on Tuesday morning and is emerging as a pro-Israel favorite in the developing primary, as she prepares to face several opponents who have been openly hostile to the longstanding U.S. alliance with Israel or drawn backlash from Jewish leaders over their approach to key issues involving Middle East policy.
In an interview with Jewish Insider on Monday, Fine touted her pro-Israel platform and described herself as a staunch defender of the Jewish state who has long been outspoken against rising antisemitism fueled by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Calling Israel “one of America’s most important allies and the only democracy in the Middle East,” Fine said the country “was brutally attacked on Oct. 7 — and has every right to defend itself against the ongoing attacks.” The remaining hostages held in Gaza, she emphasized, “need to come home, now.”
“It’s frustrating that this conflict continues to rage,” she said of the Israel-Hamas war, advocating for a “negotiated, two-state solution that brings peace to both Israelis and Palestinians.”
Fine also backed continued security assistance to Israel that has faced opposition from some House Democrats and said that the U.S. needs to “work to safeguard Israel from the threat of Iran” — which is now in talks with the Trump administration over its nuclear program.
The 58-year-old state lawmaker, who served in the state House before rising to the Senate in 2019, is a co-chair of the legislative Jewish Caucus and calls herself a “proud Jewish woman,” noting that her bat mitzvah was held in Israel. “I have been on the front lines of the fight against antisemitism,” she told JI, pointing to her efforts to provide increased security funding to Jewish institutions as well as state grant money to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and other places.
“First and foremost, I’m really tired of Israel being used as a political football to score points,” Fine said, even as she stressed a commitment to fighting anti-Jewish harassment seen at Northwestern University in her own district.
Still, Fine said that she was unfamiliar with a key piece of federal legislation called the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which has remained stalled in the Senate even as it has been championed by leading Jewish advocacy groups. “That is something I will look into,” she said of the bill aimed at addressing the surge of antisemitic activity on college campuses in the aftermath of Hamas’ attacks. “I have been really focused on fighting antisemitism in Illinois.”
Meanwhile, Fine voiced skepticism of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport foreign students and strip colleges and universities of federal funds in the name of combating antisemitism. “First and foremost, I’m really tired of Israel being used as a political football to score points,” she said, even as she stressed a commitment to fighting anti-Jewish harassment seen at Northwestern University in her own district.
As the primary to succeed Schakowsky continues to take shape, Fine is expected to face Daniel Biss, her predecessor in the state Senate who is now mayor of Evanston, a progressive stronghold. During his 2017 campaign for Illinois governor, Biss, who is Jewish, faced scrutiny from Jewish community leaders over choosing a running mate who endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
While he ultimately dropped his running mate amid the widespread backlash, the initial blunder could resurface as a potential red flag among pro-Israel activists assessing the race in its early stages. Biss did not respond to a request for comment on Monday about his plans for the race.
Like Schakowsky, Biss, 47, is more ideologically aligned with the left-leaning Israel advocacy group J Street, according to people familiar with his views on Middle East policy. The organization, which has embraced increasingly adversarial positions toward Israel in recent years, frequently feuds with AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group whose political arm is currently monitoring the race but has “not yet made a decision” regarding an endorsement, according to a spokesperson.
Fine said that she has met with AIPAC as well as Democratic Majority for Israel, whose political arm has also played an active role in recent Democratic primaries where divisions over Israel have featured prominently. A spokesperson for DMFI PAC did not respond to a request for comment on its own plans.
Even before Schakowsky revealed that she would retire on Monday, the 14-term congresswoman had drawn a challenger to her far left, Kat Abughazaleh, a social media influencer of Palestinian descent who is making her opposition to Israel a central element of her long-shot campaign. In one fundraising text sent by her campaign, for instance, the 26-year-old political newcomer accused “Democratic leadership of caving to the pro-apartheid lobby,” while adding she “won’t vote to send unrestricted military aid to our ‘allies’ when the bombs are killing children and civilians.”
In previous online posts, Abughazaleh has described Israel a “genocidal apartheid regime” and invoked a phrase, “from the river to the sea,” that is widely interpreted as a call for Israel’s elimination as a Jewish state.
“I don’t know her, and we obviously disagree on some pretty critical issues,” Fine said of her rival on Monday. “I’ve been very clear today where I stand. I’m not going to attack my opponents. I’m focused on telling my story.”
“What does it mean, within American Jewry, where you stand on Israel — where you stand on American domestic issues?” Manny Houle, a pro-Israel strategist who is advising Danny Goldberg on a potential campaign told JI. “I absolutely believe that that will play out in the primary — from outside money into the district.”
While Abughazaleh, a recent transplant to the district, is not regarded as a serious candidate given her lack of experience and incendiary rhetoric, one Democratic campaign strategist who has worked in Chicago suggested that she could gain traction if the primary field attracts more established figures who end up splitting the vote.
In addition to Biss, the primary could also draw state Reps. Hoan Huynh and Daniel Didech as well as Danny Goldberg, an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County. Manny Houle, a pro-Israel strategist who is advising Goldberg on a potential campaign, said the likely preponderance of Jewish candidates in the race could provide an opportunity to engage in a lively debate about key issues relating to Israel and other communal concerns.
“What does it mean, within American Jewry, where you stand on Israel — where you stand on American domestic issues?” Houle, who has previously served as a progressive outreach director for AIPAC in the Midwest, told JI. “I absolutely believe that that will play out in the primary — from outside money into the district.”
With Schakowsky now preparing to leave the stage after more than a quarter century in Congress, pro-Israel leaders in Chicago and beyond are eager to support a new candidate who is more aligned with their views, as the outgoing progressive lawmaker has embraced more critical positions toward Israel amid its war in Gaza.
“For more than two decades, Congresswoman Schakowsky has been one of the most fearless and effective progressive voices in Washington,” Fine said. “I will try to make her proud by carrying her vision forward as we continue to fight for dignity, fairness and opportunity for all.”
David Rosenberg, the president of CityPAC, a pro-Israel advocacy group in Chicago that has met with Fine to discuss her campaign, said he has been disappointed by Schakowsky’s approach to Middle East policy, which has included calls to cut off aid to Israel.
The open-seat primary, he told JI on Monday, “presents a unique opportunity to hopefully see someone more supportive on our issues in her old seat.”
Speaking with JI, Fine, for her part, expressed appreciation for Schakowsky’s legacy, even as she acknowledged the two “won’t agree on everything.”
“For more than two decades, Congresswoman Schakowsky has been one of the most fearless and effective progressive voices in Washington,” Fine said. “I will try to make her proud by carrying her vision forward as we continue to fight for dignity, fairness and opportunity for all.”
Members of the community described the senator as an advocate for Israel
American Federation of Government Employees
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
With the Democratic National Convention just weeks away, speculation over Joe Biden’s running mate selection has hit a fever pitch. Biden told reporters on Tuesday that he’ll likely announce his pick next week, and one name reportedly on the shortlist is Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).
Members of Chicago’s Jewish community largely described Duckworth — a former Army combat helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq — as a popular and well-respected senator who has a strong relationship with the local Jewish community.
“Senator Duckworth has been a great friend to the Jewish community and a champion on the issues they care about, from helping the widow, orphan and stranger, to ensuring a safe and secure Israel as a democratic, Jewish state,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), who is Jewish, told Jewish Insider.
Steve Sheffey, a Democratic activist in Chicago, echoed Schneider’s sentiments.
“She’s been absolutely outstanding on issues of concern to the Jewish community,” Sheffey told JI. “She’s very supportive of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, she’s open, she’s got a great voting record on Israel.”
Alan Solow, a national co-chair of the 2012 Obama-Biden reelection campaign and the former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told JI that Duckworth’s relationship with the Jewish community has been harmonious.
“There have been no issues,” Solow said. “It’s been what one would expect in a state like Illinois, where we have a tradition of political leaders here hav[ing] strong, affirmative relationships with the Jewish community, and she’s done the same thing.”
Lauren Beth Gash, a former member of the Illinois House of Representatives and the vice chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, said she has known Duckworth for more than 15 years, since Duckworth’s first run for office. In 2006, Duckworth was the Democratic nominee in the race to replace retiring Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), but lost 51-49 to Peter Roskam, then a state senator.
“One of the reasons that I have supported Tammy is because she truly shares our values and the value of tikkun olam,” Gash told JI. “Personally, I feel as an American Jew that she is the kind of leader we can trust to fight for Israel, and that matters to me.”
Duckworth is largely in line with the Democratic mainstream on Israel — she supports a two-state solution, backed the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, opposes BDS and supports continued U.S. military aid to Israel.
In the House, Duckworth co-sponsored a resolution condemning antisemitism and comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, as well as a bill providing resources to social services agencies to assist Holocaust survivors.
Recently, Duckworth has been vocal in her opposition to Israel’s potential unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank. She signed a letter, along with 18 other Democratic senators, criticizing annexation as a “dramatic reversal of decades of shared understandings between the United States, Israel, the Palestinians and the international community.” She also co-sponsored a Senate resolution that said annexation would “jeopardize prospects for a two-state solution.”
Local supporters described Duckworth as well-informed about issues relating to Israel and the U.S. Jewish community.
“I’ve personally talked to her about Israel, and I have no doubt that she understands the issue and that she’s a good friend of both the Jewish community and the pro-Israel community,” Sheffey said.
Gash agreed, noting that Duckworth’s military service has given her a particularly keen understanding of Israel’s security needs.
“When you listen to her give a speech or just talk, you can tell that it’s real, and you can tell that she shares our values, and you can tell that it comes from a deep place of caring and concern, and not just someone who’s just running for office,” she said. “Tammy is the real deal, and that’s not as common as I’d like to to be.”
Gash told JI that Duckworth speaks frequently to local Jewish organizations, as well as national groups including J Street and AIPAC. Duckworth’s positions have earned her an endorsement from J Street PAC.
“The J Street Chicago chapter is proud to have a very strong relationship with Senator Duckworth and her staff,” J Street’s Midwest Regional Director Sam Berkman said in an email to JI. “The Senator has proven herself time and again to be a true friend of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.”
Duckworth has received criticism, however, from Republicans in the state.
“There’s a lot of fluff around her in the media, and most of that is because of the story of her service and sacrifice, which is all honorable, but if you actually were to put her on a national stage and have scrutiny, it would not go well for Biden in my view,” a GOP operative from Illinois told JI.
“On issues in the Jewish community [she’s been] absent or on the wrong side,” the Republican added, pointing to her opposition to annexation and endorsement from J Street.
While the Democrats who spoke to JI avoided endorsing any individual as Biden’s running mate, they agreed that Duckworth would be a strong choice.
“If Vice President Biden selected Senator Duckworth, I would enthusiastically support that,” said Solow — who added that he knows most of the individuals who are reported to be in consideration. “I’m sure she would do an excellent job if she were called upon to assume the duties of the presidency,” he added.