A new internal poll shows Republican state Rep. Nancy Mace and incumbent Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC) in a statistical tie in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district, despite some indications that the race has been trending toward Cunningham.

The poll of 400 likely voters, conducted by landline and cellphone calls between Oct. 14 and 16, showed Mace with support from 47% of likely voters, compared to Cunningham’s 45%. The poll had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien suggested on Friday that Iran will be forced to return to the negotiation table to stave off economic pressure if President Donald Trump is reelected in November. O’Brien spoke at the virtual Aspen Institute Project Play Summit 2020 in conversation with former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. 

“Right now they’re waiting this out,” O’Brien said about the Iranians holding off to see who wins the U.S. presidential race. “We’re being told that by European countries that are friendly with Iran, and even countries that aren’t friendly but maintain diplomatic relations. The Iranians are waiting to see what happens on Election Day… Iran would very much prefer a different administration. They’d like to go back to the JCPOA days. Those were kind of halcyon days for the Islamic Republic, and we won’t go there if the president is reelected.”

Republicans had high hopes that the party would be able to take back South Carolina’s first congressional district this election. They had a candidate with an impressive resume and solid financial support, a district that President Donald Trump won by 12 points and a first-term incumbent who had been elected by just 1.4 points.

But three weeks out from Election Day, Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC) appears to have secured a solid lead over Republican state Rep. Nancy Mace.

In an effort to decrease tensions between New York’s Orthodox Jewish community and the state government, Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke with community leaders on Sunday in response to measures taken to stop the spread of coronavirus in areas of Brooklyn and Rockland County with large Jewish populations.

The conference call came after Cuomo issued an order on Friday prohibiting the planned large wedding for the grandson of the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, planned for Monday in Williamsburg, N.Y. According to the governor, the wedding was rumored to draw as many as 10,000 attendees. Cuomo dismissed the reaction to his order on Sunday, saying he would gladly attend such a wedding next year once the pandemic is over. 

Fresh off dueling town halls last week, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden made back-to-back appearances via pre-recorded video at a Sunday evening virtual event hosted by Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, a Jewish day school in suburban Detroit.

The yeshiva’s “Evening of Unity” event, normally held as an annual dinner in downtown Detroit, typically draws high-profile keynote speakers. Biden, who spoke at the 2011 dinner, harkened back to his last appearance, noting “a lot has changed since we were last together.”

As in-person convenings across the country have been rendered impossible due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizations have taken to the internet to connect with supporters and expand their reach. Since the start of the pandemic, Jewish Insider has compiled statistics, released weekly, on the webinars and online events being held across the community.

Weeks of Oct. 2-Oct. 15:

Disinformation experts, backed by members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, suggested creating a new federal agency to oversee social media companies in order to curtail the rise and expansion of online conspiracy theories and false information.

During a committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) was the first member to float the creation of a new agency that would make rules governing platforms, rather than leaving those responsibilities to the companies themselves. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) later joined Welch in calling for further oversight.

Barbara Amiel does not hold back. 

The longtime columnist, socialite and tabloid mainstay has never been one to mince words. But never has Amiel — a self-proclaimed “scandalous ideological provocateur” — let loose quite as much as in her new memoir, out this week, titled Friends and Enemies: A Life in Vogue, Prison and Park Avenue.