A red tsunami never materialized and they’re still counting votes but it doesn’t seem like it will be much of a wave either. Maybe a small ripple at most. I’m eschewing the usual newsletter format to roundup some news from Tuesday night.
+ In Pennsylvania’s 12th district race Democrat Summer Lee prevailed over Republican Mike Doyle, which made her the first black woman to be elected to congress in the state. AIPAC’s United Democracy Project (UDP) Super PAC spent $2.7 million trying to defeat Lee in her primary, backing former GOP staffer Steve Irwin. UDP spent another $1 million trying to defeat her on Tuesday, which marked the first time AIPAC had spent in a general election race between a Democrat and a Republican. Now Lee has the distinction of being the only lawmaker to beat the pro-Israel lobbying group in a primary and a general election.
Lee is not a BDS supporter, she said she would have voted for the additional $1 billion in Iron Dome funding, and (unless I missed something) I don’t believe she’s ever publicly referred to Israel as an apartheid state. However, she expressed support for Palestinian rights and she’s indicated that she supports conditioning military aid to Israel.
While Israel was brutally attacking Gaza during the spring of 2021 Lee tweeted, “When I hear American pols use the refrain ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ in response to undeniable atrocities on a marginalized population, I can’t help but think of how the west has always justified indiscriminate and disproportionate force and power on weakened and marginalized people. The US has never shown leadership in safeguarding human rights of folks its othered But as we fight against injustice here in the movement for black lives we must stand against injustice everywhere. Inhumanities against the Palestinian people cannot be tolerated or justified.”
When asked about the tweet during a Pittsburgh Jewish Federation event this year, Lee didn’t back down. “That was I believe a year ago, also during Ramadan, where we saw a mosque being raided,” she explained. “Those are folks who are in their most vulnerable point and they’re holding on, praying and breaking fast, and that was an internationally-recognized event that happened that was an escalation unlike we had seen, and what I heard and what I continue to hear was instead of a cryout to say that was not OK… instead what I saw were American politicians rushing to use that phrase that Israel has a right to defend itself.”
“This is BIG! — AIPAC and its affiliates poured $MILLIONS to defeat Summer Lee (in her Dem primary AND general election) all because she thinks Palestinians are human beings who deserve human rights,” tweeted Omar Baddar. “Her victory is proof that you can stand up to AIPAC’s bullying and smears & win.”
Lee is being billed as a new addition to The Squad as a result of her support for progressive domestic policies, but it will be interesting to see how her congressional record on Palestine ends up looking. Based on her previous comments, I think it’s at least safe to say she will support efforts like Rep. Betty McCollum’s (D-MN) child detention bill.
+ Every candidate that JVP Action endorsed won easily.
+ A lot of headlines about Democrat Maxwell Frost becoming the first Gen Z member of congress after he won in Florida’s 10th district House race. You might recall that Frost seemingly abandoned his alleged support for Palestine during the primary. “Basically, Maxwell Frost was a friend who approached me about running for office. And I said I will help in all of my different capacities, and all I ask is that he continue to support Palestine liberation,” Florida organizer Rasha Mubarak told Mitchell Plitnick in August. “He signed a Palestinian feminist collective pledge. He was part of our Palestine organizing network. He was part of organizing at Florida Palestine Network.”
However, things abruptly changed. According to a statement put out by the Florida Palestine Network, “After Palestinian and pro-Palestinian organizers and organizations assisted in building, funding, and powering his campaign, Maxwell Frost has already violated his commitment to protecting and fighting for human rights for all…To use FPN’s organizing success as a stepping stool and become anti-Palestinian is disturbing and unacceptable…Supporting genocide, imperialism, and settler-colonialism will never equate to a win for people conscious of human rights…”
“As common as the Progressive Except for Palestine (PEP) cliché is, it’s rarely quite as pronounced as it is with Frost,” wrote Plitnick. “Whether his turnaround was due to being convinced by pro-Israel propaganda, by cynical political concerns, by a pragmatic worry that his agenda not be derailed by a foreign policy matter that is not his primary concern, or by Torres winning his ear, Frost will be an important person for Palestine activists to target.”
“He has demonstrated in the past that he knows better than the sort of biased half-truths and outright misstatements in his position paper. His campaign victory came in a solidly Democratic part of Florida, and one that clearly leans progressive. While no one can be unconcerned about potentially facing the millions of AIPAC dollars that sunk other progressive campaigns in this primary season, Mubarak, a veteran of many campaigns in the Orlando area, said she was certain that Frost could have stuck with his positions on Palestine, even supporting BDS, and still won.”
+ A similar situation in Texas’s 35th district, where Bernie-backed Greg Casar won his race. Casar was originally backed by Austin DSA but the relationship fell apart after Casar said he didn’t support BDS and believed in continuing “federal aid for self defense of Israel.”
“As socialists and internationalists, we recognize that Israel is an apartheid state that violates the human rights of Palestinians,” read a statement from Austin DSA. “We consistently stand against military aid and interventions around the globe, so we of course oppose providing military aid of any kind to Israel. We also support the overwhelming call from Palestinian civil society for BDS. DSA is a democratic organization that has affirmed this position in resolutions at three national conventions and in DSA’s political platform.”
“DSA endorsements involve significant volunteer work and are reserved for candidates who closely align with DSA’s platform and socialist principles. As a democratic organization, changing our endorsement would require a membership vote. Instead, after discussions with the leadership committee and other members, the Casar campaign has rescinded their request for endorsement.”
+ Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria was ousted by Republican State Sen. Jen Kiggans. It’s not like Kiggans will be good on Israel, but Luria’s loss deals a significant blow to a certain hawkish pro-Israel faction within the Dem party.
+ Arizona’s anti-BDS treasurer Kimberly Yee, who tagged her opponent as antisemitic for once using a “Free Palestine” hashtag, was reelected.
+ J Street commissioned an election night poll: “72 percent of Jewish-American voters said they disapproved of the pro-Israel group AIPAC’s decision to endorse and raise money for Members of Congress who support Israel but voted against certifying the 2020 Presidential election.”
+ Interesting thread from IfNotNow political director Eva Borgwardt on the Lee/Doyle race.
+ Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is now set to become the most powerful Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. She tells Jewish Insider that she’ll use the position to help fight any effort to condition aid to Israel.
+ The rabidly pro-Israel Lee Zeldin left his House site to run for Governor of New York and lost. Shortly before the race the New York Times ran an article about Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics heir billionaire who spent at least $11 million in support of Zeldin’s gubernatorial run. The piece doesn’t mention Israel at all despite Lauder’s longtime political action on the issue. In 2012, while attacking calls for an EU import ban on West Bank products, Lauder declared that the area was “not illegally occupied.”
+ Palestinian-Americans Abdelnasser Rashid and Ruwa Romman won their elections for State Representative in Illinois and Georgia.
Stay safe out there,
Michael
AIPAC is losing its influence over the Democratic Party because the organization has no moral standing. AIPAC supports MAGA white nationalist candidates in the Republican as long as they promise fealty to Israel. Nothing else matters to AIPAC.