Last night was a difficult night for us as Democrats and we’ll be sifting through the lessons for months to come.
But DMFI PAC was pleased that at least three pro-Israel Democrats emerged victorious, despite facing competition, at some point, from anti-Israel opponents. In each case, the candidate who did not support Israel lost along the way. These results are the latest data point demonstrating that being pro-Israel is smart politics as well as wise policy.
New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams stood strongly for Israel’s right to defend itself and against BDS, while several of his primary opponents took very different positions. Adams won the primary, and last night, crushed his general election opponent to become New York’s second Black Mayor.
We don’t yet know who will win the tight special primary election in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, but all the leading candidates expressed strong pro-Israel views, in contrast to State Representative Omari Hardy, who announced he would have voted “No” on replenishing the lifesaving Iron Dome missile defense system and endorsed the BDS movement, which opposes Israel’s right to exist in any borders. Hardy also benefited from $250,000 in independent expenditures during the last week.
For his anti-Israel positions, Hardy is capturing less than 6% of the vote in his campaign to replace the late Congressman Alcee Hastings, himself a lifelong champion of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.
In Ohio, Congresswoman-elect Shontel Brown defeated former State Senator and anti-Israel leader Nina Turner in the primary. Last night, Brown trounced her Republican opponent and will go to Congress to help pass the Biden-Harris agenda.
DMFI PAC ran independent expenditure campaigns supporting Shontel Brown in OH-11 and opposing Omari Hardy in FL-20. We were not involved in the NYC’s Mayor’s race but are delighted to see Eric Adams win.