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[BELLS RINGING]

So heres what we know when it comes to the antiwar protests on college campuses and electoral politics. President Biden has a problem with young activists. And the disapproval, particularly from the left, has only intensified in the days after the president spoke critically about the protests. But whether or not he has a problem with the young electorate at large remains to be seen, which is why one response from a more mainstream organization really caught my attention, the College Democrats of America, who said last week, the White House was on a, quote, mistaken route, unquote, that could make it harder to win young voters.

The statement turned heads in political circles, because the College Democrats are closely aligned with national party leadership. Leaders of the group are delegates to the Democratic Convention. And its pretty rare to see them say anything bad about a Democratic president.

And as I soon learned, the statement also divided the groups leadership. So over the past few days, we reached out to a bunch of the groups members, including members of the executive board, the head of its Muslim caucus, and the chair of its Jewish caucus, to get the inside story of what happened and why.

Today, how the College Democrats of America came to break with the Democratic president and what it could mean for the fall. From The New York Times, Im Astead Herndon. This is The Run-Up.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hey, how are you?

Good, how are you, Astead.

Good. Good, thanks for chatting with us.

Yes. No, thank you for having me on. How have you been so far?

Im doing OK. My Friday is kind of just largely starting. How about yours?

Im trying to finish up my senior thesis, which is like 30 pages.

Oh, whats it about? Tell me.

Its about populism, actually. Im doing a comparative study on populism in Brazil and Turkey.

Hasan Pyarali is a senior at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Hes also the chair of the College Democrats Muslim caucus. And he helped craft the statement that the College Democrats put out last week.

Growing up, I really wasnt into politics that much, not because I didnt find it interesting. Of course, I did. I just never thought there was a place in there for me. You can ask some of my friends in middle school and high school. I always talked about being a prime minister of Pakistan thats where my familys from because I never thought I had a future in politics here.

Why did you feel that?

I guess because there was no role models out there for me. Obama had been elected when I was a little kid. And I saw the backlash that he had gotten as the first Black president. And people were saying, this will never happen again.

Where things changed for me on that score was 2018. And then I saw people like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, people who proudly wore their Muslim identities and told the world who they were. And they got elected for that.

So seeing them win was just so heartening. And it made me feel like I had a chance, too, because growing up, post 2001, post 9/11, that generation that I was part of, the only thing I saw was the rejection of Islam, the rejection of Muslims. And so that was really inspirational to me.

Eventually, Hasans interest in politics led him to volunteer for Bernie Sanders in his bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Let me tell you, I was spending all my free time and my friends can tell you, in high school, I was spending all my free time knocking doors, calling people, saying, you got to vote for Bernie. Come on, you got to do this. I was posting on my Instagram, posting on Snapchat.

Its so funny, because I would consider myself a fairly political high-schooler. And the idea of me spending my free time knocking on doors for a political candidate is wild.

Yeah. No, literally, I would go to farmers markets and be like, hi, would you like to vote. And I would be the only one there passing out flyers. And I would just talk to and me being a high-schooler, so that was just how I spent my free time. Seeing that not work out, though, was a little bit of a hit to me. I was like, dang.

Seeing the Bernie campaign not working?

Yeah. Yeah, because it represented everything we wanted in terms of economic policy, social policy. The change was real. The energy was there. We just about had it. And then, for that not to have worked out was a little bit of a blow to me personally.

But when Joe Biden ultimately became the Democrats nominee, Hasan was impressed with his outreach to young voters and got on board.

He adopted $15 an hour. He was talking about canceling $10,000 in student debt, which isnt everything, but its still a lot. He talked about bringing a new revolution in terms of public transportation. And I was like, wait, there is some good here. There is some things I can latch on to. So it was actually purely policy-driven, my willingness to work on his campaign.

Mm-hmm, so Biden goes and wins in 2020. And in the first couple of years, Im curious how you felt about the administration and also how your involvement in College Democrats developed.

In terms of Biden, in the first couple of years, I was elated. I was like, rah, rah, rah, Biden, I love him, because he did the Child Tax Credit, the American Rescue Plan, the checks. They werent quite $2,000, but they were pretty good, right, opening things back up in a pretty efficient manner, I think.

And the biggest thing for me was the withdrawal from the Afghanistan war, because I had seen so much devastation for so many years. And being antiwar was also one of those things that a lot of people in my community, a lot of Muslims were antiwar. But that was a very non popular view.

And that was a big deal. So seeing that happen, I was on the moon. I was like, wow, hes really delivering. I think, at least in the first couple of years, I was very happy.

How did you come to be the Muslim Caucus chair?

Yeah, it was the beginning of my senior year. And before that I hadnt really seen too much outreach on the behalf of the Democratic Party towards Muslim Americans, I dont think, besides the occasional Happy Ramadan and things like that. So I was like, yeah, theres a lot of work here to be done. It sounds like actually a really cool position. And then, this year has been my [INAUDIBLE] of being Muslim Caucus chair.

And what a year. I mean, I am partially I mean, this is what were here to talk about is the ways that chair seat has put you in the center of some big developments with College Democrats. I guess I wanted to start on October 7 or around that time. Thats when, obviously, Hamas launched their attack in Israel, killing 1,200 people, according to officials there. I mean, what did you think when you saw the events unfold? And what was the immediate conversation among the College Democrats of America?

Right, so first of all, just to start off with, yeah, youre right. That chairmanship was supposed to be vote on things when votes are brought up and advocate for the Happy Ramadan posts. Thats all. It turned out to be a lot more.

So on October 7, when that all went down, it was like, OK, we need to appoint people on this. We need to have a stance on this. And my feelings on that day were, I couldnt see a good way out. But also, this is not a new issue.

The problem didnt start on October 7. I remember going to the mosque. I think it was 10 years old. And halfway through the prayer, the imam, who is supposed to keep a solemn tone, just read the verses, and then move on, he broke down halfway through and started crying.

And this never happens. Ive never seen it. And after that, too, Ive never seen it in my life. And he started crying about Gaza. And so, on October 7, I was like, this has been happening for so long.

Did you say that?

I did. I did. And I not only said that, I wrote a piece in the Old Gold and Black about it, talking about how this is not a new thing, this has been going on since I was a kid.

Thats the campus newspaper.

Yes.

in Wake Forest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thats our campus newspaper. And I wrote a piece saying, I so sympathize with your pain because youre so devastated. And Ive been devastated, too. We have to come together now and stand with each other in our pain.

So when we had a vigil here for the Jewish lives lost, I went there with my Jewish friends and stood with them. And Im so glad to say that, when we had our Muslim vigil, when the retaliation started, and I think at the time, 5,000, 8,000 people were killed, a lot of my Jewish friends came and stood with me at that Muslim vigil. So I knew I had a heightened role.

I personally have put out a lot of statements in terms of me and my personal capacity, right, both on Instagram, in the Old Gold and Black, and I was trying to keep things tame on our campus. And I talked about it a lot with people in College Democrats. And the culmination of my role really came around November and December, where I was like, OK, Ive been in these conversations. Something needs to be said. We need to take a position and call for a ceasefire.

How were you received?

Very well, actually. Everyone who I talked to was like, Ive been looking for someone to do this and I havent done it yet. but Im so glad that you did, because it takes a lot of courage to do this. And nearly everyone I talked to put their name as co-sponsors.

Then I got to talk to the Jewish Caucus chair, who was the last person who I hadnt spoken with, and talked to her for the first time Allyson, very nice person. And we got working together. And she also cosigned that ceasefire resolution. And when we put it up for a vote, it got unanimous consent.

And if I read the resolution, it says, The College Democrats of America, spearheaded by the Muslim Caucus and Jewish Caucus, unanimously called for a ceasefire in the Middle East and denounced the rise of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on college campuses across the country.

Yeah.

And I see a lot of the main chairs here, of the College Democrats of America, signed it. And you said the resolution was passed unanimously.

Thats right.

Now, question I have, though, is, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, politicians you have mentioned here, were calling for the Biden administration to do that also around this time. And you werent really seeing that get big traction among national. Why did you all feel that you had to go ahead of where the main Democrats are?

So in December, it was actually a very rare and tough position to take, which is why I was so hesitant for so long. But I just felt like a moral compulsion that I had to at least try. And if I tried and failed, that would be OK. But at least I tried. And I thought our position as a part of the DNC gave us a platform that no one really else had. Of course, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, were calling from them from the outside. But it will be huge for the party itself to rebuke the president and say, we are calling for a ceasefire. And thats what we

The youngest members of the party and members of the DNC to call for it itself. I do think its unique. I mean, one question I have for you is, around that time, there was an explosion of youth activism, people interrupting the president and vice president, particularly at their public events. We spoke to some protesters who interrupted President Biden at Mother Emanuel in South Carolina.

At the church, yeah.

In the church, some of those actions were controversial. What did you think of those tactics that others were using to push the administration from the outside?

Oh, I thought they were amazing. I have so much respect for those activists who interrupted him at the church and everywhere else, because I think when politicians take a contra not even controversial. When they take a morally wrong stance, they shouldnt be given any peace. Everywhere they go, they should be yelled at. And I got to do some of my own yelling to politicians here at Wake Forest.

They had invited President Bush to come on. And when Bush came, and he started talking about how the Iraq war was justified, I dont know what came over me. But I got up in my seat and just started yelling at him, you liar, you lied to the American people, youre lying now.

Im kind of curious as to your embrace of these tactics, considering youre someone who exists both in a insider-y and outsider-y space. I think about your work with Biden campaign, while at the same time saying that you believe that politicians who take stances that are deemed morally reprehensible should face no peace. I mean, do you see any tension in the worlds that you exist in?

Oh, theres so much, yeah.

Yeah, I guess Im saying, how do you untangle that?

Its tough to be in this space because I think it takes both. I think it takes people on the inside pushing the envelope and calling for change internally. I think, when that message comes from someone like me, who has worked on the Biden campaign, who has worked in local congressional races, I think it has a little bit more meaning to it because Ive done the work and Ive been there. And also, I think they need to feel the public pressure, too. If its just me saying it with no public pressure, it falls flat because they dont feel the need to listen.

Mm-hmm, well, lets talk about the last couple of weeks, because those have really exploded this issue even further, particularly the liberated zones or encampments that we have seen across college campuses and in places like Columbia University, where university presidents called in the police after students forcefully took over a building. I mean, when you see actions like that, is there any uncomfort with students taking over a building, some folks where weve seen individual instances of anti-Semitism, how do you separate the larger agreement with the moral cause, with an alignment with some protesters that have become increasingly controversial within the Democratic Party?

Thats right. I think theres a parsing that we can do thats pretty easy for me to do personally. I can say, at the same time, yes, theres bad actors here and that youre going to have that in any movement. But I think, as long as the majority of people are doing the right thing and standing there in a morally just cause, I think thats something that we should stand with. And I dont think its worth condemning an entire movement, which is what weve seen.

Mm-hmm, I was going to ask about what you thought about the White Houses response to the encampments. What were you hoping that the president said versus what he actually did say?

Yeah, I was hoping he would say, I hear you, I stand with you, its time to change, and call for a ceasefire. I hope he would see that theres a wide swath of people all across the country crying out, what were doing is morally wrong and it needs to change. But also politically, if I saw my own voters coming out there and protesting, I would change course. And thats what I was hoping for.

What I saw was a condemnation of all the protesters as anti-Semitic and no support for them. They were given the cold shoulder in both his press conference yesterday and his statement that he released beforehand. And that was just it was saddening, it was shameful, and I think it was just disgraceful the way he went about it.

The last thing I wanted to say, and then I want to get to the actual statement you all put out in the last couple of days, is about Bidens response. You said that you felt that he was just painting everyone with a full brush of anti-Semitism or things. But he also did affirm the larger right to protest.

Hes talked about his own involvement in movements previously. But he tried to make a distinction between what he felt was happening in these verses more peaceful protests. Why isnt that the right tone for a president to strike, in your opinion?

Yeah, and I think, of course, that distinction needs to be made. But you have to look at the majority of what people are doing is painting them with a broad brush and saying, yeah, but the few of you who are peaceful have a right to protest. I think that approach paints the majority of people as violent. It paints the majority of people as anti-Semitic, too, when theyre not.

And so I think that its important to draw a distinction. And at the same time, you can recognize what the majority of people are calling for. And if he really wanted to get things toned down on college campuses, he would change course.

Well, take me through the steps. You all decide to take the very unique action of criticizing the administrations response. But logistically, did you write the statement alone?

Yes.

Did you write the what happened.

So, yeah, logistically, this what happened. So we were talking about it. They said, guys, we have to write something on this. And I was like, this is what needs to be said. From there, it took a few drafts.

If you look at my Google Docs right now, theres like draft 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4. Different people are shared on it. I got to work with Allyson Bell, our Jewish Caucus chair, as well, because she made it very clear that she wanted to see the denouncement of anti-Semitism. And I stood with her in that and said, yes, there needs to be the case.

Were there other red lines that people had? What did you have to include?

Yeah, no, that was one of the biggest red lines is that we had to include a condemnation of anti-Semitism. The other red lines people had mentioned to me was we have to stand with the cause for divestment and an immediate recognition of a Palestinian state, which is what we were able to do.

And so thats an interesting point. You all would more than say, we affirm the general rights of protest.

Oh, yeah.

You said, We stand with their specific policy goal of asking these campuses to divest from companies that make money off of whats happening in Gaza and to affirm the existence of a Palestinian state. Did that cause backlash internally?

No, actually, I was very surprised, because at first, I was like, I dont know how this statement is going to very similar to my ceasefire thing, I was like, I dont know how this is going to go. I dont know how well-received its going to be. And they said, we think its great. Lets put it up for a vote. And it passed by 8 to 2, which is amazing. I think I wasnt really expecting that wide of a margin. And I was so glad that they gave me the room, space, and leadership to do that.

Mm-hmm, Ive seen some of your colleagues criticize the statement, saying that they didnt feel like they were fully a part of the process. What have you made of some of the criticism? And I have read that some people had said that other drafts had gone further in terms of a denouncement of anti-Semitism.

Yeah.

I guess Im saying, I know that you got enough support for it to be 8 to 2, should have been 10 to 0.

Yes, I would have loved it to be. And in terms of one of the reasons why it wasnt, I think, it was Josh who said it didnt condemn Hamas. Well, this is about college campuses and whats going on there and their demands. And I think we did say we want to release the hostages.

We did say we want a peaceful two-state solution. And I think people forget that ceasefire means ceasefire for Hamas, too. We want them to stop shooting as well. So I tried to address those criticisms.

I hear where theyre coming from. And they all have valid points. There was earlier drafts that took the overwhelming approach of denouncing anti-Semitism.

What we were trying to do here is stand with the majority of college students. And the majority of college students are not anti-Semitic. The majority of people protesting are not hateful and violent and Hamas supporters. So thats the approach we ended up taking. And obviously, we didnt go 10-0. I wish it had been 10-0.

This week, right after President Bidens press conference, when asked whether the protests had had any material effect on his Middle Eastern policy, he said no. And I guess Im wondering, as someone who helped get this worked to get this person elected, how does that feel?

Its a little bit disheartening, Id say. Its tough to hear someone and I work so hard not only did I work so hard, young people worked so hard. And I think growing up, especially in the Democratic party, we had this idea of a coalition of the ascendant. Im sure youve heard the term, where as theres more and more young people, more and more progressives, more and more people of color, the countrys getting more diverse, eventually youre going to have a point where Democrats are just running away with it.

Thats kind of what we were hoping for. But for some reason, they found a way to break up that coalition and give us the cold shoulder. But at the end of the day, were still out here. Were still trying to talk with them and see if we can change things. And I do see a future where I would love to be right there knocking doors again for Biden in 2024.

Thats what I was going to ask. Are you going to vote for Biden in November? Or do you plan to organize for Biden in November?

I would sure hope to. And I think that question rests more with him than it does with me, because it matters on how he goes about this. If he continues on this path, if he continues to go harder, the genocide becomes worse and worse and worse, thats going to make it tougher for me.

But Im saying, if six months from now, if Joe Biden is continuing to back Netanyahus government, are you voting for Joe Biden?

Thats a tough question. And Im struggling with that every day. I havent really quite come to it. I think, at the end of the day, I probably would is the tough thing. But the fact that its a real tough question for me, I think should show that its probably a no for a majority of young people.

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Inside the College Democrats' Rebuke of Biden - The New York Times

Hours before Arizona state legislators voted to repeal an 1864 abortion ban last month, a group of mostly Latina Democrats huddled at a nearby Mexican restaurant for a strategy session on galvanizing Latina voters over abortion rights.

I am 23 why do I have less rights than my abuelita in Mexico? Melissa Herrera, a Democratic campaign staffer, asked the cluster of women at the restaurant, referring to her grandmother.

The question crystallized what Democrats hope will be a decisive electoral factor in their favor this year, one that upends conventional political wisdom: A majority of Latino voters now support abortion rights, according to polls, a reversal from two decades ago. Polling trends, interviews with strategists and election results in Ohio and Virginia, where abortion rights played a central role, suggest Democrats optimism regarding Latinas once considered too religious or too socially conservative to support abortion rights could bear out.

Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, stringent curbs have been taking effect in Republican-dominated states. In Arizona, for one, the May 2 repeal of the blanket ban from 1864 still leaves abortions governed by a two-year-old law prohibiting the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exception for rape or incest.

As of April 2023, according to the Pew Research Center, 62 percent of Latinos believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Twenty years earlier, most Hispanics told Pew that they opposed abortion rights by a nearly two-to-one margin. (The most recent polling has been conducted online, instead of over the phone, but the surveys show an overall gradual shift in opinions.)

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Democrats, Sensing Shift on Abortion Rights Among Latinas, Push for More Gains - The New York Times

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Ex-GOP Gov. Hogan is popular with some Maryland Democrats, but not enough to put him in the Senate - Bowling Green Daily News

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIMEs politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

The signage surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris in Jacksonville, Fla. last week was not exactly subtle: Reproductive Freedom and Trust Women framed the lone woman ever to be within a heartbeat of the presidency, as she laid the blame for Floridas ban on abortion after six weeks at the foot of former President Donald Trump on the very day it took effect. As a matter of political stagecraft, it was about as perfect as one could have scripted.

Donald Trump is the architect, Harris said on May 1, decrying the 4 million women who woke up that morning with fewer reproductive rights. He brags about it.

As a political matter, Harris is not wrong. Trump nominated three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who made the end of Roe v. Wade possible, which in turn allowed Florida lawmakers to outlaw abortions in the state after six weeks. And five of the seven justices on the Florida court that allowed the new law to go into effect were named by Governor Ron DeSantis, who rose to power with Trumps blessing.

To Bidens campaign, the list of battleground states is longer than the measly seven that have thus far drawn the most attention. Steamy Florida, where Republicans hold every statewide office, has the potential to be a sexy eighth option. Hence: Harris visit last week, Bidens a week before, and a handful of new campaign hires to mind the state day to day.

Floridas overreach on reproductive rights may indeed put it in play this cycle, but the Sunshine State remains Trumps to lose. Much more likely is that we may now have an unexpectedly competitive race between GOP Sen. Rick Scott and his Democratic challenger, former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

Its a race that most strategists had relegated to the second tier until very recently. Along with the motivating power of Floridas six-week ban and a November ballot measure that will give voters the chance to undo it, Democratic Senator Joe Manchins decision to forgo a re-election bid in West Virginia has freed up valuable resourcesnot just from the Democratic Partys official Senate campaign arm but also the abortion rights groups who, to this point, have been undefeated when the question of access is put directly to voters.

While the White House race dominates in Florida in terms of sizzle, the Senate race may have greater consequences for the next few years. Biden might not need Florida if he can hold steady or even make his push into North Carolina. Even so, Democrats need to pick up at least one Republican-held seat if they have any chance of maintaining control of the Senate. Frankly, West Virginia is gone for a generation given Manchins retirement. That leaves the party with only two pick-up optionsFlorida and Texas, and the latter is at the moment only marginally less of a pipe dream. And that all assumes that Democrats can even hold their seats in places like Montana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In other words, Democrats need every break they can get, which is why Mucarsel-Powell is the quiet rockstar that the party is trying to promote without flagging her as a target for the right.

What I think is happening is they are realizing the shift on the ground and the shift in Florida, Mucarsel-Powell tells TIME during a visit to our Washington Bureau.

To be clear, Scott remains the frontrunner. The few non-partisan polls in the state show him with a double-digit advantage. And while not exactly adored by his constituents, he has managed to eke out win after win over more than a decade. Hes never won any of his general-election races by more than two percentage points. (Usually less, and once via recount.) This is the first time he will be on the ballot when hes not the top of the ticket; that crown this year belongs to Trump, and theres no telling how the ex-President will dictate or derail news coverage over the next six months.

And Scotts time in Washington has been anything but smooth. In early 2022, he released a campaign strategy memo that drew the open scorn of some members and the ire of Senate Leadership, specifically its call to sunset popular social programs like Social Security and Medicare. (He has since retreated.) He tried and failed to unseat Senate Leader Mitch McConnell after the 2022 elections that he quarterbacked as head of the GOP Senates campaign arm.

Read more: The Least Popular Man in Washington

In a warning shot against Mucarsel-Powell, Scott has been spending about $700,000 a week on ads to promote his re-election, including one emphasizing his opposition to socialismtypically a winning message in immigrant-heavy Florida but one that even some Republicans worry may have lost clout when run against Mucarsel-Powell, whose family fled socialist Ecuador when she was a child. Mucarsel-Powell returned the salvo with a Spanish-language ad that says its freedom that Rick Scott wants to take away.

Scott may be the wet blanket of a candidate that his critics cast him as, but he knows the terrain and is a disciplined technocrat who will out-hustle his rivals. When I went to Florida in 2018 expecting to write him off, I couldnt help but to admire his workmanship as I watched him grind it out in boring roundtables and steamy town halls at shift changes. Looking to learn Spanish, he hired native-speaking personal aides to practice with him between eventsa pander at first glance but it gave him sufficient proficiency to show he was trying to understand his constituents.

Of course, his vast personal wealth provides him a huge leg up over his rivals. In his first campaign for governor, he spent $70 million of his own money to get to Tallahassee. His second campaign cost him almost $13 million. And his Senate race six years ago cost him more than $50 million.

Mucarsel-Powell has technically outraised Scott, drawing more than $7 million so far. While Scott has reported $7.7 million on his campaign filings, about $7 million is a loan from his checking account, and he has a personal fortune estimated at a quarter-billion dollars waiting at the ready.

Yet Mucarsel-Powell is poised to see a significant boost, now that courts have cleared the way for Floridians to be asked to preserve abortion rights this fall. Outside groups are readying a ton of cash to get the ballot measure to victory. Polling shows Florida in the same headspace of supporting abortion rights as Ohio and Kansas, both red states that surprised pundits when they backed abortion rights ballot issues.

But heres the hiccup: Democrats and allies will need 60% of voters to pass the ballot measure, a bar advocates cleared in California and Vermont but one that would have been fatal in Ohio, where voters backed a constitutional right to abortion with 57% support. And the wording on Floridas ballot measure is tricky and may be harder for voters to parse.

But Mucarsel-Powell only needs 50% plus one vote to win the seat, a target the ballot measure may help her reach, even if it falls short of its higher threshold.

Scotts team has been across the spectrum when it comes to abortion access in Florida. While he has said he would have preferred a 15-week ban, he nonetheless has backed the six-week one, and said he would have signed it if he had still been governor. (Florida Republicans are quick to note that, unlike total bans in other Southern states, Florida does allow abortions after six weeks for cases involving rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, or when the life of a pregnant person is at risk.)

Everyone knows that Senator Rick Scott supports the right to life. Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell does not, says Chris Hartline, a senior adviser to the Scott campaign. Floridians agree that there should be some reasonable limits placed on abortion. Senator Scott has been very clear where he stands: No national bans, with the consensus at 15 weeks with limitations for rape, incest, and life of the mother. Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell takes an extreme view opposing any common-sense limits on abortion."

Despite the murmurs of optimism on the Democratic side, Scott backers argue Democrats are overplaying their hand. Their strongest evidence: Floridas voter rolls no longer reflect a swing state, with registered Republicans sporting a 900,000-vote advantage, compared to a 100,000-vote deficit four years ago.

What Florida Democrats call newfound confidence, anyone with a brain calls delusion," Hartline tells TIME. "Republicans will win up and down the ballot in Florida because weve put the time and effort into registering voters and focusing on the issues that matter most to Florida families.

As recent elections have shown in spades, support for abortion rights is bipartisan. Of the roughly 1.3 million signatures submitted in the first round of filings for the ballot measure, roughly 150,000 of those Hancocks were registered Republicans.

I've been saying this for a long time because I've lived in Florida for so long: Florida is a very independent state. It's a purple state. It's a third, a third, a third, Mucarsel-Powell tells TIME.

Which is why Democrats are quietly cheering Murcasel-Powell on without too many heralds. Florida is enormously expensive, and the climb is very, very steepno matter what the polling says about 62% support for abortion in some or all cases.

Still, the fact that Florida is even in the conversation as an up-for-grabs state in 2024 is stunning. Its a sign of how much Republican overreach on abortion rights has made the landscape so much more fraught for their candidates. Democrats might have a fighting chance in Florida, even with a one-term former House member. Theyre just engaging relatively late, and with a decided cash disadvantage, given that the Republican incumbent is the richest man in the Senate.

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Continued here:
Why Democrats Are Suddenly Excited About Florida - TIME

In a letter sent Friday to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, 26 Democrats in Congress said they're "deeply concerned" about the message the Biden administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel at a critical moment.

The representatives called for a classified briefing about the White House's decision to "better understand how and when" the aid authorized and appropriated by Congress for Israel will be delivered.

The representatives said they fear US public disputes with Israel only emboldens mutual enemies like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other Iranian-backed proxies and buttresses their agenda of "chaos, brutality, and hate" and makes a hostage deal even harder to achieve.

"With democracy under assault around the world, we cannot undermine our ally Israel, especially in her greatest hour of need. Americas commitments must always be ironclad," the letter said.

The US has a duty to equip Israel with the resources it needs to defend itself and "crush the terrorists" who also seek to do America harm, free all hostages, continue delivering critical humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in Gaza and "stand by our democratic allies around the world," the letter said.

The letter was signed by reps. Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Jared Golden (ME), Costa (CA-21), Davis (NC-1), Lois Frankel (FL), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA) Vicente Gonzalez (TX), Steven Horsford (NV), Greg Landsman (OH), Susie Lee (NV), Kathy Manning (NC), Grace Meng (NY), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Donald Norcross (N), Frank Pallone (NJ), Jimmy Panetta (CA), Patrick Ryan (NY), Brad Schneider (IL), Darren Soto (FL-9), Haley Stevens (MI), Tom Suozzi (NY), Norma Torres (CA), Ritchie Torres (NY), Juan Vargas (CA), Marc Veasey (TX) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL).

Originally posted here:
Division among Democrats as 26 party members pen letter to Biden condemning withholding Israel aid - The Jerusalem Post