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Democrats are waking up to a new reality: Impeaching President Donald Trump just doesn’t land the way it used to.
After two prominent backers of Trump’s impeachments lost their primaries to candidates with few major policy differences, Israel is eclipsing the desire to hold the Republican president accountable as a motivating factor for many Democratic base voters.
Both Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., played major roles in leading the case against Trump, with DeGette as a manager of his post-Jan. 6 insurrection impeachment and Goldman as a lead counsel during the probe leading up to Trump’s first impeachment over withholding aid to Ukraine.
But with Trump returning to office and previous Democratic attempts to rein in his power through impeachment falling flat, the kind of Trump accountability messages pushed by the incumbents didn’t stick among constituents. Instead, candidates’ positions on Israel and Gaza, like pledging to cosponsor legislation cutting off some weapons to Israel, are emerging as more of a credibility test, progressives said. Eight of the primary winners who condemned the Gaza conflict were backed by American Priorities, a new pro-Palestinian super PAC supporting candidates who have been critical of Israel’s military actions.
“Voters this year are punishing candidates who, when asked about the issue, are effectively telling them what they saw with their own two eyes isn’t real,” said Greg Krieg, a spokesman for the PAC. “That’s the dynamic the pro-Israel groups haven’t caught up to. This has become a credibility test more than anything else, because if a candidate gets squirrelly about Israel and Palestine, voters figure they can’t be trusted on anything else, either.”
Some Democrats are taking the victories by Melat Kiros, Brad Lander, and Darializa Avila Chevalier as a collective sign that voters want them to change, especially with simmering tensions in the party over former President Joe Biden’s handling of the Middle East conflict. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill. — one of the leads of the “Block the Bombs” bill that was part of a viral moment in the Colorado primary when DeGette was confronted by an activist who wanted her to sign on to it — said her fellow Democrats need to be better attuned to voters’ calls right now.
Many activists see Democrats who did not work harder to block sending weapons to Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks as culpable for the ensuing conflict.
“People appreciate those that have held … presidents, fascists, or ICE accountable in the past, but what they care most about is: What the hell are you doing right now to alleviate the fear, the pressures, and the struggles that I’m living in right now,” Ramirez said.
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It spells trouble for other Democratic incumbents this cycle who face competitive primaries, especially Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., who’s made impeaching Trump and other Cabinet secretaries part of his reelection pitch this cycle. He faces a tough challenge from State Rep. Donavan McKinney, who boasts support from both the Democratic Socialists of America and more establishment political figures who have previously tried to oust Thanedar, who is backed by AIPAC.
In an interview before the start of the primaries, McKinney told Semafor that the impeachment issue was a dud — “How many times has Trump been impeached?” — and that frustration at Israel funding cut across party lines.
“We’re sending billions overseas for bombs and weapons to kill families and children when we have starving families here at home,” McKinney told Semafor more recently. “People see through his BS. He can’t buy this seat any longer. People are fed up with his leadership because there isn’t any.”
Oliver Larkin, a DSA activist and union organizer challenging Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz in south Florida, said that he’d been surprised at how many Democrats agreed with his opposition to funding Israel, in a district with a sizable Jewish electorate.
“Support for unconditional aid is so toxic,” he said, recalling the warm reception he got at a party meeting in “what AIPAC would call its backyard.” The DSA victories of June boosted his own campaign: New York winner Claire Valdez joined a virtual rally for him, and Larkin has raised $115,000 since the New York primaries (and more than $10,000 in the hours since Tuesday’s Colorado primary).
Regardless of how the rest of the primaries turn out this year, the Democratic Caucus is all but certain to move further left on Israel next year, a dynamic that progressives say will come in response to their constituents’ calls for change.
“Americans want to hear us say that we understand that they want a change in our policies and our rhetoric as it relates to Israel. There is not clear widespread support for abandonment of Israel entirely,” said Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt. “But people want us to articulate that we hear them and we understand that things need to change, most immediately and specifically around military aid and the horrific settler violence in the West Bank.”
Room for Disagreement
Party centrists are skeptical of leaning too far into lessons learned from the string of primaries in deep-blue seats. And they don’t believe the party needs to shift its positions on Israel in the wake of these Israel-focused primaries.
“I think it’s district by district, and I think the way we approach Israel, we need to continue to show that they are an ally and we’re supportive of the alliance,” said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev.
Age is also its own factor: Voters are rejecting Democratic candidates who are older, or who have served long enough in Congress to be associated with the establishment, in favor of newer faces with fresh ideas.
Nicholas and David’s view
Even if impeachment isn’t a voting issue for primary voters now, it’s still going to be a motivating factor in competitive general elections in November — and an unavoidable issue for Democratic leaders if the House flips next year. With Democratic lawmakers vowing probes of Trump-linked corruption, they’ll be faced with difficult decisions on expectation-setting where the investigations lead.
On top of that, the potentially slim House margin is going to give a “Squad 3.0” of lawmakers considerable leverage over policymaking next year, especially on Israel-related issues that have divided House Democrats even from their position in the minority.
Notable
- Kamala Harris has been reaching out to pro-Palestinian activists ahead of a potential 2028 presidential bid, Axios reported.
- An amendment from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that would strip billions in aid to Israel from a larger bill is dividing Democrats, MS NOW reported.