Anti-Israel progressives benefit from lack of pushback in primaries - analysis

One of the biggest lessons from Tuesday’s Democratic primaries is that when the old guard pushes back on the far left, or at least declines to get behind it, there’s still a chance of victory.

Another is that it's one thing to be anti-Israel. It's another to completely go off the deep end.

In a critical Senate primary in Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan whipped centrist Rep. Angie Craig.

Flanagan has accused Israel of “genocide” and asserted that she would have voted to cut off military aid to the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, Craig was among the fewer than half of House Democrats who voted to oppose severing defense aid, and Flanagan hit Craig on the latter’s support for Israel and previous endorsements from AIPAC, even as the pro-Israel group did not endorse her or directly contribute to her campaign this time around.

Flanagan moves on to face former national sportscaster Michele Tafoya, who easily won the Republican nomination. But even with high name recognition, Tafoya, who is making her entry into politics, faces an uphill climb given Minnesota's blue bent.

Craig’s struggles were reflected in her own district. Former state Sen. Matt Little, who ran furthest to the left and the harshest on Israel, handily defeated a pair of centrists for the Democratic nomination for that House seat.

Among those moderates was state Sen. Matt Klein, an advocate for Israel.

Little is favored to win against Republican nominee Eric Pratt, a state senator, in a relatively moderate district that Kamala Harris carried by only six points in the 2024 presidential election.

AIPAC-endorsed Rep. John Larson lost his reelection bid in a Connecticut House race, falling heavily to former Hartford mayor Luke Bronin. Larson, who has struggled with health issues, will see his 14-term House career in the state’s most populous Jewish district come to an end.

Larson, like Craig, had voted against the majority of House Democrats on the Israel aid issue, and AIPAC raised some $130,000 to try to extend his term.

Bronin, meanwhile, said he’ll oppose offensive weapons for Jerusalem, while keeping Iron Dome support intact.

The exception to Tuesday’s not-good-at-all results for Israel supports was in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race, where State Assembly member Francesca Hong, aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, fell to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in the Democratic primary.

Hong, though, didn’t just take on the establishment on Israel, but on everything, essentially running on a DSA platform, including defunding the police and even canceling Thanksgiving.

Polls showed her leading, but outcry from Democratic officials, including sitting Gov. Tony Evers, appeared to bring attention to her extreme positions, potentially saving the race for Crowley and for Democrats intent on hanging on to the governor’s seat.

Even progressive stalwarts like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t speak out on Hong’s behalf.

It brought into stark contrast the way Michigan officials handled the Senate race there, where earlier this month, anti-Israel radical Abdul El-Sayed defeated Israel-backer Rep. Haley Stevens, in what many view as a national bellwether.

Few officials there went to bat for Haley, and even those that did were loath to criticize El-Sayed. Their prescience, or reckoning, will come in November, when El-Sayed faces former Rep. Mike Rogers, in a state where a Republican hasn’t claimed a Senate seat in 32 years.