| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Ella Creamer, Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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Democratic Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri (center) and Jamaal Bowman of New York attend a White House vigil alongside state legislators and faith leaders demanding a cease-fire in Gaza, Nov. 29, 2023. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by AP | What up, Recast family! A New York judge today weighs in on whether Donald Trump violated his gag order, Patriots owner Robert Kraft pulls support for Columbia University over what he sees as unfair treatment of Jewish students at his alma mater and a member of the Squad fights to hold her seat in a contentious Pennsylvania primary today. First, though, progressives try to rev up their turnout machine. Progressive Democrats are sounding the alarm against what they see as a torrent of spending against leftist candidates who are holding the Biden administration to task for its unilateral support of Israel and its war on Gaza. During a Monday evening virtual rally hosted by Our Revolution, the largest progressive grassroots political organization, three members of the Democratic liberal wing delivered impassioned pleas to supporters about what they see as an onslaught of money from pro-Israel groups looking to oust them for their criticisms of Israel. Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, each took turns on the 75-minute call to underscore their main point: While the group does not have the funds to combat the reported $100 million that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is expected to spend this cycle, it can still be successful in protecting incumbents and expanding their ranks in the next Congress.
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“The reality is that we need to protect, now, progressives in Congress like me, like Ilhan, like Jamaal who are under attack by Republican mega donors who are coming into our districts, recruiting people to run against us pouring enormous amounts of money into these races,” said Jayapal, the chair of the powerful Congressional Progressive Caucus, which boasts more than 100 members.
Bowman, who is Black, suggested in addition to his support of a cease-fire in Israel, that race also played a factor in why his primary opponent was being backed by pro-Israel groups.
|  Bowman is facing a tough primary challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | “This is a majority-minority district. This is a district where we have been doing grassroots organizing with young people and progressive since we got into office,” Bowman said. “Finally, after 31 years of war mongering [former Democratic Rep.] Eliot Engel, they have a progressive in office … first Black man in U.S. history to be their representative … now the attacks are ruthlessly and relentlessly coming.” Bowman and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) are thought to be the most vulnerable Squad members during the current campaign cycle. Bush, who was not on the call, is facing a primary challenge from former public defender Wesley Bell. Bowman’s opponent is Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Both Bell and Latimer have had wide leads, according to early polling in their respective races — and each got the backing of AIPAC. “We have endorsed George Latimer and Wesley Bell, who are strong pro-Israel candidates opposing detractors of the US-Israel relationship,” AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told The Recast in an email. “Our activists are deeply engaged to ensure that we have the necessary resources to support these candidates who – unlike their opponents - will stand with the Jewish state as it confronts aggression from Iran and its terrorist proxies.”
|  Bush is facing a primary from Wesley Bell, a former public defender. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | Over the weekend the House of Representatives passed a gargantuan $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, with bipartisan support. Organizers of the Our Revolution call thanked Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Becca Balint (D-Vt.), both of whom are Jewish, for joining 35 other Democrats in voting against the bill that includes $14 billion in military funding to Israel and another $9 billion allocated to humanitarian aid, the majority of which will go to Gaza. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation this week. Omar, the first African refugee in Congress, told those assembled on the virtual town hall that the political attacks on progressive members of Congress are a sign not only that they are effective, but their policy positions help push Democrats further to the left. “They have been working really hard to smear us,” Omar said. “We are a threat because we bring new voices into the system.” She then urged those voters on the call to do everything they could to help Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) win her primary contest, which takes place today. We’ll keep tabs on all these primary contests to see how it all plays out. All the best,
The Recast Team
| | | SUMMER LEE'S PRIMARY TEST
|  Rep. Summer Lee arrives for a House Oversight Committee hearing Jan. 31, 2023, on Capitol Hill. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | She was thought to be one of the most at-risk progressives in the nation following her early condemnation of Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that left some 1,200 Israelis dead. That early stance was a risky maneuver for Lee, a Black freshman lawmaker seeking a second term to represent a Pittsburgh-area district that is roughly 75 percent white. It fueled an animus toward her — and now, her detractors are trying to unseat her. As my colleague Madison Fernandez put it, today’s contest will determine the fate of “the first high-profile progressive House member to face a contested primary this year.” Lee’s district is home to a Jewish community “that is grappling with the effects of the war.” That community is also still feeling the effects of a 2018 mass shooting, when an antisemitic gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue, killing 11 people and injuring six. I covered the aftermath of that shooting, hearing from families and loved ones of those slain and can attest to how tight-knit the Jewish community is, particularly around the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. That is perhaps why Lee’s Democratic primary opponent, Bhavini Patel, a member of the Edgewood borough council, has gained traction in the contest — even getting a lift from billionaire megadonor Jeffrey Yass who helped boost her name ID by running ads attacking Lee. While Patel has accused Lee of being out of sync with her district, Lee has lambasted Patel for being propped up by Republican boosters. The tides have shifted significantly since October, and Lee’s unilateral cease-fire stance, while out of step at the time for her party, is now being embraced by a larger share of Democrats, as the death toll for Palestinians has topped 34,000 since the war began. Polls close in Pennsylvania at 8 p.m.
| | | IT'S THE ECONOMY
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Survey respondents cited the rising cost of living as a key economic concern. | Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images | Next we turn to survey gauging views of Black voters with less than seven months until Election Day. In a new survey called The Melting Pot, conducted by Global Strategy Group, that gauges Black views on national politics and policy, there are enormous levels of enthusiasm for voting in the fall elections — with a whopping 90 percent of respondents saying they are extremely motivated or somewhat motivated to vote in November. In fact, slightly more than half (55 percent) of respondents say they are even more excited about voting this year than in previous elections. That, according to Mario Brossard, the senior vice president of research at GSG, puts to rest reports of widespread voter apathy, particularly when it comes to Black voters, who some Democrats fear may be less than enthused at the prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch. It should be noted that GSG is doing polling for the Biden reelection campaign. But Brossard says there is a firewall between his research and the team that is conducting polling for the president’s campaign. While Brossard says he was “pleasantly surprised” by the fervent response to voting overall, he adds it is not all clear sailing. “There some warning signs when thinking about Black voters this year,” he tells The Recast. “And that has to do with some of the generational differences that we see in the data.” Younger Black voters, characterized as those younger than 45, are less enthusiastic about voting overall — and they’re less likely to think their vote will matter in the 2024 elections. There are also troubling signs on the economy. Overall, 43 percent of Black respondents rated the economy as good. When broken down by age and gender, Black men over 45 years old and those younger were separated by just 5 percentage points on whether the economy was performing well (49 percent of those aged 45+ versus 44 percent of those under 45). The gap widened to 13 percentage points using the same breakdown of Black women — 45 percent of women aged 45+ said the economy was good versus 32 percent of Black women younger than 45 years of age said the economy was good. Respondents were asked to list the most important financial problems facing their family; they listed high cost of living/inflation, lack of savings and lack of money/low wages as the top issues for Black voters.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
|  Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra (right) and Mayor Karen Bass speak after a news conference May 31, 2023, in Los Angeles. | Mario Tama/Getty Images | Becerra’s Next Move — Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has his eyes on the California governor’s mansion, and according to POLITICO’s Christopher Cadelago and Daniel Lippman, he’s already maneuvering himself for the 2026 run. More from them here. Biden’s Hispanic Outreach — POLITICO’s Myah Ward reports that when the president sat down with Spanish-language giant Univision, it wasn’t just to counter the interview Republican Donald Trump did months prior. It was a concerted effort to kick-start his outreach to Latino voters, who have soured on his presidency. GOP Outreach to Black Voters — Three members of the Trump campaign sat down to discuss what outreach to Black America will look like with yours truly. Hint: It’ll include campaign-style stops in and around New York City on trial days and trying to use immigration as a wedge issue. TikTok Bill Landmines — Over the weekend, lawmakers got one step closer to effectively banning the popular social media app TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company, doesn’t sell the platform within a year. As POLITICO’s Derek Robertson explains, should this become law, it could run into lots of problems. Haiti Needs Another Revolution? — In this essay for POLITICO Magazine, veteran journalist Joel Dreyfuss, a native of Haiti, explores what’s needed to pull his country back from the brink.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with the Buzzfeed Youtube Channel Cocoa Butter to talk about her hair journey through the years. Bakari Sellers, former Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, has a new book out today: “The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn’t and How We All Can Move Forward Now.” He examines the policies and inequities — across health care, education, early childhood education and policing — impacting Black communities. “Shōgun,” the FX miniseries set in feudal Japan starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, draws to a close today. Catch the final episode on Hulu.
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| To celebrate her birthday, PinkPantheress gives us a gift: a visual for her dream-pop track “Reason,” set in a misty forest, featuring a couple running from danger and a creepy house. “We Grown Now,” directed by Minhal Baig, centers on two young boys growing up in Chicago public housing who create their own private world. It’s in theaters now. Padma Lakshmi talks through her many careers — Top Chef, modeling, comedy — as well as her childhood in the San Gabriel Valley, her relationships and food. YG Marley, the son of Lauryn Hill and grandson of Bob Marley, hands out flowers from a bright bouquet in the music video for his hit single “Praise Jah in the Moonlight.”
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| TikTok of the Week: Cute little plant
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