EXCLUSIVE: Shortly after President Biden announced Wednesday that he would withhold weapons from Israel if it entered the southern Gaza city of Rafah, former Vice President Mike Pence accused him of hypocrisy, in light of how his former boss was impeached on similar grounds.
On Wednesday, Biden lamented Gazan civilian casualties to CNN host Erin Burnett, telling her he "made it clear if they go into Rafah… I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah; to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem."
"We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently. It's just wrong."
On X, formerly Twitter, Pence tore into Biden, calling his comments "totally unacceptable."
JOHNSON: ‘I HOPE ITS A SENIOR MOMENT’ WHEN BIDEN THREATENED TO PULL ISRAEL SUPPORT
"I’m old enough to remember when Democrats impeached another president for supposedly withholding foreign aid that had been approved by Congress," he said.
"Stop the threats, Joe. America Stands with Israel."
In comments to Fox News Digital, Pence said Biden abandoned Israel in order to "win over the Hamas apologist wing of his party."
"Israel is our ally and the only message we should be sending is that we will stand beside them until they finish the job in Gaza and eradicate Hamas, once and for all," Pence said.
"Congress passed the legislation, President Biden signed it, and it is his job to execute it. He can’t withhold aid for political convenience."
The Indiana Republican said Democrats used the same exact argument to impeach then-President Trump over his 2018 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump reportedly asked Zelenskyy to look into the Hunter Biden-Burisma affair while dangling $214 million in U.S. security assistance, which Democrats considered an act of soliciting foreign election interference.
"Israel is our most cherished ally," Pence went on to say. "And they deserve American support to defeat Hamas – not to be used as a political pawn."
On Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., took his criticism a step further by calling on the House to initiate similar impeachment proceedings against the incumbent.
US LAW COULD FORCE BIDEN TO PULL UN FUNDING IF PALESTINIAN RECOGNITION BYPASS SUCCEEDS, EXPERTS SAY
"The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection," he said.
"Only with Biden, it’s true."
In Trump's case, Democrats claimed it was "undisputed" that Trump asked Zelenskyy for a political favor in return for security assistance.
In opening remarks by Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., at a December 2019 impeachment inquiry hearing, he alleged Trump's call with Zelenskyy was part of "concerted effort" to "solicit a personal advantage in the next election – this time, in the form of an investigation of his political adversaries by a foreign government."
In an apparent response to Biden's warning, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, introduced the Immediate Support for Israel Act on Friday, which she said would force the administration to deliver aid and support passed by Congress.
"Weeks ago, Congress came together in a bipartisan manner to pass an aid package for Israel. In an unprecedented move, President Biden not only halted the shipment of aid but also unilaterally added conditions to that very same aid – defying Congressional intent. Israel is currently engaged in a war with a terrorist organization that is still holding over 100 civilian hostages. There is simply no excuse for this delay," Van Duyne said in a statement obtained by Fox News.
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In a statement in Hebrew on the eve of Israeli Independence Day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone."
"I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails."
Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has been vocally critical of antisemitism on campus, responded to a clip of Biden's CNN interview with the comment: "Crazy: This is one of the worst acts against an ally of a sitting president ever."
"Hopefully, this means he won’t be sitting for much longer," Ackman wrote on X.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pence's reaction.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., is preparing impeachment articles against President Biden over his threat to halt U.S. offensive aid to Israel, the first-term lawmaker told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
Mills accused Biden of forcing Israel into a "quid pro quo" situation by leveraging U.S. dollars against the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, drawing parallels to Democrats' first impeachment of former President Trump over his handling of Ukraine aid.
"The House has no choice but to impeach President ‘Quid pro Joe’ Biden. As Vice President, Biden was caught threatening to withhold funding and aid to Ukraine unless they fired the attorney general investigating Burisma, a company financially benefiting his son Hunter, not to mention the 10% share for 'the big guy' himself," Mills said in a statement.
"Now, Joe Biden is pressuring Israel, our biggest ally in the Middle East, by pausing their funding that has already been approved in the House, if they don't stop all operations with Hamas. It’s a very clear message, ‘this for that.’
MANY ISRAELIS FEEL ‘BETRAYED’ FOLLOWING BIDEN THREAT TO WITHHOLD ARMS TO DEFEAT HAMAS IN RAFAH
"These are the same accusations made against President Trump, which resulted in his impeachment by Democrats. The same must happen for Joe Biden, which is why we’re drawing up articles of impeachment now," Mills finished.
Biden made the high-stakes ultimatum to Israel's government in a CNN interview that aired Wednesday night as it prepares for a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The city is currently home to more than a million Palestinians who left other parts of the Gaza Strip, where Israel has conducted its mission to eradicate the terrorist group Hamas.
Biden said Israel would continue to see U.S. support for its defensive systems, like the Iron Dome, in the CNN interview. He added, however, "if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem."
The remarks prompted a flurry of backlash from Republicans and some moderate Democrats. Several more GOP lawmakers voiced support for impeaching Biden over the decision, arguing there are parallels to Trump's withholding of weapons aid to Ukraine in exchange for announcing an investigation into the Biden family.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., called on the House to open an immediate impeachment inquiry, arguing that Biden was motivated by political reasons.
"Given Democrats’ Trump-Ukraine precedent, President Biden’s decision to withhold lethal aid to our ally, Israel, for political gain is undoubtedly an impeachable offense. Clearly, the nefarious motive behind our commander in chief’s move to condition U.S. aid to Israel is to appease radical leftists and Hamas sympathizers ahead of the 2024 election," Clyde said. "The House must immediately open an impeachment inquiry due to the president’s disastrous decision to play politics with national security."
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital, "The Democrats made their bed, and now they're [lying] in it. This is just the latest on a long list of reasons to impeach Biden, including the deadline withdrawal in Afghanistan and allowing more than 9 million illegal immigrants to invade our southern border."
It's highly unlikely for the push to reach the level of a Senate trial, with the House's current ongoing impeachment inquiry into Biden still searching for smoking gun evidence amid a mountain of accusations of improper behavior and bribery.
But it shows the sky-high tensions that have taken over Washington amid Israel's war on Hamas after the terrorist group's Oct. 7 attack.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., stopped short of calling for impeachment, but said, "The president is essentially threatening an arms embargo on our closest ally in the Middle East that is fighting a terror army holding American citizens hostage. Withholding critical munitions that Congress appropriated and Biden himself signed into law is wrong."
The first member of Congress to make the call was Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., posting on X early on Thursday morning, "The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection. Only with Biden, it’s true."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
A Republican senator is renewing the call to impeach President Biden following reports of aid to Israel being delayed during its war with the terrorist organization Hamas.
"The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection. Only with Biden, it’s true," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X on Thursday.
A recently passed $95 billion supplemental foreign aid package included roughly $26 billion for both Israel and humanitarian aid for areas including Gaza. The aid was encouraged by the Biden administration, which had proposed it nearly six months prior.
Cotton suggested that Biden should be impeached for delaying an aid shipment to Israel, which he claimed had to do with the president's re-election bid as he balances a divided Democratic Party on the Israel war.
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The White House Counsel's office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Earlier this week, Israeli officials claimed the U.S. had paused a shipment of ammunition from the U.S., as Axios reported.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre maintained that the U.S.'s commitment to Israel is "ironclad," despite the report.
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The report was ultimately confirmed by a U.S. official, who said the administration paused shipments of two types of precision bombs to Israel. One shipment would provide 2,000-pound bombs, with 1,800 to be delivered. The second held 500-pound bombs, with 1,700 to be delivered.
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"The U.S. position has been that Israel should not launch a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering with nowhere else to go," a U.S. official said.
"We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-lb bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment," they added.
Per the official, "None of these shipments have anything to do with the Israel supplemental appropriations passed last month. All are drawn from previously appropriated funds, some many years ago."
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden drew a red line for ally Israel. "I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem," he said.
The White House did not immediately confirm the delayed shipment when prompted by Fox News Digital.
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The Democratic-led House's impeachment of then-President Trump in 2019 indicted him on a charge of abuse of power, arguing he withheld aid to Ukraine while asking the country's leader to investigate his political rivals, including Biden. The Senate acquitted Trump on the House's charges.
Cotton argued the same precedent should apply to Biden.
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Trump's campaign did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Republicans in the House have appeared eager to impeach the president, heavily investigating Biden's family's business ties, particularly his son Hunter Biden.
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Liz Friden and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.
Former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney has found common ground with former President Trump, who she previously voted to impeach, as they both oppose President Biden’s latest move in Israel.
On Wednesday, the anti-Trump Republican said withholding aid from America’s closest ally in the Middle East "wrong and dangerous." The comment came just hours apart from Trump tweeting that Biden was helping the Hamas terror group and "taking the side of these terrorists."
"Withholding aid to Israel is wrong and dangerous. America must not abandon Israel. Doing so would mean victory for Iran and all its terrorist allies," she wrote.
Both Republicans chided Biden after he vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes forward with an invasion of Rafah, the last stronghold for Hamas in Gaza.
Cheney’s public criticism of Biden comes amid his re-election rematch with Trump, who has called Biden "weak" and said his foreign policies were "leading the world straight into World War III."
In Trump’s own post, he reminded Biden about Hamas’ terror attack on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, when 1,200 people were killed, making it the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history.
BIDEN VOWS TO WITHHOLD WEAPONS FROM ISRAEL IF NETANYAHU GOES FORWARD WITH RAFAH INVASION
"Crooked Joe Biden, whether he knows it or not, just said he will withhold weapons from Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas Terrorists in Gaza. Hamas murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including babies, and are still holding Americans hostage, if the hostages are still alive," Trump wrote. "Yet Crooked Joe is taking the side of these terrorists, just like he has sided with the Radical Mobs taking over our college campuses, because his donors are funding them."
He added: "Biden is weak, corrupt, and leading the world straight into World War III. Remember - this war in Israel, just like the war in Ukraine, would have NEVER started if I was in the White House. But very soon, we will be back, and once again demanding peace through strength!"
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Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was an ally of Trump's at times when he was in office and ascended to chair of the House Republican Conference.
She then vehemently opposed him after Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election. She further angered Republicans when she joined the Jan. 6 House Select Committee that investigated the events surrounding the 2021 Capitol riot.
Upon the Jan. 6 committee, Cheney recommended and ultimately voted to impeach Trump.
As a result, she was defeated in a landslide in her GOP primary race for Wyoming's at-large congressional seat in 2022.
Pete McCloskey — a pro-environment, anti-war California Republican who co-wrote the Endangered Species Act and co-founded Earth Day — has died. He was 96.
A fourth-generation Republican "in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt," he often said, McCloskey represented the 12th Congressional District for 15 years, running for president against the incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972. He battled party leaders while serving seven terms in Congress and went on to publicly disavow the GOP in his later years.
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He died at home Wednesday, according to Lee Houskeeper, a family friend.
Years after leaving Washington, McCloskey made one last bid for elective office in 2006 when he challenged Richard Pombo of Northern California’s 11th District in a primary race that McCloskey described as "a battle for the soul of the Republican Party." After losing to Pombo, who had spent most of his tenure in Washington attempting to undo the Endangered Species Act, he threw his support behind Democrat Jerry McNerney, the eventual winner.
"It was foolish to run against him (Pombo), but we didn't have anybody else to do it, and I could not stand what a------ they'd become," the frank-talking former Marine colonel said of the modern GOP in a 2008 interview with The Associated Press.
McCloskey cited disillusionment from influence peddling and ethics scandals under the George W. Bush administration as reasons why he switched parties in 2007 at the age of 79. "A pox on them and their values," he wrote in an open letter explaining the switch to his supporters.
"McCloskey was a rarity in American politics — his actions were guided by his sense of justice, not by political ideology," Joe Cotchett, his law partner since 2004, said in a statement. "He hated inequity and did not hesitate to take on members of his own political party."
Born in Loma Linda, California, on Sept. 29, 1927, as Paul Norton McCloskey Jr., he graduated from South Pasadena High School, where the second baseman made the school's baseball hall of fame, although he self-deprecatingly called himself "perhaps the worst player on the baseball team."
McCloskey joined the Marine Corps as an officer and led a rifle platoon during some of the most intense fighting of the Korean War. He was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism, the nation’s second-highest honor, a Silver Star for bravery in combat and two Purple Hearts.
He earned a law degree from Stanford University and founded an environmental law firm in Palo Alto before making the move to public office. In 1967, he defeated fellow Republican Shirley Temple Black and Democrat Roy Archibald in a special election for the San Mateo County congressional seat.
The left-leaning McCloskey had a thundering presence in Washington, attempting to get onto the floor of the 1972 Republican National Convention during his bid to unseat then-President Nixon on an anti-Vietnam War platform. He ultimately was blocked by a rule written by his friend and law school debate partner, John Ehrlichman, that said a candidate could not get to the floor with fewer than 25 delegates. McCloskey had one.
Still, McCloskey loved to say he finished second.
He would later visit Ehrlichman in prison, where Nixon's former counsel served 1.5 years for conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice in the Watergate break-in that led to the president's resignation.
While in office, McCloskey also was known for befriending Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and criticized Israeli influence on American politics. The congressman was the first to demand Nixon's impeachment, and the first to demand a repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that allowed the Vietnam War.
But his enduring legacy is the Endangered Species Act, which protects species designated as endangered or threatened and conserves the ecosystems on which they depend. McCloskey co-wrote the legislation in 1973, after a campaign by young people empowered by Earth Day activities successfully unseated seven of 12 Congress members known as "The Dirty Dozen" for their anti-environment votes.
"On that day, the world changed," McCloskey recalled in 2008. "Suddenly, everybody was an environmentalist. My Republican colleagues started asking me for copies of old speeches I had given on water and air quality."
"A powerful champion of endangered species, Pete, ironically, became one," said Denis Hayes, co-organizer of the Earth Day, about the rarity of a "green, anti-war Republican."
After 15 years in the House, he lost his run for a Senate seat to Republican Pete Wilson, who went on to be California's governor. He moved back to rural Yolo County, relishing the life of a farmer and part-time attorney.
"You know, if people call you 'congressman' all the time, you'll end up thinking you're smarter than you are," he said.
McCloskey, however, couldn't stay quiet forever.
In 2006, after his unsuccessful race against Pombo, he helped form the Revolt of the Elders Coalition, a group of retired Republican congressmen who pushed to get soldiers more money for college, undo measures that made it tougher to investigate ethics violations and rallied against those who had received funding from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, including Pombo.
"If you can do something at age 80 that positively affects our country, you should be proud of it. Otherwise there's no redeeming value in getting older," he said.
McCloskey is survived by his wife, Helen — his longtime press secretary whom he married in 1978 — and four children by his first wife: Nancy, Peter, John and Kathleen.
House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted Tuesday morning that he has the House under control and a rosy future ahead of him. “I plan to lead this conference in the future,” Johnson told reporters, adding that he has “plans for the next Congress.”
Good luck with that, Mr. Speaker.
Johnson hopes hinge on the continued support of Donald Trump, and we all know how that goes.
The harsh reality for Johnson is that he has failed at everything the speaker is supposed to do—raise money, hold the majority, pass legislation, and keep the caucus focused on the party’s agenda. Instead, he delivered a failed impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The months-long effort to impeach President Joe Biden is in shambles. The only way Johnson has been able to pass critical legislation is by relying on Democrats, and he’s overseen an ever-shrinking Republican majority. He’s also far behind his immediate predecessor Kevin McCarthy in fundraising. The odds of Republicans holding the majority after November’s election are vanishingly small.
To top it all off, Johnson is continuing to negotiate with terrorists, holding a second meeting in two days with GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, the agitators behind a motion to oust him. Johnson insists that “it’s not a negotiation … I hear suggestions and ideas and thoughts from members. My door has been open from Day One.”
But that’s not what Greene believes.
“I have high expectations, and they have to be met in full,” she said Tuesday. “There is no middle ground. There is no compromise.”
Greene is demanding an end to aid for Ukraine; a promise that Johnson will abide by the “Hastert Rule,” requiring he get the support from a majority of the House GOP on any legislation before bringing it to the floor; a promise that he’ll defund the special counsel probes into Trump in the appropriations for next year; and that he abides by the so-called “Massie Rule,” to make automatic across-the-board cuts if Congress doesn’t come to a funding agreement before a set deadline.
That’s setting the stage for yet another government shutdown fight in September, just weeks ahead of the election. The Senate and the White House certainly won’t agree to defunding Special Counsel Jack Smith, much less the funding cuts she’s insisting upon.
Nevertheless, Johnson told reporters Tuesday he’s considering defunding the Justice Department’s probe into Trump.
“We're looking very intently at it because I think the problem has reached a crescendo,” he said.
Of course he is. He has to if he’s going to keep Trump on his side.
All of this is giving other Republicans bad flashbacks to the fiasco McCarthy created by giving in to the demands of the maniacs.
“We got in trouble [in] January 2023, right? And we may have paid way too much, and I think for right now I would be very careful,” Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told reporters after Tuesday’s GOP conference meeting.
“I don’t have a problem with him listening. What I will have a problem with … is when you start making special deals, side deals, hidden deals, behind-the closed-door deals. And then not just conservatives but moderates, say: ‘Well, what about my deal,’” Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern of Oklahoma added.
Johnson should be taking the McCarthy warning to heart. He might also benefit from looking back to former Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner, who were essentially chased out after trying and failing to meet Freedom Caucus demands.
He might think he’s the anointed one who can navigate this path to victory, but Johnson is setting himself up for a humiliating fall.
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The downballot primary season comes to Indiana on Tuesday, where Republicans have expensive and nasty nomination contests to sort through for governor and a quartet of U.S. House seats—including one race where a mercurial congresswoman is about to discover whether it's possible to un-retire a year after calling it quits.
Below you'll find our guide to the key primaries to watch. When it’s available, we'll tell you about any reliable polling that exists for each race, but if we don't mention any numbers, it means no recent surveys have been made public.
To help you follow along, you can find an interactive map from Dave's Redistricting App of the Hoosier State's nine congressional districts. You also can find Daily Kos Elections' calculations of the 2020 presidential results for each district, as well as our geographic descriptions of each seat. And you'll want to bookmark our primary calendar, which includes the dates for primaries in all 50 states.
We'll begin our liveblog at Daily Kos Elections at 6 PM ET. That's when polls close in the part of Indiana located in the Eastern time zone, which is home to over 80% of the state's residents. Polls close an hour later in the remaining portion of the state based in the Central time zone.
• IN-Gov (R) (57-41 Trump): Six Republicans are on the ballot to replace termed-out GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb, but one of them has been the dominant frontrunner throughout the entire primary. Sen. Mike Braun began the contest with a significant advantage in name recognition, and Donald Trump gave him another boost by endorsing him in November.
The senator's rivals, though, are hoping he's not as formidable as he appears. A pair of wealthy businessmen, former state Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers and former Indiana Economic Development Corporation president Eric Doden, have poured millions of their own money into ads promoting themselves and attacking Braun. Another Republican, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, is also in the hunt, but she hasn't had access to the same resources.
However, a pair of polls conducted in late March and early April showed Braun far ahead of the rest of the field with Chambers, Crouch, and Doden all struggling to emerge as his main rival, much less beat him. Two other candidates, disgraced former Attorney General Curtis Hill and conservative activist Jamie Reitenour, are also running, but they've struggled to raise money or attract support.
The winner will go up against former Superintendent of Public Institution Jennifer McCormick, a one-time Republican who is uncontested in the Democratic primary.
• IN-03 (R) (64-34 Trump): Rep. Jim Banks has no opposition in the GOP primary to replace Braun in the Senate, but Republicans have an eight-way fight to replace Banks in his Fort Wayne-area district. The main four contenders are former Rep. Marlin Stutzman, who is Banks' immediate predecessor; former Judge Wendy Davis (no, not that Wendy Davis); wealthy businessman Tim Smith; and state Sen. Andy Zay.
Stutzman, who among other things participated in the push to oust John Boehner as speaker in 2015, was one of leadership's least-favorite members during his previous stint in office, and GOP honchos weren't sad when he badly lost a Senate primary the following year to fellow Rep. Todd Young.
His detractors still don't want him returning to Congress, though. America Leads Action, a super PAC dedicated to defeating hardliners who could make trouble for the current crop of House leaders, has spent $1.8 million to stop his comeback.
Anti-establishment hardliners, though, are working to counteract ALA's offensive. Stutzman has benefited from close to $800,000 in support from Protect Freedom PAC, a group allied with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, as well as from super PACs affiliated with the House Freedom Caucus, which once counted Stutzman as a member. The like-minded Club for Growth, which was close to Stutzman during his first stint in office, has also deployed more than $750,000 attacking Davis and Smith.
Davis, meanwhile, has benefited from around $1.1 million that Winning for Women, a super PAC dedicated to electing conservative women, has spent on her behalf. Smith, who badly lost the 2019 race for mayor of Fort Wayne, hasn't gotten any outside help, but he's used his wealth to outspend all of his rivals' campaigns.
Zay, finally, has mostly gone ignored, except for some $120,000 that a super PAC called Honest Hoosiers has expended to help him.
• IN-05 (R) (57-41 Trump): Rep. Victoria Spartz announced her retirement from Congress in January of 2023 only to reverse herself 13 months later by launching a bid for a third term. But while she was off in the wilderness, other Republicans charged in to succeed her, and now she faces an expensive primary battle to keep her seat in central Indiana.
Spartz's main intra-party foe is state Rep. Chuck Goodrich, a wealthy businessman who launched his campaign for what was at the time an open seat and wasn't deterred by the incumbent's reversal. Seven other Republicans are also running, though, including former Kevin McCarthy aide Max Engling and businessman Raju Chinthala, so their presence could help Spartz win renomination with a plurality.
Goodrich has pumped $4.6 million of his own money into his campaign, and he's aired ads hitting the congresswoman for her many about-faces while in office. The state representative has aired commercials charging that Spartz, who is a Ukrainian immigrant, "put Ukraine first"—a message he stuck with even after her vote against the most recent round of aid to the country where she was born. Goodrich has also taken Spartz to task over a 2022 Politico story alleging that she bullied her staff.
Spartz, who relaunched her campaign just three months before the primary, has considerably less money than Goodrich, though she's self-funded $700,000 to finance her cause. The congresswoman has aired commercials touting herself as a Trump ally while arguing that Goodrich has cast votes that benefited China. A late March Goodrich internal showed him trailing Spartz by a small 33-30 margin, but no one has released any data since then.
• IN-06 (R) (65-33 Trump): Seven Republicans are campaigning to replace retiring GOP Rep. Greg Pence, who is the brother of Mike Pence, in a constituency that includes a portion of Indianapolis as well as part of east-central Indiana.
The best-funded candidate by far is wealthy businessman Jefferson Shreve, who has poured $5.6 million of his own money into his campaign just months after throwing down more than twice that sum on a failed bid for mayor of Indianapolis. Only about 30% of Pence's constituents live in Indiana's capital city, though, so most voters didn't have the chance to cast ballots for—or against—Shreve last November.
State Rep. Mike Speedy, meanwhile, has dumped $1.5 million of his fortune into his own effort, and while that's not anywhere close to what Shreve's deployed, Speedy is hoping it's still enough to get his message out. The lawmaker has aired ads attacking Shreve for campaigning as a moderate in his unsuccessful campaign to unseat Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett last year.
The contest also features a third self-funder, businessman Jamison Carrier, who has thrown down $750,000 of his money. The GOP field further includes state Sen. Jeff Raatz, who has struggled to keep up with this financial onslaught, as well as three other hopefuls.
• IN-08 (R) (65-33 Trump): Rep. Larry Bucshon is retiring from a once-competitive southwestern Indiana seat that turned dark red during the previous decade. Now eight of his fellow Republicans want to succeed him.
Perhaps the most familiar name belongs to former Rep. John Hostettler, who badly lost his 2006 bid for a seventh term back when this constituency was still nicknamed the "Bloody 8th" due to its propensity to change hands. While Hostettler hasn't been on the ballot since he took a distant third place in a 2010 Senate primary, his existing name recognition, as well as his son's position as a local state representative, could help him win despite his meager fundraising.
An array of outside groups, however, want to keep that from happening. America Leads Action remembers how difficult Hostettler was for his party's leaders during his previous time in office, while both the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition resent both the former congressman's voting record and his attempt to blame Jews for the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq. Hostettler has continued to employ antisemitic rhetoric during his comeback effort.
This trio of third-party outfits has deployed a total of $4 million to attack Hostettler and promote one of his opponents, state Sen. Mark Messmer, who has also received close to another $1 million in help from another collection of super PACs. Hostettler, however, isn't being left to fend for himself, as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's Protect Freedom PAC and another organization affiliated with Senate frontrunner Jim Banks have expended around $800,000 to aid him.
The field also includes a pair of self-funders, former Trump staffer Dominick Kavanaugh and physician Richard Moss, who haven't attracted much attention from outside groups. Moss badly lost primaries to Bucshon in both 2016 and 2018, while yet another candidate, Owen County party chair Kristi Risk, campaigned against the outgoing congressman in previous cycles.
The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.
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● Primary Night: Indiana on Tuesday plays host to a busy downballot primary night, and as always, Jeff Singer has put together an in-depth look at what to watch.
One of the most-watched races will take place in the central part of the state as no-longer-retiring Rep. Victoria Spartz tries to hold off self-funding state Rep. Chuck Goodrich in the GOP primary for the 5th District. But seven other candidates are also on the ballot, so their presence could help Spartz win the plurality she needs to avoid an involuntary retirement.
If Goodrich manages to get past Spartz, though, she'd be just the second House incumbent to lose renomination this cycle. Currently, the sole member of this unhappy group is Alabama Republican Jerry Carl, who lost an incumbent vs. incumbent primary two months ago after redistricting transformed his state's congressional map.
Meanwhile, two former House members―Marlin Stutzman and John Hostettler―are waging comeback bids for open seats on opposite ends of the state. Both men lost the 2010 Senate primary to eventual winner Dan Coats, but this time, they have a similar set of allies and enemies.
Some wealthy donors haven't forgotten how both Stutzman and Hostettler caused trouble for their party's leaders during their first stints in Congress and are hoping to make sure they don't get a second chance to cause chaos. However, one well-known senator from a neighboring state is working to help the two ex-congressmen advance through nasty and expensive primaries.
Check out our preview for much more on these contests and more. We'll be liveblogging all of these races at Daily Kos Elections on Tuesday night, starting when polls close in most of Indiana at 6 PM ET. Join us for our complete coverage!
● MD-Sen: With just a week to go before Maryland's primaries, EMILYs List has come in with a major ad buy to boost Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks past Rep. David Trone for the Democratic nomination for Senate.
According to reports filed with the FEC, EMILYs is spending $1.6 million to air this ad on television and digital platforms, which makes this by far the largest outlay by a third-party group—though still just a fraction of what Trone has put in.
EMILYs' opening spot, which was obtained by Inside Elections' Jacob Rubashkin, hammers Trone "and his companies" for $500,000 in past donations to "extreme and MAGA Republicans to win their elections."
While the narrator doesn't mention any candidates by name, she specifically calls out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, saying "the Trump-loving governor signed an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape and incest." She also references former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, noting the state Supreme Court's recent ruling that revived the state's 1864 abortion ban.
The ad goes on to reference a Washington Post article on Trone's history of giving to GOP candidates that was published shortly after he launched his first bid for the House in 2016. Trone, the wealthy founder of the alcoholic beverage chain Total Wine, was blunt in explaining his donations in that piece.
"I sign my checks to buy access," he told reporter Bill Turque. That quote is displayed on-screen as the narrator emphasizes it. In his interview with Turque, Trone added, "We disagree categorically with their political positions on everything social and economic." He responded to the new attack by arguing that EMILY is supported by a Republican donor.
In recent weeks, Trone dumped another $12 million into his own coffers, bringing his total self-funding to $54 million. That puts him second all-time among Senate candidates behind only Florida Republican Rick Scott, who spent $63 million on his successful 2018 bid. Trone, however, has self-funded more in a primary than anyone else on record.
● MI-Sen: Self-funding businessman Sandy Pensler has launched his first negative ad in the Republican primary, attacking former Rep. Mike Rogers. Pensler's spot recycles a bogus GOP talking point from yesteryear to ... blame Hillary Clinton for the deaths of Americans in the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. The narrator claims that Rogers, who chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2011 to 2015, "covered for Hillary then and covers for her now."
● VT-Sen: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, announced on Monday that he'd seek a fourth term.
Sanders, 82, is unlikely to face any serious opposition as he's won his three previous campaigns with at least 65% of the vote. Sanders has also always easily prevailed in the Democratic primary before officially declining the nomination, a move that's allowed him to run in the general election without either a party label or a nominal Democratic opponent.
Sanders is the last incumbent senator up for reelection this year to confirm his plans except for New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, who goes on trial for federal corruption charges next week. Menendez declined to participate in the Democratic primary but has said he might run again as an independent.
Sanders was also one of two prominent Vermont incumbents who had yet to reveal if he'd run again in 2024. Local politicos are still waiting for GOP Gov. Phil Scott to announce his plans, though the VT Digger recently reported that he's "widely expected" to seek another two-year term. The filing deadline is May 30 for major-party candidates and Aug. 1 for independents.
● WV-Sen: Research America finds Gov. Jim Justice demolishing Rep. Alex Mooney in a 67-23 landslide in its newest poll of next week's Republican Senate primary. But Mooney's prospects were dire even before the publication of this survey, which was conducted for MetroNews and a health insurance provider called The Health Plan, something even his biggest ally has now openly acknowledged.
Club for Growth head David McIntosh tells Politico's Burgess Everett that, while he still believes Mooney is the best choice for Republicans, Donald Trump's decision to endorse Justice in October meant "there wasn't a viable path forward" for the congressman.
The Club's pessimism has long been plain: Everett reports that, according to data from AdImpact, the organization has only spent $1.8 million of the $10 million it publicly promised to expend on Mooney's behalf a year ago.
● DE-Gov: State House Minority Leader Mike Ramone announced Monday that he was seeking the Republican nomination for governor, prompting state GOP chair Julianne Murray to respond by ending her own brief campaign. Ramone is campaigning for an office that Republicans last won in 1988.
● NJ-Gov: Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller hasn't entered the 2025 Democratic primary for governor just yet, but a nonprofit he runs called Protecting Our Democracy has begun spending $500,000 on a TV ad that suggests he might do so soon. The spot features Spiller extolling the benefits of democracy, calling it the foundation for "how we create solutions" for issues like investing in education, infrastructure, and housing affordability.
In addition to being mayor of a suburb of 40,000 residents near Newark, Spiller is president of the New Jersey Education Association, which the New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein says is "the state's largest public employee union." Spiller previously opted not to seek reelection in 2024.
● UT-Gov: State Rep. Philip Lyman announced Saturday that attorney Natalie Clawson would be his new running mate for the June 25 GOP primary, a move that came one day after a state judge ruled that Lyman's original pick, former Trump administration official Layne Bangerter, did not meet Utah's residency requirements. The new Lyman-Clawson ticket is hoping to deny renomination to Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson.
● CO-05: Retiring Rep. Doug Lamborn endorsed conservative radio host Jeff Crank on Monday in the June 25 Republican primary to replace him, a move that once would have seemed unthinkable given the nasty battles the pair went through in both 2006 and 2008.
But Lamborn has his own ugly—and far more recent—history with Crank's only intra-party foe, state GOP chair Dave Williams, who tried to unseat Lamborn just two years ago. Crank, meanwhile, sought to play down his past run-ins with the incumbent.
"We were primary foes 18 years ago, but Congressman Doug Lamborn and I became friends and joined forces to support our community," he tweeted.
● NJ-10: Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver became the first major candidate to enter the July 16 special Democratic primary to succeed the late Democratic Rep. Don Payne, launching her bid on Monday with an endorsement from Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
The New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein also reports that two other powerful figures in Essex County, County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and party chair LeRoy Jones, agreed to back McIver on Friday. Essex County, which includes Newark, forms 58% of the safely blue 10th District; the balance is split between Hudson and Union counties.
Wildstein adds that Darryl Godfrey, who is the chief operations officer of the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority, is considering running and that a "formal announcement [is] expected to come within the next few days." Pastor Ronald Slaughter, however, said he was supporting McIver rather than running himself. The candidate filing deadline is Friday, so any potential contenders have only a short window to decide.
● OR-05: With just two weeks to go before Oregon's primaries, the Democratic primary to take on GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer in the swingy 5th Congressional District has turned into a negative affair.
Mainstream Democrats PAC, a group funded by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, is spending at least $750,000 to air a new ad attacking attorney Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who was the Democratic nominee in 2022. The spot focuses on reports that she mistreated her staff during previous bids for office and as the city manager for the small community of Phoenix.
"Fired by City Council for creating a toxic work environment, then five former campaign staffers described her as a 'nightmarish boss,'" says a narrator. "McLeod-Skinner's driver texted, 'I'm scared she's gonna hit me.'" The spot ends by praising state Rep. Janelle Bynum as someone who will "fight to restore abortion rights and restore decency to politics."
McLeod-Skinner is firing back with an attack ad of her own, claiming that Bynum "voted to cut teacher pensions" and says that in the legislature "she was the only vote against giving rape survivors more time to seek justice against their rapists." Regarding the latter vote, Bynum argued at the time, "It's not popular to protect the accused but it is our job."
The voice-over then says that McLeod-Skinner will "ban politicians from stock trading and "[s]tand up to anyone who'd outlaw abortion." There's no word on how much McLeod-Skinner is spending, though new fundraising reports due Thursday night will give us more insight into each campaign's finances.
● TX-23: Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales is continuing his TV ad offensive against gun maker Brandon Herrera with a spot portraying his intra-party challenger as hostile to Trumps—yes, plural.
The ad utilizes footage from last year of Herrera saying that Donald Trump "messed up a lot of stuff" and predicting that he'd "win the primary by a landslide and lose the general" in 2024. The commercial then makes use of a March story from the Daily Beast detailing how Herrera mocked 18-year-old Barron Trump, complete with video of the candidate saying, "Daddy is coming, Daddy is angry."
Gonzales and Herrera face off in the May 28 GOP runoff, a contest that the elder Trump has not waded into.
● WA-04: 2022 GOP Senate nominee Tiffany Smiley unexpectedly announced Monday that she would wage an intra-party challenge against Rep. Dan Newhouse, who voted to impeach Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 riot. Smiley launched her surprise effort a little more than two weeks after Trump himself endorsed a different challenger, former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler, in the Aug. 6 top-two primary for Washington's conservative 4th District.
Newhouse himself on Monday made it clear he would seek a sixth term despite what the Seattle Times' Jim Brunner characterized in February as "rampant speculation" he'd retire. The incumbent both filed with the state and issued a statement announcing his reelection campaign while also faulting Smiley for racking up $1 million in campaign debt last cycle.
Smiley, a former nurse and motivational speaker, challenged Democratic Sen. Patty Murray in 2022 and attracted the attention of donors who believed a red wave could carry her to an upset. Smiley ultimately raised $20 million for a quest that, according to several conservative pollsters, had a real chance to succeed in an otherwise blue state.
However, while those GOP firms drowned out numbers from Democrats and non-aligned pollsters showing Murray well ahead, they didn't alter reality. Murray prevailed 57-43 against Smiley, who took to conservative media a few months later to announce that she was forming a new PAC to aid "political outsiders." Brunner reported months later that donations to the group were directed toward paying off the Republican's campaign debt.
Newhouse's 4th District, which is based in the central part of the state, favored Trump 57-40 in 2020; Smiley, according to data calculated by the state, carried it 66-34 two years later. However, it remains to be seen whether Democrats will field a single candidate who would have a strong shot to claim one of the two general election spots, which is what happened in 2022, or if the Democratic field will be split enough for two Republicans to advance. The candidate filing deadline is Friday.
● WV-02: Politico highlights that Defend American Jobs, a super PAC with ties to the crypto industry, is spending at least $725,000 on a late ad buy to promote state Treasurer Riley Moore ahead of next week's Republican primary. This is the first major independent expenditure for the race to succeed Senate candidate Alex Mooney, who supports Moore, in West Virginia's 2nd District.
Moore, the grandson of the late Gov. Arch Moore and the nephew of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, is the frontrunner in the five-way primary for this safely red seat in the northern half of the state. (His cousin, former Del. Moore Capito, is taking part in the GOP primary for governor that same day.) However, at least one of Moore's intra-party opponents may be able to put up a fight on May 14.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Chris Walker launched his campaign in January, a kickoff that came well after Moore's entry in November of 2022. Walker, though, hauled in $620,000 from donors through April 24, a notable sum in a relatively short amount of time, while he self-funded another $70,000.
Moore, who had a 14-month head start, took in about $1 million during the entire campaign, but he enjoyed a big $400,000 to $100,000 cash advantage over Walker at the end of the most recent reporting period. A trio of other Republicans are also running, though, and their presence could make it tougher for Walker, who would be West Virginia's first Black member of Congress, to get past Moore.
● VA-AG: Democrat Steve Descano, the top prosecutor in Northern Virginia's populous Fairfax County, has opted against running for state attorney general next year and instead gave his endorsement to former Del. Jay Jones on Monday.
Jones himself has not announced a bid, but Virginia Scope's Brandon Jarvis says that "sources close to" the ex-lawmaker "say he will be running." Jones, who would be Virginia's first Black attorney general, challenged Democratic incumbent Mark Herring in the 2021 primary but lost 57-43. Herring in turn fell to Republican Jason Miyares that November in a nailbiter, losing his bid for a third term by a margin of 50.4 to 49.6.
Miyares is a potential candidate for governor in 2025, but he has not confirmed his plans and could seek reelection. Only one other Democratic name has surfaced so far as a possibility for the attorney general's race, Shannon Taylor, who is the prosecutor for Henrico County in the Richmond suburbs. Taylor had considered a bid in 2021 but opted out after Herring said he'd run again. She has yet to say anything publicly about next year's contest.
Big Republican donors might note Monday that after Speaker Mike Johnson talked tough to them this weekend about cracking down on the rebels who have derailed the House, he chose to kowtow to the current chaos agent; Johnson will have a one-on-one meeting with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to air her grievances.
Johnson and Greene will meet Monday afternoon, following days of Greene abusing him on social media and with her promise of forcing a vote to oust Johnson some time this week. She and her ally, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, are ready to go. “If you’re happy with what he’s done this year and if you’re looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson. #uniparty” Massie tweeted Sunday.
That’s in response to the Democratic leadership team’s announcement last week that they’ll ride to Johnson’s rescue and allow members to block his ouster. That move ensures Johnson owes his future as speaker to Democrats and guarantees that his GOP detractors are only going to be more enraged at him because of it. There's just no winning for him no matter what.
Meanwhile, Johnson tried to placate big GOP donors by telling them he wants to crack down on the rebels if the Republicans retain the House next year. In a two-day donor retreat that started Sunday evening, Johnson said that he’d support new rules that would kick members off of their committees if they don’t toe the line on party-line procedural votes. Members of the Freedom Caucus have been regularly grinding the House’s business to a halt this session by blocking bills from moving to the floor either in the Rules Committee or on the floor.
Johnson needs those big donors for the Republicans to have a prayer of keeping their House majority and those big donors need to know that their investment wouldn’t just go down the toilet. The chaos in the House has been a black eye for Republicans, and the money men are seemingly not happy about that.
Johnson’s reassurances that he’d crack down on the malcontents if he stays in the job just made Greene more riled up. “Speaker Mike Johnson is talking about kicking Republican members off of committees if we vote against his rules/bills,” she tweeted Monday morning. “It’s not us who is out of line, it’s our Republican elected Speaker!!” It’s unclear if that came before or after Johnson granted her a private audience.
So far, most of the Freedom Caucus gang seems to be as fed up with Greene as they are with Johnson, so she hasn’t gained much support. But that could change with Johnson’s promise to the money people that he’d crack down on the rebels. That would make Johnson even more reliant on Democrats to save him, which would make the maniacs even angrier. He can’t win.
This was supposed to be a week devoted to messaging bills bashing President Joe Biden and the Democrats, including everyone’s favorite HOOHA bill—Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act—which promises to liberate our refrigerators from the heavy hand of big government. Instead it’s all going to be overshadowed by the soap opera.
Donate now to end this circus, and to take the House back from Republicans!
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