• Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar easily won her primary race on Tuesday in a rematch against an opponent she beat by just a few thousand votes two years ago. While she and other members of The Squad easily held onto their seats in Congress, two of their fellow progressives were ousted amid record spending by pro-Israel groups: Reps —Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri. The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, spent $23 million on the two races alone, helping make them the most expensive House primaries in history. Sophie Hurwitz, reporter at Mother Jones, explains why AIPAC targeted some Squad members, not others.
• And in headlines: New federal data showed inflation dropped below 3 percent for the first time since March 2021, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in response to an outbreak of mpox in 13 African countries, and archival data from NASA’s Insight Lander shows evidence of water on Mars.

Show Notes:

• Check out reporting Sophie’s reporting – https://www.motherjones.com/author/sophie-hurwitz/
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TRANSCRIPT

Priyanka Aribindi: It’s Thursday, August 15th. I’m Priyanka Aribindi.

Juanita Tolliver: And I’m Juanita Tolliver and this is What a Day, the show where we’re happy to see President Joe Biden still has his trademark sense of humor. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yes. Yesterday he told influencers that he is looking for a job. 

Juanita Tolliver: Yeesh! [laughing]

Priyanka Aribindi: Listen, listen it’s rough out here. I get it. [music break] On today’s show, ceasefire talks resume in Qatar today. Plus a massive body of water is found on Mars. 

Juanita Tolliver: But first, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar easily won her primary race on Tuesday. She faced the same opponent she did two years ago, former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels. In 2022, Omar barely beat him by around 2500 votes. But this year, it wasn’t even close. She won by more than 13 points or 15,000 votes. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Wow. 

Juanita Tolliver: And it means she’s all but guaranteed to keep her seat in Congress for another term in a safe Democratic district. Here she is giving her victory speech Tuesday night. 

[clip of Ilhan Omar] We run the politics of joy. 

[clip of someone in crowd at Ilhan Omar speech] That’s right. [cheers]

[clip of Ilhan Omar] Because we know it is joyful to fight for your neighbors. [cheers] We know it is joyful to make sure everybody has access to health care. We know it is joyful to make sure housing is a human right. We know it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world. [cheers and applause]

Priyanka Aribindi: Yes, I love this sentiment. It is something that I feel like we’re seeing kind of throughout Democratic politics in this moment. 

Juanita Tolliver: Oh 100%. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And so 100% true. Joy and being kind of the joyful warrior is very motivating and exciting. Omar was the final member of the group of progressive lawmakers, collectively known as the squad, to face a primary this year, while she and others, like New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, sailed to victory, two of their fellow progressives lost their primary, New York’s Jamaal Bowman and Missouri’s Cori Bush. Both lost amid massive spending against them by pro-Israel groups, mainly the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. 

Juanita Tolliver: That’s right. Their super PAC, United Democracy Project, set out to unseat Bush and Bowman because of their vocal criticism of Israel and its war against Hamas in Gaza. The group spent more than $23 million on just those two races, helping make them the most expensive House primaries in history. But like Bush and Bowman, Omar is also a very vocal critic of American support for Israel and the war in Gaza. And yet AIPAC did not get involved in her primary race. It also didn’t get involved in Tlaib or AOC’s races. So for more on why AIPAC targeted some members of the squad and not others, I spoke with Sophie Hurwitz. She’s a reporter for Mother Jones, covering politics and social movements. I started by asking her why AIPAC decided to stay out of Omar’s race. 

Sophie Hurwitz: While they have shown some willingness to pour millions and millions of dollars into lots of different races. They only want to do so in races that they believe they can win. And I don’t think that they saw themselves as having much of a chance against Ilhan Omar. 

Juanita Tolliver: So outline for me what they did see in the races associated with Representatives Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, because outside of those two, they largely left the rest of the squad alone. 

Sophie Hurwitz: In those two races, of course, the primary reason that AIPAC and United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s PAC, the primary reason they entered those races, was because those representatives called for a cease fire really early on after October 7th, so did Ilhan Omar. But there were a few differences. For example, in Jamaal Bowman’s race, that district had recently been redistricted, giving them a slightly more conservative electorate to work with. In Cori Bush’s race, they had Wesley Bell as their candidate, somebody who was established, who had community connections, who they really thought could indeed unseat her. And in Ilhan Omar’s case, for one thing, she’s known for having a really airtight, really aggressive fundraising operation. And for another, she’s known for having really strong constituent services. I think that second point is something that AIPAC attacked Cori Bush on, in particular, this idea that she was not responsive to her constituents enough and they really couldn’t find a way in on Omar on that front. 

Juanita Tolliver: And to be clear, AIPAC and pro-Israel groups spent the kind of money against Bowman and Bush that any candidate would struggle to fight back against. A combined $25 million and 23 million of that was from AIPAC alone, according to Open Secrets. That said, how were Bowman and Bush more vulnerable to the attacks in ways that Omar or Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib weren’t? 

Sophie Hurwitz: There were a couple of factors behind that. One of them is the constituent services thing I kind of mentioned. Another thing is that they all, including Ilhan Omar, to be clear, voted against the infrastructure bill. This was at the time a protest vote intended to later gain some of the provisions that were in Build Back Better, such as funding for better child care funding for green infrastructure. However, it’s really, really hard to fit that into like a 30 second political ad, the idea of voting against a bill because it’s not good enough, as opposed to voting against a bill because it’s bad. That is something that the United Democracy Project in Cory Bush’s district and in Jamaal Bowman’s district, those ads were hammering really hard. They were saying they didn’t vote with Joe Biden. So by the time Ilhan Omar reached her primary, for one thing, Joe Biden was no longer the Democratic nominee. This was true in Cori Bush’s case, but it had happened very, very recently, and I think that has made a difference. The fact that the whole idea of, oh, you know, they didn’t work with the president, they can’t be expected to be good Democratic team players. That hasn’t worked as well on Ilhan Omar. 

Juanita Tolliver: So for other progressive lawmakers in Congress and vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, how are they looking at these two races with Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman and what it could mean for them in the future? 

Sophie Hurwitz: They’re seeing this as a real manifestation of exactly what big money post Citizens United politics can do. The calculus that progressive lawmakers have to make when deciding, you know, are they going to speak out on the war on Gaza or not is likely going to shift. Now, that doesn’t mean that everyone’s just going to go silent on this and think, you know, I have to shut up because there is this massive amount of money that can be lobbied against me if I don’t. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I think that they would be foolish not to take that into consideration. Right. That is a big shift. Like I’m thinking in Cori Bush’s 2022 campaign, for example, her opponent back then campaigned on many of the same issues as Wesley Bell successfully campaigned on earlier this month. But the difference is he didn’t have that money. Now, this year, it was a very similar campaign, and at the end of the day, it’s a safe blue district. The two representatives are not that different on issues other than Israel and Gaza, but there was the factor of this massive PAC spending. And also, I think it’s worth noting the crypto PAC Fairshake has been involved in both the Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush defeats. So it’s not just like exclusively an Israel lobby thing. It’s more just a this is what unfettered PAC spending can do. 

Juanita Tolliver: And Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders kind of iterated some of the points you just brought up. He was quoted in a political article about this election saying he thinks, quote, “AIPAC smells success,” and that he worries it may try to replicate the strategy against other high profile yet vulnerable progressives in the future. Do progressives have a way to counter this type of fundraising and spending in their primary elections? 

Sophie Hurwitz: I know there have been a few different efforts, like there are some people talking about trying to create another super PAC that can basically just throw money in the opposite direction. There are also folks saying, okay, you know, maybe what is needed is really, really strong ground game, like knocking on every single door in the district. I don’t know what the answer to this is. I’m not sure, frankly, that progressives have yet figured out what the perfect way to counter PAC’s like AIPAC and like Fairshake is, but I do know that clearly it’s not like elections can in fact be bought all of the time. Ilhan Omar won. These are not undefeatable forces. They’re just people with money. At the end of the day, it’s very concrete, and I think that’s something that people would do well to remember. 

Juanita Tolliver: And as the bombardment of Gaza continues, what does all of this mean for expressing opposition to the war in Gaza as a member of Congress? 

Sophie Hurwitz: It shows that expressing that opposition can come at a very high cost. Of course, I know that those folks who are calling for a cease fire, what they would say as well, the cost of expressing opposition is still low compared to the cost of folks in Gaza losing their lives. Right. It’s very, very clear that the cost of expressing opposition to the war in Gaza in U.S. politics is high. I do think that it’s shifting, though. For example, during Netanyahu’s recent speech to Congress, about 100 lawmakers didn’t show up, and that is a significantly higher number than it was when he last spoke in Congress. And I think that matters. Rashida Tlaib showed up and sat there with her little sign that said War Criminal during that speech. I think that matters. A majority of the Democratic electorate, according to several different polls, says that there absolutely should be a ceasefire and that the US should throw its political weight behind that in a more meaningful way than it currently has. So when progressives are kind of weighing, oh, is it even worth taking an anti-war stance? Yes. There’s 40,000 people dead, but is it worth it? I think that when they’re weighing that calculus, they can also consider that it’s clear that there are large portions of the American electorate that want to see this end. 

Juanita Tolliver: That was my conversation with Sophie Hurwitz, reporter for Mother Jones. 

Priyanka Aribindi: We’ll get to some headlines in just a moment, but if you like our show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends. We’ll be right back after some ads. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Priyanka Aribindi: Let’s wrap up with some headlines. 

[sung] Headlines. 

Priyanka Aribindi: The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows July’s inflation at 2.9%, which is the lowest it has been since March of 2021. Really exciting news. But despite lower inflation, prices do remain high, making the economy a major concern for voters. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to lay out her economic plan in a speech that is scheduled for Friday that will focus on the cost of living. Donald Trump also outlined his economic policy in a speech on Wednesday. Well, kind of. 

[clip of Donald Trump] We’re talking about a thing called the economy. They wanted to do a speech on the economy. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Hmm. Who’s they? Sir, I thought you were in charge of this. [laughter]. 

[clip of Donald Trump] Today we’re doing it and we’re doing it uh right now. And it’s uh very important. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yes, very important indeed. It seems to him, uh very seems like he’s very prepared for all of this. In response, the Harris Walz campaign put out a press release saying, quote, “Trump has no plan, no vision, and no meaningful interest in helping build up the middle class. We already know who Trump’s Project 2025 economic agenda is designed to benefit, Donald Trump and his wealthy friends.” 

Juanita Tolliver: Yeah, not a single lie detected in that statement. You know. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Facts only. 

Juanita Tolliver: Negotiations for a cease fire in Gaza are set to resume today in Qatar. Hamas said on Wednesday that the group will not participate in today’s talks with Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the US. The New York Times also reported that Netanyahu’s government added more items to its list of demands for a cease fire, further darkening hopes for a deal. This all comes as world leaders braced themselves for further conflict in the Middle East, after Iran promised to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. President Biden said on Tuesday that he expects Iran to hold off if Israel and Hamas reach a cease fire this week. Two officials close to the matter told The New York Times that Hamas is willing to engage in cease fire negotiations after today’s meeting, but only if Israel provides a, quote, “serious response” to its earlier proposal that would require Israel to permanently end its war on Gaza. Netanyahu has repeatedly said he will only agree to a temporary pause. 

Priyanka Aribindi: The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency in response to an outbreak of MPOX in 13 African countries. So far this year, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented more than 17,500 cases of MPOX, which used to be known as monkeypox. Over 96% of the cases and deaths in this MPOX outbreak have occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The strain of MPOX spreading in these countries has a higher death rate than the version that circulated during an earlier 2022 MPOX outbreak. The current outbreak is mainly affecting children under the age of 15. Officials in Congo have requested around four million doses of MPOX vaccines from countries including the US and Japan. But the Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Congo has yet to receive any of those vaccines. 

Juanita Tolliver: And now for some exciting news from outer space. Archival data from NASA’s Insight lander has revealed evidence of water on Mars, while ice has been found at the planet’s poles, these new findings marked the first time liquid water has been found on the red planet. Scientists say the massive reservoir is large enough to cover the entire planet in an ocean a mile deep. Michael Manga, professor of Earth and planetary science at UC Berkeley, said, quote, “we haven’t found any evidence for life on Mars, but at least we have identified a place that should, in principle, be able to sustain life.” But don’t get too excited, sci fi fans. The water is seven to twelve miles underground, making it impossible to explore for quite some time. Well, I wonder how much time it takes to get a drill out to the red planet and start looking for this water. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Juanita said we are drill, baby drilling. [laughing]

Juanita Tolliver: I, I want to know. I want to know. I mean, look at the way we treat our current planet. We need options. Okay?

Priyanka Aribindi: I feel like I have the perfect solution here. 

Juanita Tolliver: Okay. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Elon Musk, didn’t he dig tunnels kind of, like, wasn’t that one of his big things? The Boring Company? That was a part of his schemes. So why don’t we send him to space? He’s interested in Space already. He can dig these tunnels to get to the water, and we don’t have to deal with him for however long it takes him to do it. Good idea? Bad idea? What do you think? 

Juanita Tolliver: I feel like the only real reality is what level of labor do you think this man has ever done with his own– 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah no. 

Juanita Tolliver: –hands. [laughing]

Priyanka Aribindi: He certainly has never done it himself. But I don’t know, like, maybe he just brings his absolute worst fanboys. All the people who listened to that Twitter Spaces interview. 

Juanita Tolliver: Yikes. 

Priyanka Aribindi: X, whatever they call it. I don’t know, maybe they can help him. Just a thought. And those are the headlines. [laugh]

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Priyanka Aribindi: That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Congratulate Representative Ilhan Omar on her big win and tell your friends to listen. 

Juanita Tolliver: And if you’re into reading and not just those sweet, sweet inflation numbers like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Juanita Tolliver. 

Priyanka Aribindi: I’m Priyanka Aribindi. 

[spoken together] And someone update Joe Biden’s LinkedIn.

Juanita Tolliver: You know? Help him out with that. 

Priyanka Aribindi: He is hashtag open to work.

Juanita Tolliver: I do appreciate how all the influencers in the room had their phones recording every bit of this interaction [laugh] though like they were here for the content. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Listen. I would be too. Like I’d want to remember that if I met the president. [laughter] [music break]

Juanita Tolliver: What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. We had production help today from Michell Eloy, Tyler Hill, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. 

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