Democratic Majority for Israel is behind a million-dollar effort to slow the momentum of populist candidate William Lawrence in the closing days of a three-way primary in mid-Michigan’s 7th congressional district, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement.

Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, is running primarily against data center buildouts in the district, but has also made opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the war in Iran core parts of his campaign. He has two well-funded centrist challengers. The winner will take on Republican incumbent Tom Barrett.

DMFI is using a vehicle called Rolling Sea Action Fund PAC to move money into the race. It is unclear if DMFI is funding the ad buy with a transfer or whether DMFI donors were being directed to Rolling Sea, but Joel Wanger, DMFI’s chief political officer, is organizing the effort.

It’s a PAC affiliated with the Congressional Black Caucus, but it is regularly used by big money interests as a pass-through to cloak the true source of spending. “Rolling Sea exists as a place to wash money,” as one consultant working on the race put it to Drop Site. The ad buy began with $899,000 being put behind it.

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Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson formally clinched the Democratic nod to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in November, giving the party just 100 days to quickly turn the tides in the must-win race.

Jackson handily won on Saturday with 566 votes during the Democratic nomination convention in Bangor, Maine. His only challenger, biopharmaceutical executive Saundra Pelletier, nabbed the remaining five votes.More...

“This is the absolute honor of my life to accept the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate,” he said to cheers.

“I will spend every day now through November earning that trust,” Jackson vowed to his supporters.

Democrats in the state largely consolidated around the former state senator ahead of the convention to replace scandal-ridden Graham Platner, who exited the race earlier this month. The contest, which Decision Desk HQ and Cook Political Report rate as a toss-up, could prove decisive in the party’s chances of clinching the upper chamber this fall.

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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Friday echoed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) call for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of the foreign leader’s visit to the U.S. next week.

“The American president should arrest Netanyahu or [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in accordance with international law,” Khanna told MeidasTouch reporter Pablo Manriquez in a hallway interview on Capitol Hill.

“Full stop. America needs to cooperate with the ICC,” the Democratic lawmaker continued, referring to the International Criminal Court. “It’s a matter of human rights, and it’s a matter of a rules-based international order and he should order the marshals to arrest someone if they come to our jurisdiction.”

The international body issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli head of state in 2024, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to Israel’s actions during its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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A federal appeals court on July 25 declined to allow President Donald Trump's administration to implement in 23 states his executive order that aims to tighten rules ‌for mail-in voting ahead of midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration's request to lift an injunction several Democratic-led states secured June 25 from a lower-court judge who concluded that key parts of the Republican president's order were unconstitutional.

In asking the court to pause U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani's ruling while it pursues an appeal, the Department of Justice had argued that because government agencies had yet to finalize actions and policies to implement Trump's directive, any lawsuit challenging his order was premature.

The appeals court, in a 2-1 ruling, rejected that argument.

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