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February 15, 2026
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
- Having helped prevent a pro-Israel (but not pro-AIPAC) candidate from winning in New Jersey and throwing the race to a candidate far less friendly to Israel, AIPAC is setting its sights on Illinois' ninth congressional district, where it hopes to defeat Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, the frontrunner backed by retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
- This primary is important in its own right, and also as a case study illustrating the danger posed by AIPAC's counterproductive Super PAC spending.
- Early voting has already started in Illinois. Please share this newsletter widely with your friends in Illinois and urge them to support Daniel Biss. AIPAC will outspend him. The question is whether the voters will see through it.
- Biss was endorsed last week by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and has a strong lead, but AIPAC spending will test that lead.
- Don't worry--plenty in the In Case You Missed It section for those who'd like to focus on other issues this week, including our beloved Attorney General, Pam Bondi. Pursuant to her guidance, now that the Dow is back below 50,000, let's talk about some things.
It's not too late to be my valentine. Show your support for my work by chipping in via credit card or PayPal, Venmo @Steven-Sheffey, or check. Thank you.
Greetings!
You might be wondering why a national newsletter continues to focus on the Democratic primary election in Illinois' ninth congressional district to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
Four reasons:
- The issues at stake in this election illustrate issues at stake throughout the country. If we don't learn from Tom Malinowski's narrow loss in New Jersey, we'll repeat mistakes we cannot afford to make throughout this election cycle.
- Early voting in Illinois is underway. The election is on March 17.
- Whoever wins this primary will win the general election.
- While our focus should be on protecting our democracy by replacing Republicans with Democrats, we need the best Democrats we can get. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, Schakowsky's endorsed candidate, is far and away the best candidate in a 15-person field to advance her legacy.
That's why I hope you will share this newsletter with your friends in Illinois and urge them to encourage their friends in the district to vote for Biss. For more background on the ninth district, read this front-page Chicago Tribune article, which happens to quote your humble narrator.
I've known Daniel Biss for nearly 20 years. He is brilliant (he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago before running for office), he's caring, and he compiled a proven record of success as a state representative, a state senator, and mayor.
The most recent internal poll shows Biss with a double-digit lead over his nearest competitors, state senator Laura Fine and Kat Abughazaleh. Biss is the only candidate with a favorability rating above 50%.
Both Biss and Fine served in the Illinois House and the Illinois Senate. Both represented Schakowsky in the Illinois Senate. Schakowsky served in the Illinois legislature. She knows them, she knows what they've done, and she's endorsed Biss.
Current Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, represented by Fine in the Illinois Senate and before that, represented by Biss, endorsed Biss.
When she endorsed Biss on Thursday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) noted that Biss is the only candidate in the race endorsed by multiple members of Illinois’ congressional delegation and the only candidate endorsed by any U.S. senators. Watch Duckworth's video in support of Biss.
If we want to send a courageous leader to Congress, writes Nancy Pred, we should send Daniel Biss.
As mayor, Biss ordered Evanston police not to cooperate with ICE, got rid of license plate readers when he found out ICE was using them, has held “Know Your Rights” events to help the community defend itself, and got tear-gassed while protesting ICE raids.
He is the only candidate who works hard and gets things done and risked his physical safety and understands the importance of public resistance and giving people hope in the moment. Some candidates have done one or the other to some extent, but none have done either as well or as often as Biss has.
Biss's support for Israel comes from his heart as well as his intellect. He does not define support for Israel as mindlessly following the Likud or AIPAC line. He knows that shared values undergird the U.S.-Israel relationship and that measures must be taken to ensure that those values are upheld in the U.S. and in Israel for the U.S.-Israel relationship to endure.
Biss is the grandson of Holocaust survivors who moved to Israel in 1948, settling in Herzliya to rebuild their lives after their parents and many other relatives perished. Much of his extended family lives in Israel today.
Biss grew up with two passports and spent every summer in Israel throughout his childhood in the 1980s and early 90s. He spent a semester in Israel as an undergraduate, studying linguistics at Tel Aviv University and mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem after spending a month studying Hebrew at the Ulpan Akiva in Netanya.
No candidate in this race has anywhere near that kind of background and understanding of Israel.
Yet AIPAC is running its New Jersey playbook against Biss. Thanks to AIPAC, former Rep. Tom Malinowski, a strong friend of Israel (but not of AIPAC), lost the NJ-11 primary by roughly 900 votes.
AIPAC spent more than $2 million against Malinowski and wound up electing not their preferred candidate but Analilia Mejia, backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a candidate far less to AIPAC's liking. As Neil Urvitz wrote, "crow isn’t kosher, but it’s time for AIPAC to eat some anyhow."
Malinowski said, “The outcome of this race cannot be understood without also taking into account the massive flood of dark money that AIPAC spent on dishonest ads during the last three weeks...
"My convictions – including my support for Israel as a democratic and Jewish state – don’t change because of who supports or opposes me. But our Democratic Party should have nothing to do with a pro-Trump-billionaire-funded organization that demands absolute fealty to positions that are outside the mainstream of the American pro-Israel community, and then smears those who don’t fall into line."
Laura Fine has a lot to do with AIPAC, despite her attempts to downplay the connection. An AIPAC-backed Super PAC took out a huge ad buy in the ninth district and upped it last week. I have no doubt that this PAC will be either attacking Biss or propping up Fine (maybe this time they can at least get it right).
A spokesperson for Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said that AIPAC has become a pro-Trump organization.
Unlike other candidates, and unlike many members of Congress, Biss has the intellect and the background on Israel to credibly stand up for what is right and for what he knows in his heart and mind is necessary to ensure Israel's safety and security as a Jewish, democratic state.
Daniel Biss is the best candidate for American democracy and the U.S.-Israel relationship in this race. Please spread the word by sharing this newsletter.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention.
In last week's newsletter, I wrote that AIPAC supported and continues to support Republicans who voted to overturn the 2024 presidential election. If only. The Republicans voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
I misspelled a last name: Kevin Rachlin wrote this important Times of Israel article.
In Case You Missed It:
- Imagine what Republicans would say if a Democratic president allowed Hamas to remain armed despite October 7. That's Trump's plan, so nothing to see here. They should be saying what Dan Shapiro and Robert Satloff are saying.
- Dan Perry asks why so many Jews support Israel but reject "Zionism"; perhaps because, as T'ruah CEO Jill Jacobs argues, Jewish legacy organizations have made the term “Zionist” a synonym for uncritical support of Israel. The meanings of words change over time. Words mean what people think they mean. We should seek to understand what people mean when they say they oppose Zionism before labeling them antisemitic. We might discover, as I wrote last week, that what they disagree with is what we disagree with. The Nexus White Paper provides clarity on when anti-Zionism is and is not antisemitic.
- Did you see the Super Bowl ad on antisemitism? Professor David Schraub did, and that led him to analyze the Jewish right's (e.g., Bret Stephens) sudden disinterest in fighting antisemitism.
Tweet of the Week. AOC (via Brian Allen),
Video Clips of the Week. Medication for MAGA racism and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
Pam Bondi Video Clips of the Week. She is far from Trump's worst or least qualified Cabinet member, but her nomination by Trump and her confirmation by Senate Republicans is nonetheless a disgrace. Clips from Jimmy Kimmel and Pam Bondi (the DOW at 50,000 dollars) lead one to wonder: What if Pam Bondi were a waitress?
Vintage Music Clips of the Week. Who did it better? T. Rex or Blondie?
The Fine Print. I read every reply to this newsletter. I reply as often as I can. All I ask is that you read the Fine Print before you reply or send me anything.
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder (yes, I wrote it).
If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, your luck continues. You can subscribe and get it in your inbox every Sunday for free. Just click here.
Be sure to read my posts on distinguishing anti-Zionism from antisemitism, how to heal the generational rift on Israel and antisemitism, and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
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Unless stated otherwise, my views do not necessarily reflect the views of any candidates or organizations I support or am associated with.
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