Summary
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, has suggested he may run for president in 2028.
Reflecting on the Democrats’ loss to Donald Trump and JD Vance, he admitted: “A large number of people did not believe we were fighting for them in the last election – and that’s the big disconnect.”
Walz said his life experience, rather than ambition, would guide his decision.
Though his VP campaign was marred by gaffes, he remains open to running if he feels prepared.
But if he walks back that is he going to lose the Israel vote and will they finance a primary challenger?
The Israel vote basically doesn’t exist anymore. Even most pro-Israeli voters won’t go so far as to base their entire voting strategy on whether Israel gets to expand. Aleo if they’re Republican-leaning they don’t vote Democrat in a million years and vice versa. The reason this logic didn’t work for Gaza voters was because genocide is a massive red line for a lot of people (and the existence of a sizeable Arab diaspora), not because most Americans particularly care about Palestine.
The Israel vote definitely exists and the Israel lobby can make or break almost any political career.
When AIPAC has thrown its weight into a race to try to unseat a Democrat, they mostly haven’t used “Israel” to do it. If the Israel vote was actually a critical voting bloc that would sink campaigns, you’d think that would feature front and center.
This is my comment which almost lines up perfectly with the article you posted.
That’s not the “Israel vote”, that’s the Israel lobby. And the Israel lobby has the money to attack a vulnerable representative, not the money to swing a presidential race. They failed to oust Omar and didn’t even try to oust AOC. They’re an enemy PAC, not god of elections.
Money you can get around. Voting constituencies you can’t.
Single issue Israel voters? Do you have data for that? Because if they exist one would expect them to make more noise in favor of Harris instead of the narrative being set by Palestine voters.
No because that wasn’t what I said.
Here’s some stuff about the Israel lobbyists though
Vocal anti-Israel candidate Bowman loses New York’s primary election
Pro-Israel groups spent big to oust two Squad members in primaries
Pro-Israel groups tout Dem primary endorsee winners, but yet to target safer anti-Israel incumbents
Sure is neat watching which incumbents party leadership won’t rally behind.
The equivalent to Gaza voters in 2024 would be single issue Israel voters. With a good candidate everyone else will fall in line, so only those two need to be considered.
Yeah I know about those, but lobbyists aren’t all powerful and in something as large as the presidential election their impact will be outweighed by the Gaza vote. Israel lobbyists are so effective because they put all their weight against defectors who can be primaried and pick their battles; increase the scale of the election and their impact will wane accordingly.