In his first speech today (Wednesday), after the crushing defeat suffered by his Republican Party in the midterm elections, US President Donald Trump announced that holding the war with Iran responsible for his party’s loss in the elections was “largely true,” and stressed that Tehran could not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon, adding: “It was worth it.”
Trump told reporters that if his name had been on the ballot, the Republicans would have won, considering that the party was unable to transfer the support it enjoys to its candidates.
Regarding dealing with the Democrats, Trump said that he would likely be able to reach an understanding with them, but he warned that any attempt by them to hold him accountable with the aim of isolating him would lead to the “destruction” of the Democratic Party.
The new White House auditorium
Trump began his talk at length about the new ballroom in the White House, from the construction site.
He said: “It will not only be one of the largest celebration halls, but I believe it will be the most beautiful in the world,” without mentioning at the beginning of his speech the midterm elections in which the Democrats achieved a landslide victory and took control of Congress.
The victory of Democrat Abdul Rahman Al-Sayyid for the US Senate seat in Michigan, in the midterm elections that took place on Tuesday, November 3, revealed a difference in electoral options within the Jewish community, after his critical position on Israel prompted some Democratic voters to support his Republican rival, Mike Rogers, while others chose to support him despite their reservations about his positions.
A poll conducted by Mercury Public Affairs, commissioned by the Jewish Majority organization, which says it works to ensure that the positions of the majority of American Jews are represented in public life, and whose results were published by the American Jewish newspaper The Forward, showed that 60 percent of the Jewish voters surveyed supported El-Sayed, an American of Egyptian origin, compared to 36 percent for Rogers, while the percentage of support for the Democratic candidate for state governor, Jocelyn Benson, was, 79 percent among the participants themselves.
The poll included 482 Jewish voters who cast their ballots early, and the difference between the approval ratings for Mr. and Benson shows that some Jewish voters preferred other candidates in the Senate race, despite their support for the Democratic Party in the state governor’s elections.
In a field investigation published by the “Times of Israel” website, today (Wednesday), from the city of Detroit, the largest city in the US state of Michigan, Jordan Acker, an elected Jewish Democratic official in the state, indicated that Al-Sayyid’s positions on Israeli policies do not necessarily differ much from the positions of the majority of Jews in Michigan, especially regarding the treatment of Palestinians and settler violence in the West Bank.
“The source of concern for the majority of community members about El-Sayed is that he and his allies seem willing to sever the connection that links the vast majority of Jews to the Land of Israel,” Acker said.
Israel in the accounts of Jewish voters
Poll data published by The Forward showed that 23 percent of participants who voted for Democrat Elissa Slotkin in the 2024 Senate elections chose Rogers this time. Among those who refused to vote for Mr., 92 percent said his positions on Israel and their concerns about anti-Semitism were a major reason for their decision.
These results reveal that Al-Sayed's position on Israel was a factor influencing the decision of some Jewish voters, but it did not prevent the majority of survey participants from supporting him. However, the results are limited to a sample of early voters, and do not necessarily represent all Jewish voters in Michigan.
Michigan Jews' varying attitudes toward Mr
Al-Sayed's statements following a terrorist attack targeting the Temple Israel synagogue in the suburbs of Detroit, on March 12, raised objections among some Jews in Michigan. Al-Sayed condemned the attack, stressing that there was no justification for it, but he also spoke about the suffering of its perpetrator, who lost members of his family in an Israeli raid on Lebanon, which sparked criticism of his statements. Al-Sayed also faced criticism over his relationship with left-wing commentator Hasan Bekir, who was accused of using anti-Semitic rhetoric.
On the other hand, other Jewish voters believed that their disagreement with El-Sayed regarding Israel did not justify supporting a Republican candidate linked to Trump. Among them is Steve Gold, one of the founders of the group “Jews for Abdul” (Support for Abdul), who linked the security of Jews to the strength of American democracy, and criticized treating unconditional support for Israel as a criterion for Jewish identity.
The intensity of the differences also appeared in the statements of Jewish activists who supported Republican Rogers in the Senate race, including the American-Israeli businessman Shimon Levy, who spoke of the tension in his personal relations with Jewish supporters of Mr. Rogers during the election campaign.
These data indicate that attitudes toward Israel influenced the electoral choices of some Michigan Jews, but they were not the only factor in determining their vote. Some of them supported Al-Sayed despite their reservations, while others chose his Republican competitor in the Senate race, while continuing to support Democratic candidates in other races. But the difference in the choices of Jewish voters does not necessarily mean a decline in their support for Israel, as some of them can oppose its government’s policies without abandoning their support for them.
The US midterm elections witnessed gains for minority Democratic representatives, for the first time. One of the most notable of these gains is Peggy Flanagan's victory as a senator in the state of Minnesota in the northern United States.
With this victory, Flanagan achieved a remarkable achievement, as she became the first Native American woman to enter the Senate. Until then, she was the state's deputy governor.
So what do we know about Peggy Flanagan?
According to her official campaign website, Flanagan (47 years old) comes from a combination of indigenous and Irish roots; She belongs to the Ojibwe tribe, one of the largest indigenous groups in North America, and is also a member of the White Earth Nation, a federally recognized indigenous tribal group in the United States.
Her name in the Anishinaabe language, an indigenous language, means “a woman who speaks loudly and clearly.” That's why she dedicated her career to using her voice clearly and powerfully, with the goal of improving the lives of Minnesotans, according to the website.
Flanagan was raised by a single mother in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and her family overcame adversity thanks to support from public government programs in housing, supplemental nutritional assistance, health and child care.
She relied on health care programs at a time when she was suffering from severe asthma attacks that required her to be hospitalized repeatedly, so she rejects the cuts that President Donald Trump is seeking to impose on these programs that are beneficial to families, from her point of view.
At 25, Flanagan became the youngest member of the Minneapolis School Board, where she fought to ensure that all children — of all backgrounds — received a high-quality education.
She also worked as a trainer for Wellstone Action, where she trained tens of thousands of field activists on how to build collective power within their communities.
Raise wages
Later, she served as Executive Director of the Children's Defense Fund - Minnesota Chapter, co-chaired the Raise the Wage Coalition, and successfully pushed to increase the minimum wage in Minnesota for the first time in a decade.
She also worked as a partner in The Management Center, where she provided advice and training to executives and leaders of organizations on effective management methods directed towards achieving results.
In 2015, she was elected to the state Legislature, where she led Democratic Party efforts on child welfare issues. She assumed the position of Deputy Governor of Minnesota in 2019, where she contributed to the passage of the paid family and medical leave law in the state, and also worked to direct investments towards the education, health care, and housing sectors.
She supports family farms and small businesses, and leads efforts to ensure abortion remains legal in Minnesota. She lives in her hometown of St. Louis Park with her husband, Tom Weber, and her daughter, Siobhan, who is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.
