Political Science

The 2024 Democratic House Primaries and the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Document Type

Book Chapter

Abstract

The October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and the subsequent military actions by Israel in Gaza provoked substantial conflict within the Democratic Party. Although most American Jews vote for Democrats, many interest groups and donors supportive of Israel have come into conflict with progressive Democratic legislators in recent years. Even before 2023, some of these organizations had been active in Democratic congressional primaries. Many of the Democrats most supportive of a ceasefire in Gaza faced primary opponents in 2024, and open seat House races in some heavily Democratic districts featured conflict between groups with opposing stances on the Gaza conflict. This chapter explores the funding and dynamics of these primary elections, compares these challenges to past primary conflicts in both parties over other world events and military actions, and discusses what these primary challenges can tell us about the Democratic Party. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Publication Title

The Roads to Congress 2024: Navigating Elections in an Era of Upheaval

Publication Date

2025

First Page

43

Last Page

62

ISBN

9783032071200

DOI

10.1007/978-3-032-07120-0_3

Keywords

ceasefire, fundings, interest groups, military actions, terrorists attack

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