Zohran-World Plots Primary Against Pro-Israel N.Y. Democrat
Plus: “Tit-print” artist tells of Harvard Dean Rosovsky’s gift to Epstein
The pro-Israel lobby has had some success in recent years targeting extreme anti-Israel Democratic incumbents—Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman—for defeat in primary challenges. Now the anti-Israel forces are preparing a similar move against a Democratic incumbent they say is too pro-Israel.
Data for Progress, a left-wing polling operation, polled what it said were 553 likely Democratic voters in New York’s 10th congressional district.
The firm asked, “Below is a brief statement that opponents of U.S. Representative Dan Goldman have given as a reason that they would vote against him in the 2026 Democratic primary. ‘Democrat Dan Goldman has refused to endorse Zohran Mamdani for Mayor, is a leading supporter of Israel’s war in Gaza, and is a top recipient of money from Aipac.’ Knowing what you know now, if the June 2026 Democratic primary election for the U.S. House of Representatives were held tomorrow, would you be more likely to vote for Dan Goldman or another Democratic candidate?”
Head-to-head against Goldman, the poll also tested Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller. Lander has endorsed Mamdani, called for the U.S. to stop sending “offensive” weapons to Israel, and stopped investing New York pension money in Israel bonds. The poll also asked respondents what they thought of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that, despite having the word “peace” in its name, is allied with Israel’s militant enemies.
The poll also told respondents, “In addition to being a top recipient of money from AIPAC, a pro-Netanyahu lobbying group that is heavily funded by billionaire Trump donors, Democrat Dan Goldman was one of a handful of Democrats in Congress to vote for Republican-led legislation to protect Benjamin Netanyahu from arrest charges issued by the International Criminal Court, and has voted to provide Israel with over $18 billion in weapons paid for by US taxpayer dollars.”
Past clients of Data for Progress have included Friends of Bernie Sanders, Jamaal Bowman for Congress, and the Working Families Party. The firm’s interim executive director, Ryan O’Donnell, worked on campaigns for Bowman and for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The Hewlett Foundation gave the Tides Foundation a $244,380.66 one-year grant in 2022 for “Data for Progress,” and gave Tides more than $1 million in previous grants to support Data for Progress, the Hewlett website shows. (I wrote in November 2024 for the Wall Street Journal “Big Foundations Helped Democrats Lose the Election,” about how Hewlett ideas had contributed to the Democratic election defeat.) Tides also funds Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Israel group, and other advocacy groups that promote the campaign to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.
“Aaron from Queens,” a Democratic Socialists of America member who was a grassroots organizer in socialist Zohran Mamdani’s win this year of the Democratic nomination for mayor, posted to social media about the poll, which was earlier reported by Semafor. The poll’s findings aren’t that newsworthy; it’s a push poll with a small sample; what’s newsworthy is that it was fielded to make the case or prepare the groundwork for a possible primary challenge.
Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who graduated from Yale College and Stanford Law School and clerked for Robert Sack on the Second Circuit, has taken some pro-Israel votes but isn’t exactly the second coming of Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, or even of Senator Fetterman. The idea that he would be possibly subject to a primary challenge shows how far to the extreme left, and how quickly, some New York City Democrats are trying to move along with Mamdani. Goldman was first elected in 2022 after the effects of the 2020 census and related litigation left the district without an incumbent. The district includes parts of Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
“Tit-print” artist tells of Harvard Dean’s Rosovsky’s gift to Epstein: Yesterday’s Editors newsletter discussed a 2002 “tit print” by the artist Annie Sprinkle—born Ellen Steinberg—that appears to have been commissioned by Harvard dean Henry Rosovsky for a gift book to Jeffrey Epstein for Epstein’s 50th birthday. This was years before Epstein was charged with or convicted of any crimes.
We wrote yesterday, accurately at the time, that Sprinkle did not return an email inquiry from The Editors asking about whether she recalled the supposed Rosovsky commission for Epstein or the circumstances around it.
After that item was published, we heard back from Sprinkle, who answered the questions I had posed: “Do you have any memory of creating it or interacting with Rosovsky about it? Do you know how it came to be? Can you add anything on the context, the fee, how Rosovsky found you for the project?”
Here’s what she wrote back to me:
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