MS NOW's John Heilemann analyzed the state of the Democratic Party after an Illinois primary that saw left-wing candidates lose hotly contested races among a seemingly fired-up electorate.
"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough focused on 26-year-old newcomer Kat Abughazaleh, a left-wing influencer who centered her campaign on opposition to Israel's war in Gaza and promised to challenge the Democratic establishment, but ultimately fell short of Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in a House race in the Chicago suburbs.
"Regardless of what youthink of her politics andpeople are attacking her on allsides, Kat – and I will not messup her last name, it startswith an A, I'll just call her Kat A. — had some of the mostinteresting commercials, and when I lookedat them, I said, 'Okay, this isa good view intothe future of campaigning in American politics," Scarborough said.
"John Heilemann, I heard you laugh. I know, you know, she startedwith a smear, an attack adagainst herself, and here'ssomebody who just moved intothe district recently, had beenthrown around by ICE agents andprotests, and nobody reallygave her a chance to win, andshe came very close to winningthe Democratic primary andbeing a member of Congress inillinois 9, but the story ofthe night really was not justthat progressives, a lot ofprogressives, lost. It was alsothe fact that AIPAC played sucha huge role in tipping thescales."
The powerful pro-Israel group backed two winners but lost in two races where it spent the most, but its social media account boasted about taking down Abughazaleh, whom Heileman said had once worked for him on another project.
"Yeah, Kat Abughazaleh, who was aformer employee of mine at The Recount, by the way," he said. "Super bright, super socialmedia and digital media savvy.She is going to have a bigfuture in Democratic politicsif she wants to have it,whether you like her politicsor not. I'm not endorsingcandidates, I'm just saying sheis young and smart and gets theway the world of media nowworks, and it took AIPAC doingwhat you just, what you justsaid, Joe.
"I think she wouldprobably win that primary overthe Evanston mayor, Daniel Biss,who is also a very progressivecandidate. He's not, he's not amoderate by any means. I thinkshe probably would have wonthat primary if it hadn't been, she got it on the negative sidecoming from AIPAC."
The big takeaway was voter enthusiasm, Heilemann said, which has been a recurring theme in special elections and Democratic primaries since Donald Trump won the 2024 election.
"Thebig, big headlines out of this primary is turnout for Democrats, again off the charts,rarely do you see a midtermprimary that equals, as this onedid, the turnout for the lasttime there was a competitive Democratic presidential primary,which was in 2020," Heilemann said.
"So thatnumber is huge. We're seeingenthusiasm on the Democraticside that's completely off thecharts."