 | BY MIA MCCARTHY AND LISA KASHINSKY | AIPAC TAKES AIM — A powerful pro-Israel group is positioning to try and take down “Squad” members like Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley in next year's elections over their condemnations of Israel's response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and their repeated calls for a cease-fire. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is attempting to recruit challengers to some Squad members — the group is looking to back a county executive against Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), for instance — and is expected to spend upwards of $100 million to try and knock out the incumbents. In 2022, AIPAC and an affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, spent more than $26 million helping pro-Israel candidates — many of whom won. Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson United Democracy Project, said in an email to Playbook that “all of our research and intel to date indicates voters have serious concerns about anti-Israel candidates like Ayanna … who refused to vote to condemn the Hamas Oct. 7 terrorism on the House floor.” But Dorton didn’t say if the group had specifically polled Pressley’s 7th District. And he said no decisions had been made yet on what races the group will wade into. Pro-Palestinian protests have erupted across the Boston area in recent weeks — many of them taking place in Pressley’s liberal district and echoing her own views on the conflict. Pressley also hasn’t faced a serious challenger from either party since she defeated then-Rep. Mike Capuano in 2018.
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The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC is looking to spend upwards of $100 million to unseat members of the "Squad" next year over their views on Israel. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | For those reasons and others, finding a viable challenger to Pressley could prove difficult, local Democratic operatives say. Boston Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld posited that Josh Kraft, the son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who heads the Patriots’ philanthropic foundation and recently bought property in the district, could take her on — though Kraft the told CommonWealth Beacon he’s also been approached about taking on Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. “Pressley is in no way vulnerable in anything I see,” Democratic strategist Scott Ferson told Playbook. She’s been reelected twice “because she's very good and dynamic and all the things you'd be looking for in a member of Congress, but she also reflects her district.” Pressley is using the threat of an AIPAC-backed challenger to draw in donations to her reelection campaign. In a fundraising email sent over the weekend, she asked her supporters to split contributions between her campaign and Bowman's. "We need to keep Jamaal in Congress," Pressley wrote in the email, noting that AIPAC is also "recruiting primary challengers to target me." Harry Shipps, a spokesperson for Pressley’s campaign, said she remains focused on her work in Congress; he did not directly address AIPAC's plans. “Could they find somebody [to run against Pressley]? Sure,” Ferson said. “Could they beat Pressley? I would not bet that on any odds.” GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. The Patriots have been eliminated from playoff contention. That's good news for the presidential hopefuls looking to campaign in New Hampshire during games . PROGRAMMING NOTE: We've reached the last week of Playbooks for the year! Send us all those tips and scoops you've been holding onto: mmccarthy@politico.com , lkashinsky@politico.com and kgarrity@politico.com . TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey , Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Senate President Karen Spilka , Auditor Diana DiZoglio and more attend the Massachusetts Gold Star Families tree dedication at 2 p.m. at the State House. Healey and Driscoll host the State House tree lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. Rep. Richard Neal addresses the New England Council at 8:30 a.m. at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Pressley testifies at a hearing on student debt relief at 3 p.m.
|  | ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR |
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Harvard University President Claudine Gay; Liz Magill, then-president of the University of Pennsylvania, and others testified about antisemitism on college campuses earlier this month in Washington, D.C. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | FALLOUT CONTINUES FOR GAY — Harvard President Claudine Gay has apologized for her equivocal answers during a congressional hearing last week when pressed by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) about whether calls for the genocide of Jews would violate the university’s policies. University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill stepped down on Saturday amid blowback from the hearing, which also featured testimony from Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth . “One down. Two to go,” Stefanik, a Harvard alum, posted on X , calling on Harvard and MIT to “do the right thing.” The Harvard Crimson’s Miles J. Herszenhorn and Claire Yuan have a deep dive into why Gay’s path forward could be different than Magill’s . Calls for the new Harvard president’s resignation are mixing with calls for her to stay. Hundreds of faculty members signed a letter Sunday urging the administration not to remove Gay from her post. House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said on WCVB’s “On the Record” that she’s “glad” to see Gay “clarified this exchange and again expressed support for the security of Jewish students.” But the powerful lawmaker and Harvard alum wouldn’t say whether Gay should lose her job. “I’m not on the [Harvard] board,” Clark said. “But what I can say is we do have to speak with moral clarity, we do have to make sure that yes, we want to encourage free speech and debate. But there are lines. And there are lines that we agree on. And genocide is one of those lines.” — "Former Obama adviser: Don’t let politicians take over Harvard," by Kelly Garrity, POLITICO. — “Boston city councilors ‘blindsided’ by presentation honoring pro-Palestinian student walkout,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “A number of Boston city councilors described being “blindsided” by a controversial resolution put forward by [Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson], honoring two students for organizing a pro-Palestinian walkout at their high school last week.”
| | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
| PORTRAIT OF A GOVERNOR — Former Gov. Charlie Baker will return to the State House on Dec. 21 for his portrait unveiling. But those hoping to catch a glimpse of the painting will have to wait — it’s an “invitation-only event,” per the State House News Service’s Sam Doran . That apparently also means no press, in a break with recent tradition.
| | FROM THE HUB |
| — “Boston schools grudgingly release some sexual misconduct data,” by Colman M. Herman, CommonWealth Beacon: “Newly released data indicate there were 1,633 substantiated cases of sexual misconduct, bullying, and biased-based incidents that occurred at Boston Public Schools over the previous two school years. Another 1,871 cases were investigated but could not be substantiated.”
| | 2024 WATCH |
| CASH DASH — Nikki Haley will return to Boston on Friday for the latest in a string of local fundraisers for her presidential campaign. Tickets are $6,600 apiece for the luncheon hosted by Sandy and Paul Edgerley and Jenny and Spencer Zwick , Mitt Romney ’s former money man , according to an invitation reviewed by Playbook. Co-chairs include New Balance Chair Jim Davis , former MassGOP Chair Jennifer Nassour, Bain Capital’s John P. Connaughton, Michelle and Peter de Silva , Jean Egan, Chartwell’s Ozzie Palomo , Putnam Investments’ Bob Reynolds and state Rep. Hannah Kane . Big donors have increasingly been rallying around Haley as she rises in polls — particularly in New Hampshire, where she sits in second place on average. She returns to the Granite State Tuesday for a multi-day swing. But she’s not alone. Every major GOP candidate is expected to be in our neighbor to the north this week, including Vivek Ramaswamy today, Chris Christie on Wednesday and Trump on Saturday. AS SEEN ON TV — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is running for a third term next year. But will it be the 74-year-old senator’s last? She wouldn’t say on WBZ’s “Keller @ Large.” “What I want to do is the work that’s in front of me right now,” Warren said. “And I have the energy to do that work. I’ve got the fight to make that happen.”
| | PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES |
| THIS CONSTRUCTION WAS COMPLETED WHEN CHARLIE BAKER WAS GOVERNOR - WHAT HAPPENED?
— “Green Line Extension to celebrate its 1-year anniversary with service disruptions,” by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald: “Work to regauge the track, which MBTA officials knew as far back as April 2021 was defective and too narrow, will not be completed by Monday, as initially anticipated under a plan presented by project contractor.”
| | DAY IN COURT |
| — “Healey taps state solicitor, former adviser to fill first open seat on Supreme Judicial Court,” by Matt Stout, The Boston Globe: “Governor Maura Healey on Friday nominated state solicitor Elizabeth N. Dewar to the Supreme Judicial Court, tapping a longtime adviser and the youngest SJC nominee in decades to fill her first opening on the state’s highest court. Dewar, 43, has been among the state’s leading appellate attorneys since Healey, then attorney general, appointed her in 2016 as state solicitor. … Dewar, a registered Democrat, also briefly served as the state’s top prosecutor this year after Healey became governor.” — “Former Boston police officer plans to plead guilty to assault charges in Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection,” by Samantha J. Gross, The Boston Globe: “In a federal court filing dated Nov. 30, Joseph Robert Fisher’s attorney said he ‘anticipates pleading guilty to the Indictment as charged, without a plea agreement’ at a scheduled hearing on Feb. 1.”
| | WHAT'S ON CAMPBELL'S DOCKET |
| — “Massachusetts attorney general backs federal proposal to curb illegal gun trafficking,” by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald: “Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell is backing a proposed regulation that would ensure more gun sales are subject to background checks to reduce illegal trafficking of firearms across the country. Campbell, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, is co-leading a coalition of 21 attorneys general in supporting the rule.”
| | MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
| — “How many cannabis businesses have closed in Mass.? It’s unclear, but times are tough,” by Will Katcher, MassLive: “At least 17 businesses have returned or lost a state-issued license to work in the cannabis industry, according to the Cannabis Control Commission, the state’s marijuana regulator. While some of those businesses remain open — selling medical marijuana after surrendering their license to sell recreational pot, for example — the count does not include other companies that have closed up shop but hung on to their license, perhaps hoping to sell it.”
| | THE LOCAL ANGLE |
| — “Every Army-Navy fan accommodated after hotel shuffle; Senator blasts Biden for ‘failing’ border policies,” by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald: “Every fan in need of a hotel room for the big game has been accommodated, state officials and tourism leaders confirmed to the Herald on Friday. … Travel agents told the Herald in October that the arrival of migrant families at area hotels canceled rooms reserved for veterans, students and families, but after reports came out, the state took action.”
| | REGIONAL ROUNDUP |
| — “A postcard from the Lesser-Known Candidate Forum, a New Hampshire primary tradition,” by Tamara Keith, NPR. — “Maine’s congressional delegation calls for Army investigation into Lewiston shooting, ” by Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press.
| | HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH |
| TRANSITIONS — Kimberley Connors will be the next executive director of the Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care. — Michelle Porter has been appointed co-managing director of Goulston & Storrs, effective April 1. SPOTTED — at the Army-Navy game: Govs. Maura Healey and Dan McKee ; Lt. Govs. Kim Driscoll and Sabina Matos ; Rob Gronkowski and Boston City Council President Ed Flynn . HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Jossie Valentín and MWPC director Kat Cline . Happy belated to Alexander Fleiss , who celebrated Saturday, and to Kristen Halbert , who celebrated Friday. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com . | |
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