{"id":254313,"date":"2026-08-18T12:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/254313\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T12:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:06:17","slug":"democratic-florida-race-tight-between-anti-zionist-larkin-pro-israel-moskowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/254313\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Florida race tight between anti-Zionist Larkin, pro-Israel Moskowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democratic primary voters in Florida<\/a>\u2019s newly drawn 25th Congressional District are choosing on Tuesday between an anti-Zionist member of the Democratic Socialists of America and one of Israel\u2019s staunchest supporters in Congress.<\/p>\n

The race offers a test of whether the Democratic Party\u2019s progressive insurgency can extend to a district that includes Delray Beach, Boca Raton, and Miami Beach, and an electorate that is roughly 25% Jewish, highlighting the party\u2019s widening divisions over Israel.<\/p>\n

Redistricting has transformed what had been solidly Democratic territory into a district US President Donald Trump would have carried in 2024. The new lines pit Oliver Larkin, a DSA member who has accused Israel of genocide and called for ending US military aid to the country, against Jared Moskowitz, a two-term congressman who backs continued US military aid even as support for it has eroded within his party.<\/p>\n

Polling from Moskowitz-aligned firms has shown him with a lead of 30-plus percentage points, while a more recent poll from a Larkin-aligned outlet this month put the two in a statistical dead heat.<\/p>\n

Larkin\u2019s language has alarmed some Jews, including his labeling of modern-day Israel as a \u201creligious supremacist\u201d country and his call for Israel to become a \u201csecular\u201d state. \u201cI do not support a religious supremacist regime, whether it be in Israel or Saudi Arabia<\/a>, or any other country,\u201d Larkin told Fox News.<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida Democratic congressional candidate Oliver Larkin speaks with supporters on August 15, 2026 in North Miami Beach, Florida. (credit: JOE RAEDLE\/GETTY IMAGES)Larkin backs Mamdani on goal of arresting Netanyahu<\/p>\n

Larkin supports a complete arms embargo on Israel, and told JTA that that should be \u201cthe minimum standard for anyone claiming to support democracy.\u201d Asked by Fox News if he supports selling defensive weapons to Israel, Larkin responded, \u201cI do not make a distinction between offensive and defensive weaponry.\u201d He also backed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s goal of arresting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Larkin doubled down after Mamdani backed down from the stance, saying, \u201cI believe that the United States, any federal or otherwise law enforcement entity that has the legal jurisdiction to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu for his war crimes – that should be enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larkin has courted support from left-wing, anti-Zionist Jews who support his platform and says that he has spoken out against antisemitism on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur campaign believes in collective liberation for all people, and that includes the liberation of Jewish South Floridians and Jewish people the world over from antisemitism<\/a>,\u201d Larkin said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He said that there is a rise in fascism across the US and that we \u201cmust recognize the link between antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, xenophobia, transphobia, and more and build a coalition to unite together to defeat these forces.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Larkin said he supports a \u201cone-state solution with equal and democratic rights for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Progressive, pro-Palestinian candidates with similar platforms have won the Democratic nomination this midterm cycle in deep-blue districts around the country. Larkin, who worked on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 2016 presidential campaign, is betting he can match their success even in a heavily Jewish district that leans more to the center.<\/p>\n

Moskowitz, who is endorsed by AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel, outright accused Larkin of fueling antisemitism, telling the Sun Sentinel editorial board in a letter that his opponent \u201chas embraced the support of individuals and organizations that have repeatedly trafficked in antisemitic rhetoric and hostility toward the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rep.Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) speaks during a news conference on ”Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” (UAP) outside of the US Capitol Building on June 09, 2026 in Washington, DC. (credit: Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Last month, a Boca Raton rabbi encouraged Republican congregants to register as Democrats so they could cast their votes for Moskowitz. The far more moderate Democrat has refused to debate Larkin, saying that his opponent is contributing to antisemitism.<\/p>\n

Moskowitz has also claimed that Larkin is \u201crunning against me solely on my religion.\u201d The Sun Sentinel board rated Moskowitz\u2019s claim \u201cdemonstrably untrue\u201d and, in an unusual move, said it would not endorse him for reelection after he declined a joint interview with Larkin. The paper decried what it described as Moskowitz\u2019s \u201clack of respect for voters.\u201d Moskowitz\u2019s campaign did not respond to a JTA request for comment.<\/p>\n

Moskowitz has outraised Larkin 11-to-1, according to local media estimates. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has raised $667,200 of Moskowitz\u2019s $2.5 million through June 30, according to campaign finance analyses done by the website Open Secrets.<\/p>\n

Anti-Zionist groups rooting for Larkin<\/p>\n

Donna Nevel, a member of the South Florida chapter of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace<\/a>, believes Larkin can win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are thousands and thousands of us, from Jewish communities and all across South Florida, who are doing everything we can to make sure that Oliver will be our congressperson,\u201d Nevel said to a cheering crowd, during a fundraiser held in New York City earlier this month.<\/p>\n

She also said that \u201cmany Zionist organizations think that South Florida is their backyard.\u201d She continued, \u201cAnd we say, \u2018Hell no!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email to JTA, Nevel said there are a \u201clarge and growing\u201d number of Jews in the district supporting Larkin, including \u201cwell over a hundred Jewish canvassers on a regular basis.\u201d Larkin joined a JVP-hosted Shabbat dinner with Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Florida\u2019s left-wing US Senate candidate Angie Nixon on Friday.<\/p>\n

Larkin has said that we \u201cshould not be supporting or allowing AIPAC to influence our elections.\u201d He told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the group has a \u201ccorrupting influence\u201d and that it only supports Congress members \u201con the condition, in my estimation, that they support wholesale US military aid to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left-wing streamers Hasan Piker – a staunch Israel critic who\u2019s drawn antisemitism accusations – and Michael Beyer, who was suspended from Twitch after calling Jews a \u201cdemon ethnicity,\u201d have both fundraised for Larkin.<\/p>\n

Asked about their support, Larkin told the Sun Sentinel that both figures have used \u201clanguage that I personally have not used and will not use,\u201d and said that as a candidate it is important \u201cthat I speak in respectful terms and based in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I believe that when those individuals have made those references it\u2019s been towards members of the Israeli government,\u201d Larkin said, as well as Israeli settlers in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo certainly they\u2019re not politicians, and they don\u2019t speak in political terms, and I don\u2019t condone language that dehumanizes any individual,\u201d he said. \u201cI do think that they have legitimate criticism – even if it is rather unvarnished in how they convey it – of what the Israeli government has done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic primary voters in Florida\u2019s newly drawn 25th Congressional District are choosing on Tuesday between an anti-Zionist member…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[2922,10725,2492,19410,1278,37,29564,51,8983],"class_list":["post-254313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-aipac","tag-anti-zionism","tag-antisemitism","tag-democratic-socialists-of-america","tag-florida","tag-israel","tag-jewish-voice-for-peace","tag-united-states","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117116429103008142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}