Staff Reports
Mark Halperin dropped his latest “8 for ’28” rankings this week, and the top two names got more attention than the list itself. Governor Josh Shapiro and Senator Jon Ossoff sit at the top, but Halperin’s real headline was his worry about the Democratic Party: both men are Jewish, and he says intra‑party fights over Israel could make Jewish candidates a liability in 2028. That claim is the story worth watching.
Halperin’s ranking and his blunt warning
Halperin put Governor Josh Shapiro at No. 1 and Senator Jon Ossoff at No. 2. He argues both men won big in the midterms and look strong on electability. Halperin even calls an Ossoff surge an “Ossoff boomlet” and says Ossoff has the communication and fundraising chops to scare Republicans. But he also said something that should make Democrats uncomfortable: “I’ve had months where five of my top eight candidates… were Jews. None of them so far have taken this on.” In plain English, Halperin thinks the party’s debates about Israel could hurt Jewish contenders.
Why this matters: identity, Israel, and the Democratic base
Halperin didn’t frame this as culture talk for its own sake. He tied it to real shifts on the left — rising anti‑Israel sentiment and loud campus and activist pressure that sometimes slides into antisemitism. He even suggested that only big changes, like a new Israeli leader or a fading war, might make a Jewish candidate easier for parts of the Democratic base to accept. That is a blunt admission that identity and foreign‑policy fights could trump electability in primary voters’ minds.
Here’s the political reality line: if a party lets purity tests about Israel or identity politics decide who gets the nomination, it does so at its electoral peril. Halperin himself says electability still matters — he praises Ossoff’s Obama‑style rollout and Shapiro’s statewide strength — but he also worries the party will tangle itself in internecine battles. Republicans should notice this is not a weakness they made up. Democrats are arguing about whom they’ll accept as one of their own while the other side focuses on jobs, crime, and the economy.
Bottom line: Halperin’s November ranking is more than a list. It’s a warning that Democrats face a tradeoff between passion and power. If they prioritize grievance and gatekeeping on Israel, they may pick nominees who excite the base but lose the general. That’s not just Halperin’s hot take — it’s a political fact Republicans should relish and Democrats should worry about. And if the party wants to avoid that trap, its leaders will need to pick electability over purity before the 2028 lights go up.
