Good Tuesday morning. 

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview today’s elections in Wisconsin and Florida, and report on the Trump administration’s plans to review nearly $9 billion in federal contracts and commitments to Harvard University. We spotlight new Columbia University President Claire Shipman and cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backtracking of his appointment of Eli Sharvit to head the Shin Bet following domestic pushback as well as criticism from Sen. Lindsey Graham. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Aner Shapira, Sen. Jim Risch and David Friedman.

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The Trump administration’s first political report card is coming out tonight — and many Republicans are bracing for some humbling results, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes. 

Voters in Wisconsin — the ultimate battleground state — are heading to the polls to vote for a state Supreme Court justice in a race that has turned into a proxy battle between liberal and MAGA forces. And in Florida, Republicans are concerned that Democrats could run competitively in two of the most Trump-friendly House districts in the country, in a sign of the political winds shifting since last November’s election.

The biggest bellwether will be in Wisconsin, where an ostensibly nonpartisan judicial contest — between liberal Dane County judge Susan Crawford and conservative Waukesha County judge Brad Schimel for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court — has turned into a referendum on the Trump administration’s record and, in particular, DOGE architect Elon Musk.  

The billionaire Trump advisor traveled to Wisconsin last weekend to campaign for Schimel (and hand $1 million checks to supporters), after groups aligned with him poured in over $13 million into the race. Meanwhile, Crawford’s advertising has prominently featured Musk as a boogeyman, betting that his aggressive cuts to government will prove unpopular in a working-class swing state.

In addition to serving as a political bellwether, the race will determine the ideological bent of the state’s Supreme Court. A Schimel win will give conservatives a working majority, while a Crawford win allows liberals to maintain their narrow advantage.

Meanwhile, in Florida, two solidly conservative Republican seats have also become unlikely proving grounds for the Republican Party. Republicans have been alarmed by polling showing GOP state Sen. Randy Fine underperforming against Democrat Josh Weil in a Daytona Beach-area district that Trump carried by 30 points last year. 

Fine, who would be the fourth Jewish Republican in Congress, is expected to win in the 6th Congressional District, but the margin of victory will be consequential. If Republicans can’t win a ruby-red district by double digits, it will be a serious warning sign about the GOP’s precarious standing after President Donald Trump’s first two months in office. 

Under normal circumstances, Weil’s hard-left views would make him a poor candidate in any district, no less one with a significant Republican advantage. But with angry Democrats energized (he’s raised $10 million, mainly from small-dollar donors) and MAGA-aligned Republicans less likely to show up to vote without Trump on a ballot, Democrats are hoping to make a statement by keeping the race close. 

The other race to keep an eye on is the special election in Florida’s 1st District, which Trump carried by a whopping 37 points. Republican Jimmy Patronis, the former Florida CFO, is heavily favored to win, but the overall margin will also be instructive. (Early voting data suggest Democrats are cutting the GOP’s typical advantage by about half.)

The stormy political environment for Republicans — just two months into Trump’s second term — explains why he abruptly pulled Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) nomination to serve as U.N. ambassador. Even though her upstate New York district is one of the most Republican in the state — one Trump carried by 25 points — Republicans didn’t want to risk a competitive race when their House majority is so narrow.

That said, if Republicans have to worry about solidly red districts at this early point in Trump’s presidency, they will have bigger worries than Stefanik’s seat. Not only would Democrats entertain the possibility of a blue midterm wave, but it will be more challenging for Republicans to stick together for tough votes, as more will worry about the political consequences back home.

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Ramping up its pressure campaign against Ivy League schools, the Trump administration notified Harvard University on Monday in a letter that it is reviewing the school’s billions of dollars in federal funding, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. The newly formed Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism will review $255.6 million in contracts and $8.7 billion in multiyear grant commitments between the government and Harvard, first reported by The Free Press and later announced by the Department of Education.

McMahon memo: “Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus.”

Read the full story here.

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President Donald Trump said on Monday that former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Special Envoy Ric Grenell and a slew of other candidates are interested in the role of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Oval office gossip: “For the replacement, we have a lot of people that have asked about it, and would like to do it. David Friedman, Ric Grenell, and maybe 30 other people. Everyone loves that position. That's a star-making position,” Trump said. Trump also confirmed that an upcoming trip  — which he said could be next month or “a little bit later” — to the Middle East, expected to be his first trip abroad during his second term, will include Saudi Arabia, Qatar and potentially the United Arab Emirates and other nations in the region.

Read the full story here.

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After Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong’s abrupt resignation on Friday, several of the university’s congressional antagonists quickly jumped in to criticize Armstrong’s successor, former ABC News journalist and Columbia board Co-Chair Claire Shipman. But a different reaction came from the White House: subtle praise. The Trump administration’s antisemitism task force called Columbia’s Friday night actions an “important step,” which an administration official confirmed was in reaction to Shipman’s appointment. On Columbia’s campus, the news was met with cautious optimism from pro-Israel student leaders, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Haley Cohen report.

Watching and waiting: Shipman, a veteran reporter and author with no academic leadership experience, has publicly stood by the university’s leadership as co-chair of Columbia’s board of trustees in response to the antisemitism that exploded on campus after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. “We’re in desperate need of strong leadership willing to make the deep-seated reforms necessary to save the university at this pivotal moment,” said Eden Yadegar, a senior studying Middle East studies and modern Jewish studies who last year testified before Congress about the antisemitism she has faced on Columbia’s campus. Yadegar declined to elaborate on whether she believes Shipman will bring about those reforms. 

Read the full story here.

Shut down: The Instagram page of the anti-Israel coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest was disabled on Monday for the second time since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, a spokesperson for Meta confirmed to JI’s Haley Cohen. 

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing the appointment of former Israeli Navy commander Eli Sharvit as the next chief of the Shin Bet — just a day after tapping him — following pushback in the governing coalition as well as a public rebuke from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over Sharvit’s past comments criticizing President Donald Trump, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov and Emily Jacobs report. 

Criticism of Trump: Graham wrote on X on Monday morning that Israeli leaders should rethink Sharvit’s hiring, which he described as “beyond problematic” because of the former naval commander’s past criticism of Trump. Sharvit published an op-ed in January lambasting the 47th president’s environmental policies as short-sighted and profit-driven rather than focused on addressing climate change. "We live in an era where the public demands more accountability from governments and corporations. Trump's choice to ignore these demands sends a message to the world that the United States is shirking its global leadership," Sharvit wrote in the Jan. 23 piece, published in Calcalist.

Read the full story here.

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The IDF has drawn up plans to significantly expand its presence in Gaza in the coming weeks in an effort to increase pressure on Hamas to free the remaining 59 hostages, a senior Israeli defense source said on Monday. Residents of Rafah, in southern Gaza, received notices from the IDF on Monday to evacuate the area and move north of the city. The notices were part of the Israeli military’s plan, presented in a press briefing on Monday, to gradually evacuate Palestinians from more areas in Gaza and drastically widen the buffer zone between Israeli towns and Gazans in all directions in the coming weeks, with an emphasis on the north and south of the Strip, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. 

Increasing pressure: If Hamas does not agree to a hostage deal, Israel will call up large numbers of reservists and return to a full-scale ground war, the source said. Responding to anti-Hamas protesters in Gaza last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a message to Palestinians there that the terror group “is endangering your lives and will lead you to lose your homes and more and more territory will be made part of Israel’s security zone … Demand that Hamas leave Gaza and immediately release all of the Israeli hostages. That is the only way to stop the war.” Israel believes that its current military operations in Gaza will increase pressure on Hamas to free the hostages, and the defense source posited that they were already seeing results in the indirect negotiations with the terrorist group.

Read the full story here.

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Some Jewish groups are urging the Supreme Court to weigh in on a series of cases related to religious liberty and separation of church and state before the justices in the current term, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

On the docket: In one case, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, the justices are being asked to consider whether a state may exclude religious schools from its taxpayer-funded charter school program based on concerns around the separation of church and state. The Oklahoma charter school, if established, would be the first case in which public funds would directly fund a religious school. “The Supreme Court has already ruled multiple times that state and local governments cannot engage in legislative acrobatics to exclude religious schools from public funding opportunities that are available to others,” Nathan Diament, the OU’s executive director for public policy, said in a statement. “We hope the Court will use this latest case to drop the hammer and declare without question that religious discrimination is unconstitutional.” 

Read the full story here.

Green Card Blues: The editorial board of The Free Press raises concerns about the lack of evidence provided by the federal government tying individuals it seeks to deport to activities that would qualify them for deportation. “In no universe should America — or any other sovereign nation — have to admit and host guests who violate its laws or seek its destruction. No one is entitled to a green card. And it’s the government’s prerogative to take it away. The problem is that the administration attempted to bypass a critically important step — one that seems to us essential for basic public trust in the rule of law. If the government wants to revoke the student visa or the green card of a permanent legal resident, as it did on March 8 with Mahmoud Khalil, then it should provide the evidence that these individuals engaged in the kind of antisocial and illegal activities [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio claims. The protocol cannot be: This student is a national security threat — trust us. But that is the kind of sloppiness that is typifying the Trump administration’s deportations thus far.” [FreePress]

The Ties That Bind: The Wall Street Journal’s Timothy Martin, Ming Li and Roque Ruiz spotlight the deepening relationship between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — referred to as CRINK — as the four countries find themselves united in backing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and in opposition to the U.S. “Cooperation between the four nations isn’t new. Russia and Iran allied to support the Assad regime in Syria, while China has long been North Korea’s main patron and Beijing and Moscow’s relationship has been deepening for years. But the war multiplied those ties and helped knit the quartet together. The four are ‘promoting alternative systems to compete with the United States, primarily in trade, finance and security,’ according to a recent assessment by U.S. spy agencies. Russia’s need to fuel its war effort has put Moscow at the center of the entente. It has turned to Chinese firms for goods critical for making the arms it needs in Ukraine. … Iran has provided Russia with drone expertise, giving it a critical boost in a conflict dominated by the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Tehran has sent Shahed drones as well as blueprints and technical assistance for Russia to increase its own drone manufacturing. Military cooperation has gone hand-in-hand with economic ties.” [WSJ]

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A new poll from the Associated Press/NORC found that a majority of Americans — 54% — disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; two-thirds of those surveyed said that Israel was a close ally or friendly with the U.S….

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that the committee plans to vote on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel this week; the committee has votes scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday…

The chairs of Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees are threatening to sanction the United Nations Human Rights Council and its members if the council moves forward on plans to create a new special body to investigate Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Former Washington City Councilmember Trayon White, who was expelled following a federal bribery indictment, announced plans to run for his former seat in the city’s 8th Ward; White had faced criticism for a series of antisemitic comments and conspiracy theories he made and shared while in office…

A Cornell University student with British and Gambian citizenship opted to self-deport after his student visa was revoked over his participation in anti-Israel campus activities as well as his support for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel...

The University of Chicago is conducting an investigation into a faculty member’s display of antisemitic signs in his campus office…

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich resigned from the Cabinet on Monday and returned to the Knesset as part of a tactical move meant to preserve the size of his party's parliamentary faction. Netanyahu is expected to reappoint Smotrich as finance minister in the coming days, but the move is not without risks: The appointment needs majority approval in the Knesset, and other coalition parties may block it, whether it be Otzma Yehudit because it lost a Knesset member due to Smotrich's return, or United Torah Judaism over continuing disputes related to Haredi conscription to the IDF, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized what Iranian state television said were two foreign tankers carrying nearly 800,000 gallons of fuel…

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened a severe response to any U.S. moves to attack Iran…

The Financial Times posits that the window for the U.S. and Iran to de-escalate tensions around Tehran’s nuclear program is narrowing…

Iran and global terrorist organizations, including ISIS, plan to target Jews and Israelis traveling during Passover, Israel’s National Security Council warned on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…

SCREENSHOT

“Looking for Love,” the posthumously produced album by Aner Shapira, a victim of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival, was launched at a concert in Jerusalem last week. Shapira is known for his actions during the onslaught, catching and throwing back seven grenades that Hamas terrorists threw into a roadside shelter, saving the lives of others before an eighth grenade killed him. Shapira’s best friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was kidnapped, along with several others, from the same shelter and murdered in captivity in August. 

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Lawyer, turned political thriller novelist, Brad Meltzer turns 55...

Physicist and 1997 Nobel Prize laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji turns 92... Psychotherapist in South Florida, Annie Schlachet Garfield, LCSW... Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, he is a nephew of Moshe Dayan, Uzi Dayan turns 77... Former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar turns 77... Research professor at Boston University noted for her studies in relation to parrots, Irene Maxine Pepperberg, Ph.D. turns 76... Former president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, she was previously a Democratic member of the Michigan Senate, Gilda Z. Jacobs turns 76... Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. since 2006, Justice Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. turns 75... Professor at SUNY New Paltz, her writing is focused on presidential war powers and national security law, Nancy Kassop turns 75... Singer-songwriter best known as the original lead guitarist for Sha Na Na and as the youngest person, at age 18, to play on the main stage at Woodstock in 1969, Henry Gross turns 74... Producer and director for film and television including the "Men in Black" trilogy, Barry Sonnenfeld turns 72... Lecturer at Stony Brook University's School of Journalism, he is a columnist for Straus Media, Jonathan P. Friedman... Six-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida, he is the founder of the Ben Gamla Charter School in Florida (2007) and now lives in Ra'anana, Israel, Peter Deutsch turns 68... President of Baltimore-based HealthSource Distributors, Jerry L. Wolasky turns 67... Author of over 200 children's books, Mark Shulman turns 63... Former member of the Knesset for the Kadima party, she made aliyah from the Soviet Union in 1979, Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich turns 61... VP of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress and a leader of the Jewish community of Kyiv, Alexander (Aaron) Levin turns 57... Israeli writer, speaker and blogger, Daniel Ravner turns 49... Senior policy advisor to then-VPOTUS Kamala Harris, earlier she was the COO at J Street, Jessica "Jess" Smith turns 48... Professor at Villanova University, he won a gold medal in soccer at the Pan American Maccabi Games in 2008, Bret Myers turns 45... Four-year star basketball player at the University of Maryland including a national championship (2006), she was drafted by the WNBA but played mostly in Israel, now a venture capitalist, Shay Doron turns 40... Film and television actor, Joshua Ryan Zuckerman turns 40... Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, Noah L. Schwartz... Assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Treasury, her grandmother is noted philanthropist Lynne Honickman, Julia Aviva Hahn turns 34... Ronald Lippman...

BIRTHWEEK: Founding director of the Illinois Holocaust Museum, Emmy Award recipient for the documentary ‘Skokie: Invaded But Not Conquered,’ and director of American Jewish Committee’s Los Angeles office, Rick Hirschhaut (was Monday)...