Senator Tammy Baldwin was first elected to the Senate in 2012. Prior to her election, Baldwin served for three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly and seven in the U.S. House. She is the first openly gay woman to serve in the House and the Senate, and the first woman from Wisconsin to serve in both chambers. She has consistently voted to expand healthcare access and various gun control measures. Baldwin is one of the leading Democratic voices in the Senate on abortion rights and is the lead sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act. JDCA endorsed her in 2018 and is proud to support her re-election in 2024.

Senator Bob Casey was first elected to the Senate in 2006. From legislation to crack down on terrorists’ financing, to a law that makes it easier for small businesses to expand, Senator Casey has passed into law a wide range of measures to keep Americans safe and financially secure. Prior to his election, Sen. Casey served as the Pennsylvania Auditor General and the Pennsylvania Treasurer. In 2018, he became the first Pennsylvania Senate Democrat to win a third consecutive term. Sen. Casey is outspoken on issues relating to gun control, climate change, and abortion. JDCA endorsed him in 2018 and has endorsed his reelection campaign in 2024.

Senator Gary Peters has represented the State of Michigan in the U.S. Senate since 2015. He has focused on uniting our communities by fighting for the things we all agree on — a stronger economy, good-paying jobs, affordable health care, a secure retirement and an opportunity for everyone to succeed. Peters was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008, where he served on the Financial Services Committee. While in his first term and one of the most junior members of the House, the Speaker appointed Gary to serve on the conference committee that wrote and finalized the sweeping Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act. He continued being a leading voice for Michigan – whether it was advocating for the auto rescue and Michigan manufacturing or ensuring small businesses had access to the capital needed to start, grow and succeed after the Great Recession. In the current 118th Congress, Gary is the Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Department of Homeland Security and is the Senate’s top oversight committee. He also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. In addition, Gary serves as one of six Congressional Regents on the Smithsonian Institute’s Board of Regents, which governs and administers the organization. In the U.S. Senate, Gary is recognized as one of the most effective and bipartisan Senators, according to the non-partisan Center for Effective Lawmaking (University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University) and the Lugar Center (Georgetown University).

Daniel C. Kurtzer is the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East policy studies at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. Following a 29-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Kurtzer retired in 2005 with the rank of Career-Minister. From 2001-2005 he served as the United States Ambassador to Israel and from 1997-2001 as the United States Ambassador to Egypt. Prior, he served as a political officer at the American embassies in Cairo and Tel Aviv, Deputy Director of the Office of Egyptian Affairs, speechwriter on the Policy Planning Staff, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. 

A distinguished public servant and business leader, Ambassador Nides served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2021 to 2023. Prior, he served as the U.S. State Department’s Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources from 2010 until 2013, Chief Administrative Officer and COO at Morgan Stanley, CEO of Burson-Marsteller in New York, Chief of Staff to the U.S. Trade Representative, and numerous other leadership roles in the private and public sectors.

Mr. Bash has spent the past 20 years advising national leaders and chief executives on a range of strategic, management, legal, and policy issues. He served as Chief of Staff in two national security departments or agencies: first as Chief of Staff to the Director of the CIA (2009-2011) and as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense (2011-2013). As a senior advisor to Leon E. Panetta in both roles, Mr. Bash worked on a number of key initiatives, including the creation of a new defense strategy, formation of two defense budgets, the drawdown of two wars, counterterrorism operations, a new cyber strategy, and a range of sensitive intelligence operations. Mr. Bash is now a founder and managing director at Beacon Global Strategies LLC.

Co-Chair of the Paul, Weiss Litigation Department, Karen Dunn is one of the nation’s top trial lawyers and is widely recognized for securing courtroom victories in difficult cases. Ms. Dunn has served in all three branches of government, including as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia; Associate White House Counsel under President Barack Obama; and Senior Advisor and Communications Director to former Sen. Hillary Clinton. Ms. Dunn also led presidential debate prep for President Obama in 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020.

Marc Elias has played a crucial role in many of the voting rights victories we have witnessed over the last two decades. The country’s leading voting rights attorney, Marc is the founding partner of the Elias Law Group, has represented both the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and has served as general counsel for former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, and Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2020, Marc led efforts to fight voter disenfranchisement cases in the lead up to the general election, and in its aftermath, stopped Donald Trump and his legal team’s efforts to steal the election by winning a remarkable 64 out of the 65 of the bogus election lawsuits. In 2021, Marc became the first recipient of JDCA’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Justice Award. 

Michael Koplow is the chief policy officer of Israel Policy Forum, and serves as a senior research fellow of the Kogod Research Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Before that, he was the founding program director of the Israel Institute. Michael holds a Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University, where he specialized in political development and ideology, and the politics of Middle Eastern states, as well as a B.A. from Brandeis University, a J.D. from New York University, and an A.M. in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. Michael joined us the week following the October 7 attack to discuss the crisis in Israel and the U.S. response, and we are thrilled to welcome him back to JDCA to hear his unique analysis and insight.

An experienced television news producer and highly regarded political strategist and thought-leader, Simon has spent three decades in national media and politics. He is a veteran of two Presidential campaigns, including a senior role in the famous 1992 Clinton War Room. In 1996, he founded the New Democrat Network/New Policy Institute, where he advised leading politicians, Administration officials and policy makers on a wide range of issues here in the United States and abroad. Throughout the 2022 midterm elections, Simon boltered his reputation as a Democratic strategist by continuously remaining one of the sole optimistic voices about Democrats’ chances in 2022, despite the broadly believed narrative of a “red wave.” After the lessons he learned from 2022, Simon decided to move on from NDN and began a new venture, dubbed “Hopium Chronicles,” where he is countering the MAGA narrative through hope and optimism.

Amy Spitalnick is the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the national convener of Jewish coalitions working across communities to build a just and inclusive American democracy. She previously served as Executive Director of Integrity First for America, which won its groundbreaking lawsuit against the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups responsible for the Charlottesville violence. Under Amy’s leadership, IFA became a powerful national voice in the fight against white supremacy and extremism – and its Charlottesville case has emerged as a model for accountability.

Becca Siegel is Senior Advisor and Chief Strategist on the Biden campaign, where she focuses on electoral strategy, data and analytics, voter targeting and voter contact, messaging, and polling. She has worked at the intersection of politics and data for over a decade, and has held roles on each of the past five presidential campaigns. In the first year of the Biden Administration, Becca served as Senior Advisor to the White House COVID-19 Response Team, using data to help direct federal pandemic resources and guiding the strategy for the public education campaign to increase vaccine confidence. In 2019 and 2020, Becca was the Chief Analytics Officer on the Biden campaign.