FORT LAUDERDALE — Rashida Tlaib is bringing the Democratic Party’s increasingly bitter family feud to South Florida Friday — and the identity of two incumbents facing the insurgency is generating a fight of its own.
The Michigan Democrat is scheduled to appear at the “Chomp the Oligarchy” rally in Fort Lauderdale supporting progressive congressional candidates, including challengers seeking to defeat Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Both incumbents are Jewish. Both have been outspoken supporters of Israel. And Republican Rep. Randy Fine says that is no accident. “I think that it’s no coincidence that she’s coming to target two of the remaining Jewish Democrats,” Fine told Fox News Digital.
Tlaib has strongly denied accusations of antisemitism in the past, and there is no evidence that the religion of Moskowitz or Wasserman Schultz is why she is supporting their opponents. What is beyond dispute is that Tlaib has become one of the country’s most prominent congressional critics of Israel and an important ally of the Democratic Party’s socialist left.
I think it’s disgusting that this Muslim terror supporter is coming to Florida to target two Jews.
Michigan may have fallen to mainstream Muslim politicians like Tlaib and Abdulrahman Mohammed El-Sayed, but we aren’t falling for that in Florida. https://t.co/u9IQHAo9AU
— Randy Fine (@VoteRandyFine) August 12, 2026
And that left is on a roll. Friday’s rally comes days before Florida’s Aug. 18 primary and amid a remarkable year of Democratic incumbent defeats. At least six House Democrats have already lost primaries in 2026, according to Axios, as progressive candidates challenge established Democrats from New York to Colorado to Michigan. Then came Abdul El-Sayed’s victory over establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.
Tlaib campaigned with El-Sayed. Now she’s coming to Florida. And one of the most closely watched races involves Moskowitz and democratic socialist Oliver Larkin.
Larkin, a former Bernie Sanders organizer, supports Medicare for All, tuition-free public college, major housing initiatives and abolishing ICE. His challenge is being watched as a test of whether the socialist movement can break out of heavily progressive urban districts and win in more politically complicated territory.
That’s a much bigger story than one congresswoman making one campaign appearance. The Democratic establishment has a rebellion on its hands.
Fine, Florida’s lone Jewish Republican in Congress, framed Tlaib’s visit in much harsher terms. “The Democrats are lost,” he told Fox News. Fine accused the party’s far-left faction of making Jewish Americans feel unsafe and charged that the candidates Democrats are increasingly nominating “do not love America.”
“They hate it. They are here to destroy it, and no one embodies that better than Rashida Tlaib,” Fine said. Tlaib and other Democrats have previously accused Fine of anti-Muslim bigotry.
Moskowitz has carved out an unusual lane as a Democrat willing to work with Republicans and publicly spar with his own party. Larkin is attacking that approach from the left, portraying Moskowitz as too accommodating to Republicans and too supportive of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
And Larkin isn’t merely running a protest campaign.
Recent reporting describes him as a serious challenger with an extensive grassroots operation, including tens of thousands of doors knocked by campaign volunteers.
Earlier polling commissioned by Larkin’s campaign also showed substantial movement toward him after voters were given additional information about the candidates, although campaign-funded polling should obviously be treated cautiously. So Tlaib isn’t flying south to wave at a candidate polling at 3%. There is a real primary fight underway.
Wasserman Schultz’s situation is even more politically complicated because Florida’s new congressional map scrambled the state’s Democratic districts.
The former Democratic National Committee chair is seeking another term after redistricting radically altered the South Florida map, and her move into a majority-Black district has drawn criticism from Black political leaders and candidates.
There are fights over representation, redistricting, ideology, incumbency and generational change all colliding at once. But Tlaib’s presence adds Israel to an already combustible mixture.
This is where the story becomes especially uncomfortable for Democrats.
Tlaib was formally censured by the House in 2023 over her rhetoric concerning Israel and Hamas following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. She rejected accusations that she was promoting antisemitism and said her criticism was directed at the Israeli government, not Jewish people.
That distinction remains central to the argument surrounding her. Her supporters say criticism of Israel — even fierce criticism — is not antisemitism. Her critics contend that parts of the anti-Israel left repeatedly cross that line. And now Tlaib is campaigning against Democrats whose Jewish identity and support for Israel are both highly visible.
Fine’s “no coincidence” accusation is therefore politically potent.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Fox News — Tlaib under fire for working to unseat two Jewish House Democrats in Florida: ‘No coincidence’
- New York Post — Rashida Tlaib slammed for targeting Jewish House Democrats in Florida primaries
- The Guardian — Is Florida ready for a democratic socialist?
- Axios — 2026 is turning into a bloodbath for safe-seat House Democrats
- Oliver Larkin campaign polling memo — FL-25 Democratic primary
