Last time Rep. Bill Pascrell faced a serious primary challenge, he ended up winning by a 20-point margin after the Arab American community rallied in support of the New Jersey Democrat. Now that same constituency is turning against him, posing a major threat to the 14-term House member over his stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

Arab Americans protested outside his district office in Paterson, home to Little Ramallah, the largest Palestinian American enclave in the country. They’ve held press conferences demanding a cease-fire and, last week, interrupted a fundraiser to confront him over his pro-Israel position. Most consequentially, some Arab Americans plan to mobilize against the 86-year-old when he seeks reelection next year.

Former supporters now call him a “charlatan” and a “mouthpiece for the dehumanization of Palestinian people.” They say Pascrell’s seeming indifference to their concerns over Israel’s offensive in Gaza and his refusal to back a cease-fire has led them to consider backing Democratic challengers in June — including a former aide.

“You can’t call yourself a friend of the community and then turn your back on them,” said Feras Awwad, a local school board member in the city of Clifton whose grandparents hail from Ein Karem, a village outside Jerusalem. “There’s not a chance in hell anybody’s going to be supporting him.”

The rising tension in Pascrell’s 9th congressional district is a striking reflection of the broader fault lines running through the national Democratic party following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Federal lawmakers have strongly backed Israel’s right to defend itself but, after two months of Israel pummeling Gaza, killing about 20,000 people, they’ve faced increasing pressure from the left to push for an end to the offensive.

One of the biggest names to join calls for a cease-fire is Rep. Katie Porter, a California Democrat running for that state’s open Senate seat in 2024. But the vast majority of Democrats in Washington take the same view Pascrell expressed at a fundraiser Monday in Paterson.

“I can’t control the politics of Israel,” he said, according to a video of his remarks obtained by POLITICO. “But they have every right to protect themselves and defend themselves. Case closed.”

While Arab Americans are an important constituency for Pascrell, they make up a relatively small bloc in a district that includes two dozen towns in heavily Jewish Bergen County. That’s made it impossible for the representative to please the entire Democratic base.

Pascrell has tried since the Oct. 7 attacks to tread a fine rhetorical line. He backed a “humanitarian pause” and pushed for more aid into Gaza, but, like most House members, did not sign onto a resolution calling for a cease-fire (his Democratic colleagues Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman and Donald Payne Jr. were the only lawmakers from New Jersey to do so).

In public statements and in letters to the White House, Pascrell has pushed for the release of hostages and advocated for “good faith efforts” between Palestinians and Israelis to reach a two-state solution. Until then, he said that “restraint to protect innocent civilian lives” is the most prudent path forward.

“I hear and feel powerfully the anguish of our community and like millions of Americans I desperately want a permanent end to the fighting as soon as possible and a major flow of humanitarian aid provided by America to protect Palestinians and begin the rebuilding of Gaza,” Pascrell said in a statement to POLITICO.

Some of his constituents don’t accept his public statements as enough. Since the start of the war, members of the Arab American community have met with Pascrell and other federal and state leaders, including Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Sen. Cory Booker and Gov. Phil Murphy, expressing their concerns and pressing them to support a cease-fire. But some residents and leaders said they don’t feel Pascrell has been receptive and have made it clear to him that he is no longer welcome in their mosques, businesses and homes given his unwavering support for Israel.

“He’s been somebody who in past years had been engaged in the community,” said Ahmet Akdag, a resident of Clifton who is both Turkish and Muslim. “We just don’t feel like he’s been reciprocating as we had hoped and what we had expected.”

A native of Paterson who served as its mayor and in the New Jersey Legislature before his 1996 election to the House, Pascrell is one of New Jersey’s more colorful political figures. He is well known for speaking passionately with a North Jersey accent — and at considerable length — when given the opportunity, whether it’s on the House floor or at a local press conference.

His style and stances have endeared him in the past to the Arab American community. Other Muslim leaders said Pascrell had been much more responsive to them in the past, particularly in 2012, when he was forced into a Democratic primary in the newly redrawn 9th district against incumbent Rep. Steve Rothman. Pascrell, who was then representing the 8th district, was seen within the Arab American community as a strong alternative to the Jewish, staunchly pro-Israel Rothman.

Salaheddin Mustafa, who helped lead the grassroots Muslim effort to make Pascrell the Democratic nominee in 2012, recalls inviting Pascrell to an office on nearby Route 46 to fill him in on their plans to organize support by going town by town in the new district.

“We led, he followed,” said Mustafa, who is also outreach director for the Islamic Center of Passaic County.

Pascrell trounced Rothman in the primary, capturing 61 percent of the vote. The Record newspaper reported that year that Pascrell won 90 percent of the vote in the new district’s six Passaic County towns — including Paterson, which has the second largest Arab American community in the country, according to the city.

But that level of support seems unattainable following Israel’s invasion of Gaza and a death toll that hits close to home. More than 1,000 Palestinians with relatives in North Jersey have been killed in the conflict, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ New Jersey chapter. The council’s vice chair, Ali Aljarrah, was one of the protesters at the fundraiser. He said Pascrell’s response since Oct. 7 contrasts with the person the Arab American community helped reelect.

“He was the guy. He was essentially like our T.E. Lawrence in Congress,” he said, referring to the British diplomat known as Lawrence of Arabia. “That’s why Arabs got involved. They saw Steve Rothman in 2012 as this pro-Zionist candidate, and you have a lot of Arabs who live in the district who just did not want someone who would toe the party line. …. That’s why they went out and got Pascrell elected.”

Now, he said, Pascrell is the one toeing the party line.

Muslim residents say they may have found someone more aligned with them in Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, a former Pascrell communications assistant. Sayegh is of Syrian and Lebanese descent, speaks Arabic and has been among the few politicians in New Jersey to vocally back a cease-fire. He declined to comment on speculation he will run for Pascrell’s seat. But he told the Paterson Press, after it reported his recent political donations to organizations in Bergen and Hudson county towns that make up the 9th district, that “if you have ambition and ability, you shouldn’t restrict your opportunities.”

Any challenger would face difficulties against Pascrell. He has strong organizational support and, despite its large Arab population, the 9th district is also dominated by heavily Jewish towns in neighboring Bergen County. But the frustrations and disappointments with Pascrell extend beyond the Arab American community to younger, more liberal and even some Jewish voters in the district, Mustafa said. The goal is to build a political infrastructure for the long term “so that our community doesn’t have to deal with charlatans like Congressman Pascrell,” he said.

“It’s not the community that he knew on October 6,” Mustafa said. “It’s a much more unified community. It’s a much more demanding community. It’s a community that’s not going to allow people like Pascrell to use us for his own personal gain and abandon us like he’s doing now.”

Senate Republicans are working closely with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they try to craft a bipartisan border security deal.

Which creates a new problem for the GOP negotiators: If they succeed, they’ll need to sell that deal to colleagues who loathe Mayorkas and, later, House Republicans who are trying to impeach him.

Mayorkas’ role in the high-stakes border talks is confined to policy proposals, not politics. He’s participating to assess border changes without deciding what the White House might ultimately back, according to a person familiar with the talks who was granted anonymity to address them.

His presence is nonetheless a conundrum for Republicans — many of whom will get asked to vote for legislation that bears the mark of a Biden official they have fought for literally a decade.

“I’m skeptical” of the DHS secretary, said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has clashed with Mayorkas since the Obama administration. “Hearing for three years that the border’s secure when every day, you can see it’s not secure? He’s living in dreamland.”

At the moment, Mayorkas’ talks with Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) are advancing despite facing huge hurdles. They’ve made progress on changes to asylum standards but remain at odds over dialing back the president’s parole authority and new expulsion authority, according to a second person briefed on the talks.

After the Senate left for the year on Wednesday, discussions are set to continue throughout the holiday season. Mayorkas’ involvement may not squash GOP support for any deal to pair new migration limits with Ukraine aid. But it undoubtedly complicates the already delicate task of selling that agreement to Republicans who are loath to compromise.

“I don’t think Mayorkas gets it done. I mean, you’ve seen his performance on the border, it’s worse than abysmal,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said. “We have him up for hearings. And he sits there and says the border’s secure. He’s not even dealing with reality.”

In the House, Mayorkas’ impeachment is taking a back seat to the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden — but even GOP lawmakers who don’t favor going that far are not fans of the DHS chief. And one of Republican senators’ biggest challenges is ensuring they cut a deal that the GOP-controlled House can support.

Mayorkas’ presence is particularly tricky on that front, given that support for impeaching him is growing among House Republicans. Even former skeptics like Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) are now ready to boot the DHS chief from office, and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) is working to court moderates. Gonzales and his centrist allies are some of the same Republicans whom senators hope might vote for any deal on new border restrictions.

And as Republicans recoil, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Mayorkas’ engagement was one of the most critical aspects of the whole talks.

“We made sure Mayorkas was in the room. He’s very, very helpful. He knows the details,” Schumer said in an interview.

Republicans are arguing that Biden will ultimately close any deal, not Mayorkas, since the Cabinet secretary is charged with getting a deal that functionally works, not counting votes. The technical information he provides is integral to the talks, according to senators in both parties.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said that without Mayorkas, “I don’t know how you’d reach an agreement that would work.”

Even those who don’t particularly like him concede that it makes sense for Mayorkas to dig into the negotiations. And he’s certainly not there to be the chief spokesperson: As he enters and exits the Capitol meetings, he does not engage with reporters and rarely utters more than pleasantries.

“He still has the president’s confidence, evidently, so it seems natural to me that he’d be at the table,” said Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.).

As to Mayorkas’ stewardship of the department, Young added: “Pathetic.”

Republicans are livid about Mayorkas’ recent testimony on Capitol Hill that the administration’s approach is “working” as border flows hit daily highs. The GOP’s beef with him is long-standing: He received zero Republican supporters 10 years ago to become deputy secretary and just six GOP votes in 2021 in his confirmation to lead the department.

Many immigration policy advocates and former administration officials view Mayorkas as the administration’s scapegoat on the hot-button issue of immigration. He has the often thankless jobs of unveiling challenging policy announcements and defending the Biden administration’s record, even as immigration policy extends well beyond DHS.

“He’s carrying out the direction from the White House. I believe if he had freer reign, he would take different approaches,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who voted for Mayorkas in 2021. “I hope these bipartisan discussions will give him the tools that he desperately needs.”

Mayorkas lawyered up earlier this year to combat House GOP efforts to impeach him. Protesters even targeted his Washington home. But despite the pressure, a third person who’s worked closely with him — granted anonymity to speak candidly about the secretary — described him as a “good soldier” with a high tolerance for chaos.

While the White House seeks to protect Biden from the deluge of criticism surrounding the border, Mayorkas is occasionally taking heavy blowback from the left as well as Republicans.

“No man has done more to take on … one of the largest policy and political topics in this country than Secretary Mayorkas,” said Jason Houser, the former chief of staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Biden. “The secretary has been out almost on an island.”

Still, some immigration advocates warn Mayorkas’ credibility may suffer if a deal comes together that is opposed by progressives and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Mayorkas “would be forever tied to these policies that he had always previously marked as too extreme,” said one former Biden and Obama administration official, delivering that warning on condition of anonymity.

He is publicly pleading for more border funding, telling lawmakers the $13.6 billion included in the president’s national security funding request would help “tremendously” with border enforcement by providing money for additional personnel and technology. He’s said that he’s open to border policy changes but pushes for broader immigration reform instead of smaller-scale policies.

“We fully endorse the need for policy changes, not in piecemeal form, but in a comprehensive form,” Mayorkas told lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee last month.

Yet the administration now finds itself forced to consider such piecemeal proposals. Republicans hemmed in Biden’s $106 billion foreign aid request until Democrats made concessions on the border. There’s little talk of comprehensive overhauls lately and no hint of any legalization of undocumented immigrants.

And until Biden gives more forceful direction to Democrats, Republicans don’t see the border talks concluding with them cutting a deal with Mayorkas, anyway.

“I’m told that he’s trying to help. He’s very knowledgeable. But he doesn’t have any authority,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “We’re not going to reach any kind of agreement until the president tells us what, if anything, he’s willing to do to secure the border.”

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

House Republicans may have found a way to salvage their flailing prospects in a crucial swing seat.

A heavy last-ditch recruitment effort from House Republican leaders pushed Ohio state Rep. Derek Merrin to jump into a chaotic primary for a Toledo-based district just before the state’s Wednesday filing deadline. The GOP was left reeling last week when their preferred candidate, Craig Riedel, was caught on tape bashing former President Donald Trump, setting off a mad dash to find a new recruit to beat veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

But the plan is risky. The GOP is worried about a repeat of last year, when J.R. Majewski won the primary but lost to Kaptur. Riedel is remaining in the race, raising the real risk that he and Merrin split the anti-Majewski vote, opening up a path for him to take the nomination again.

Republicans had been banking on Riedel to block Majewski in the March primary. Majewski lost the race by 13 points last cycle after a news report indicated he misrepresented his military service in Afghanistan, and top Republicans believe Majewski would lose again to the incumbent.

Controversial recruits very likely cost House Republicans from winning a bigger majority in 2022, and they are determined not to let that happen again in 2024. Kaptur is one of just five Democrats in a district that Trump won in 2020, and Republicans consider her extremely vulnerable. But the audio leak left them worried about Riedel’s ability to win a primary.

So top House Republicans launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to woo Merrin, a mayor-turned-state legislator who nearly became speaker of the Ohio House earlier this year. The Toledo Blade first reported Merrin’s entrance into the race Wednesday.

Speaker Mike Johnson called Merrin to urge him to run, according to two people familiar with the conversation. National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Dan Conston, the president of the Johnson-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC, also encouraged him. The general pitch: This is one of the most winnable seats in the country if we can stop Majewski from winning the primary.

Their efforts paid off Wednesday. But the battle is just beginning.

Riedel will stay in the race, according to his campaign, and the possibility that Majewski could win the primary with a plurality isn’t just hypothetical: It’s precisely what happened in 2022, when Riedel and a third candidate similarly tried to block Majewski from the nomination but ended up splitting the vote instead.

“We’re very confident we are going to win the primary,” said Mark Harris, a spokesperson for Riedel. “The more they encourage other people to run, the beneficiary of that is likely to be Majewski.”

Harris said no one from House leadership or the House GOP campaign arm asked Riedel to get out of the race.

Riedel had more than $500,000 banked by the end of September for the primary, and he’s already gone negative. Last week, he launched a TV ad in West Palm Beach — almost certainly aimed at trying to earn a Trump endorsement — accusing Majewski of calling the former president “an idiot” in a private message.

But Merrin is likely to garner the support of party leaders in D.C. who can funnel money and support his bid. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the largest House GOP super PAC, has identified the district as one of its top targets and is prepared to play in GOP primaries in key swing seats. Now Merrin will have to move quickly to fundraise and get a campaign off the ground.

Merrin’s state legislative district, to which he was appointed in 2016, overlaps with some of the congressional district, so he already knows some of the voters. His profile rose last year when the state House GOP chose him as their nominee for speaker, though he was denied the post when Democrats joined with some Republican members to elect a different leader. Merrin is term-limited in the state House and cannot seek reelection in 2024.

Kaptur, the Democratic incumbent, was first elected in 1982. Her seat became much more competitive during the decennial redistricting.

Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.