Israel's relationship with Democrats on Capitol Hill is rapidly deteriorating, with a growing number of lawmakers saying they can no longer support U.S. funding for even the country's defensive weaponry.

Why it matters: Opposing the use of American taxpayer dollars to fund Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system was "seen as insanely fringe four years ago," Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) told us. No longer.

• Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) told us he "cannot support more military assistance" to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he has "supported Iron Dome in the past, but there doesn't seem to be any accountability."
• Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told us he doesn't think that position is "wildly controversial in light of what the Israeli government has said for a long time."
• "I think many of us are in the place of saying, 'They have enough money to wage the wars they're doing, they don't need our money, period," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).

The intrigue: McGovern, Huffman and Pocan voted to fund Iron Dome in 2021, along with 207 of their Democratic colleagues and 210 Republicans.

Zoom in: "I've never seen public opinion change as fast on any issue, including gay marriage ... as it has on the U.S.-Israel relationship," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

• Khanna previously voted for Iron Dome funding but now opposes it.
• He acknowledged Congress is a "lagging indicator" but said that "even here, [opinion on Israel] is slowly changing."

Zoom out: "More than anything, the Iran war has probably been the issue," a swing-district House Democrat told us on the condition of anonymity.

• "That's the bigger issue because you have people like, 'Why are we in this f*cking war?' And all lines lead to Netanyahu."

Even Netanyahu himself, Frost noted, has said he wants to "taper off" U.S. military assistance to Israel over the next decade.

• "When I heard him say that, I knew that that opinion would be pushed more into the mainstream," the Florida Democrat said.

The other side: Other House Democrats told us they are not willing to take the step of calling for a wind-down of U.S. funding for Iron Dome.

• "I'm not prepared to go that far," said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a Jewish progressive who nevertheless told us that Netanyahu's leadership has brought Israel's relationship with Democrats to a really bad place.
• "The United States has benefited from every investment we've made in joint programs like Iron Dome, Arrow and David's Sling. ... You can't reduce it to a simple pledge," said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition who is Jewish.

— Andrew Solender

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) renewed his attacks on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee today, criticizing party leaders for picking favorites in contested primaries, including in Maine.

• "The first rule of Fight Club is don't talk about Fight Club, but a group of us in the Senate formed the Fight Club for a number of reasons," he said at an Axios News Shapers event in Washington.

Why it matters: For Van Hollen, establishing the "Fight Club" to challenge President Trump and Schumer wasn't really a choice. It was a response.

• "We want to push the caucus to fight even harder against the lawless Trump administration. I think we've made some progress since this time last year," said Van Hollen, himself a former DSCC chair.
• "We are also very unhappy with the fact that the DSCC has been putting its foot on the scale as the party organization in the Senate in some of these races. So that's what formed the Fight Club."

Between the lines: Van Hollen wants to show his party that he's ready to go to war for progressive causes ahead of a possible presidential run.

• He announced on stage that he'll be heading to New Hampshire in June.

Zoom in: Van Hollen declined to make any new endorsements, but he had high praise for Graham Platner in Maine and harsh criticism for the DSCC.

• "It was a big mistake for the DSCC to weigh in in Maine for the governor," Janet Mills, he said. "She's been a great governor, but whether you're for the governor or for Platner, the DSCC should not be weighing in."
• He stopped short of endorsing Platner, saying only: "I think Graham Platner is a great candidate."

Reality check: The DSCC has not formally issued any endorsements this cycle.

• Schumer has officially endorsed Mills in Maine and privately indicated that he believes Rep. Haley Stevens is the strongest candidate in Michigan, according to people familiar with the matter.
• "The DSCC has one goal: to win a Democratic Senate majority," DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle told us in a statement. "We've created a path to do that this cycle by recruiting formidable candidates and expanding the map, building strong general election infrastructure, and disqualifying Republican opponents — those are the strategies that led Senate Democrats to overperform in the last four election cycles, and it's how we will flip the majority in 2026."

Zoom out: Democrats are increasingly optimistic about their chances of winning the Senate in the midterms.

• They would need to win an open seat in North Carolina, defeat five-term incumbent Susan Collins in Maine, and flip two states that Trump won by double digits in 2024 to get to 51 votes.
• Republicans appear to accept that they have a lot of defense to play. The Senate Leadership Fund's two biggest ad reservations are in Ohio and North Carolina — two states they already hold.
• But Democrats' chances are complicated by contentious primaries in two key states — Michigan and Maine — where divides between the progressive base and party leaders, including Schumer, have widened.

— Hans Nichols