⚡️ SCOOP from Julian Andreone: Declassified documents show Nebraska congressional candidate backed U.S. policies in Gaza, Yemen, and Iran
Chris Backemeyer, who spent 20 years as a State Department official and served as an advisor to former Vice President Kamala Harris, is on the ballot today in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District. He has campaigned heavily on his diplomatic experience, touting his role as an architect of Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. But declassified documents show that he spent the last decade rubber-stamping policies that helped lay the groundwork for humanitarian disasters in Gaza, Yemen, and Iran behind the scenes at the State Department.
🔸 Sanctions and Diplomacy Record:
“I was part of the team that negotiated that deal, which was grounded in rigorous analysis and careful diplomacy,” Backemeyer wrote in a post on X the day the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran. “I was also in government when Trump dismantled it—without the same level of scrutiny. I fear the same is true about this military operation.”
Press guidance from the beginning of the first Trump presidency, however, shows that Backemeyer personally approved the rollout of Trump’s missile and terrorism sanctions against Iran after participating in the transition into the new administration. “I absolutely approved sanctions on Iran’s missile program and terrorist activities because those were never lifted under the nuclear deal and they remained, and continue to remain, a threat to the U.S.,” Backemeyer told Drop Site in response.
"That strategy - preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb while confronting its other dangerous activities - would have kept Americans safe and avoided the type of conflict we’re in now.”
🔸 Campaign Fundraising:
Backemeyer, as Zeteo’s Prem Thakker recently outlined in his newsletter, has raised $350,000 compared to the roughly $50,000 raised by his more progressive and populist opponent, Eric Moyer. His campaign has attracted major backing from high-level government officials, including former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and a network of DC lobbyists.
🔸Gaza messaging echoes Biden State Department:
Backemeyer has also continued echoing Biden-era State Department messaging on the Middle East throughout his campaign, particularly regarding Israel’s genocide in Gaza. During an appearance on the Swing Left Nebraska podcast in January, Backemeyer skirted a question on whether he would support continued funding to Netanyahu’s government, continued calling genocide “the situation in Gaza,” stated that Congress needed to “bring it to a close” and reiterated “human shield” talking points to rationalize the murder of innocent civilians.
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