Being perceived as weak on supporting Israel seems to be a rising drawback for Democrats in search of re-election.
WASHINGTON—Republicans seeking to recapture the Senate in November suppose an apparently accelerating shift amongst Jewish voters from the Democrats to the GOP might considerably increase their candidates in battleground races.
President Trump elevated his share of the Jewish vote by a further 4 factors to 30 % in 2020.
Traditionally, help for Israel amongst U.S. voters has been overwhelmingly bipartisan, particularly every time the Center East’s solely democratic authorities has been beneath assault.
Republican marketing campaign strategists say the proof continues to be principally anecdotal, nevertheless, they see shifting amongst Jewish voters as a serious plus heading into the 2024 Senate campaigns, made much more intense by the sudden explosion of brazenly anti-Semitic campus protests and President Biden’s vacillating help of Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist assaults that killed greater than 1,200 Israelis.
The GOP wants to achieve just one seat to get to a 50–50 cut up and two beneficial properties to reverse the Democrats’ current 51–49 benefit.
A senior Senate Republican marketing campaign strategist, who spoke on situation of anonymity, instructed The Epoch Occasions that whereas the newest proof of an accelerating shift of Jewish voters from Democrat to Republican is certainly anecdotal, it’s positively a consideration in key battleground states.
“Nevada has the most important Jewish voting inhabitants on a per capita foundation, whereas Pennsylvania has the very best quantity, then Wisconsin,” the strategist mentioned.
“I might counsel Pennsylvania is likely one of the finest locations to take a look at that. There you see [Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob] Casey desperately attempting to carry on and discover totally different efforts to attempt to present he’s expressing enough solidarity with Jewish voters.”
A spokesman for Mr. Casey didn’t reply to The Epoch Occasions’ request for remark.
Mr. Markstein additional famous that “trying on the margins of victory in 2016 and 2020, the Jewish neighborhood in these states is bigger than the margin of victory, so the Jewish vote goes to play a decisive function within the decisive states,” together with Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, all of which have giant Jewish populations with excessive turnouts on election day.
The influence might additionally prolong past battleground states, as seen in deep-blue Maryland the place former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is operating robust towards Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) to succeed the retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
“As I journey the state, I typically hear from voters who respect our robust stand in help of Israel and Maryland’s Jewish neighborhood.
“Many of those voters are Democrats who’re appalled, not simply by the rise in anti-Semitism on campuses and throughout our nation, but additionally by the shortage of condemnation of that anti-Semitism from leaders in our state and in Washington.
“Too many Democrats are caving to stress from the far-left as a result of they don’t need to lose help from extremists of their social gathering,” Mr. Hogan instructed The Epoch Occasions.
“Bernie Moreno is a real political outsider. Sherrod Brown has been in elected workplace since 1974 and votes with Joe Biden 98 % of the time.
“Bernie Moreno is a trusted buddy of the Jewish neighborhood and an unwavering supporter of Israel.
“Sherrod Brown opposed President Trump tearing up the disastrous Iran nuclear cope with the genocidal mullahs in Tehran; and importantly, as Israel responded to the barbaric October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist assaults, Sherrod Brown joined a November 2023 letter questioning and undermining the Jewish state’s operations inside Gaza to defeat Hamas,” the endorsement said.
Amongst Senate Republican incumbents up for re-election in 2024, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is the No. 1 goal of Democrat strategists.
The Texas Republican defeated former Rep. Beto O’Rourke by 219,000 votes in 2018. This 12 months, Mr. Cruz is opposed by Rep. Colin Allred, a former linebacker for the NFL Tennessee Titans and a preferred Dallas Democrat.
However a latest statewide survey by the Alexandria, Virginia-based Cygnal agency of 1,000 seemingly voters places Mr. Cruz up eight factors over Mr. Allred.
Even within the vote-rich Dallas-Forth Value metroplex, Mr. Cruz leads his Democrat opponent by the identical 5 factors that Mr. Trump tops Mr. Biden.
“That is one, amongst many the explanation why Trump is main statewide by 9 factors and by 5 factors within the Dallas-Fort Value and Houston media markets.
Couple that with Mr. Allred’s gradual begin and poor identify ID within the Senate race and it’s simple to see how Republicans stay well-positioned to maintain Texas purple,” he mentioned.