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Friday November 10, 2006

Jewish Democrats win big in both House and Senate

by ron kampeas
jta

washington | Jewish Democrats increased their numbers in the U.S. Congress, joining their party in winning the House of Representatives on a wave of public dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and the economy.

At least six Jews were among the new Democrats sweeping into the House on Tuesday, Nov. 7. In the Senate, which was still up for grabs as of press time, Jewish senators increased their numbers from 11 to 13 — a record high.

U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who votes with Democrats, and U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin, a Democrat running in Maryland, added to the incumbent minyan-plus-one.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman retained his seat after a bruising battle that followed his loss in the Democratic primary and his run as an independent. The pro-Israel community played a key role in his victory.

Pro-Israel donors were not so successful in Pennsylvania, where Republican Sen. Rick Santorum lost his re-election bid — and most of the Pennsylvania Jewish vote — to his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey.

Indeed, the traditional Jewish affinity for Democrats appeared reinforced by a CNN exit poll showing support from 87 percent of Jewish voters nationwide. Only 12 percent favored Republicans. The poll canvassed fewer than 300 Jewish voters, a sample usually considered too small to be determinative.

If accurate, those returns — the highest favoring Democrats in 14 years — appeared to repudiate a barrage of pre-election Republican Jewish Coalition ads saying Democratic support for Israel was eroding.

A post-election day press release from the Republican Jewish Coalition claimed that exit polls of 1,000 voters taken Tuesday showed support for the GOP among Jewish voters at 26.4 percent.

In gubernatorial races, there were three Jewish winners, including Democrat Eliot Spitzer of New York, making him the first Jewish governor in decades. Gov. Ed Rendell, Democrat in Pennsylvania and Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican in Hawaii, also won their re-election bids.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also won their re-election bids.

All but one of the Jews elected or re-elected to the House and to the Senate on Tuesday were Democrats or pledged to vote with the Democrats.

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican from Virginia, remains the only Jewish Republican in the House.

In Connecticut, Lieberman’s defeat of his Democratic opponent, Ned Lamont, marked a major political comeback.

Lamont is a cable TV magnate who used anti-Iraq war sentiment to best Lieberman in the Democratic primary. Lieberman backed the Iraq war, but it was his solid pro-Israel record and iconic status as the first Jew to feature on a viable presidential ticket in 2000 that drew strong support from segments of the pro-Israel community.

Lieberman garnered about $2 million from Jewish and pro-Israel supporters.

Still, he was not universally supported among Connecticut Jews. According to one exit poll, Lieberman garnered 60 percent of the Jewish vote to Lamont’s 40 percent.

Pro-Israel money was also a factor in Rhode Island, where Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the Republican chairman of the Senate’s Middle East subcommittee, lost to Sheldon Whitehouse.

Chafee was a tough critic of Israel’s settlement policy, and blocked the nomination of John Bolton — who is very friendly to Israel — as ambassador to the United Nations to protest a planned settlement expansion. Pro-Israel contributors boosted Whitehouse’s bid.

They also helped Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat, defeat U.S. Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.). Hostettler was a social conservative who was cool on Israel.

However, Jewish donors who made Israel their primary consideration failed in Pennsylvania, where Santorum lost to Casey, the state treasurer.

Santorum’s solid pro-Israel record earned him $2 million in contributions, but his rock-hard conservatism on social issues like abortion and gay marriage drove Jews to Casey, who drew more Jewish money overall. One exit poll suggested Casey also drew more than 80 percent of the Jewish vote.

Of the at least 28 new Democrats set to serve in the House as part of the 110th Congress, no fewer than six will be Jewish. That brings to 30 the total number of Jewish representatives. The six Jewish pickups include three state legislators who ascended to Congress: Gabrielle Giffords handily won a Tucson, Ariz.-area seat vacated by a Republican; Steve Cohen in Tennessee won the Memphis seat vacated by Harold Ford; and Ron Klein in Florida ousted longtime Republican incumbent Clay Shaw. Klein is a member of the Florida Region Board of the American Jewish Congress.

The other three Jewish winners were Paul Hodes of New Hampshire, John Yarmuth of Kentucky and Steve Kagen of Wisconsin.

Questions of Jewishness often played a quirky role in the race. There was U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), the unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate who said she was a “wannabe” Jew. And there was U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) who at first denied and then acknowledged his mother’s Jewishness — quickly adding, however, that he favored pork chops and ham sandwiches. (As of press time Allen’s race was too close to call.)

In a year in which candidates ran and voters voted overwhelmingly on national issues, Jewish voters and candidates were no different.

“This vote is a referendum on the Iraq war,” said Lisa Sockett, a part-time law professor and mother of two from Arlington, Va. She said Iraq and Republican opposition to gay marriage informed her vote for Jim Webb, a Democrat running against Allen.

One constant among Jewish candidates and those close to the Jewish community was health care: It was a central issue for Giffords in Arizona; Kagen, a doctor, in Wisconsin; and John Sarbanes, a health care lawyer and Democrat who won Cardin’s old seat in Maryland.

“Any time you have a community that makes part of its culture reaching out to the less fortunate, the health care issue will be front and center,” said Sarbanes, whose wife and children are Jewish and who belongs to a Baltimore-area synagogue. “You’re reaching out to people who don’t have health insurance.”

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