Editor’s Notes: At the GA, American Jews worry about the future of the Democratic Party

ByZVIKA KLEINNOVEMBER 13, 2026 06:01

At the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Washington this week, I asked a prominent American Jew about Josh Shapiro. Could the Pennsylvania governor speak at a gathering like this if he wanted to run for president?

This is someone who knows both parties well and works comfortably with both. He thought about it for a moment and said: “Probably not.”

In his view, someone planning a presidential campaign would have to consider the political cost of coming, even if he believed it was the right thing to do. We were speculating about a future campaign.

I found it sad that even showing up could be considered a political liability.

Antony Blinken and Mike Pompeo were among the GA’s most prominent political speakers. Two former secretaries of state, with plenty of experience and plenty to disagree about.

I also kept thinking about the word “former.” Joe Biden addressed the GA as a sitting vice president in 2014. What would a Democrat with ambitions for 2028 make of the same invitation?

Jewish anxiety over the Democratic Party’s direction

People at the GA kept asking what was happening to the Democratic Party and what Jewish communities should do about it. Eric Fingerhut, the federation’s president and CEO, was speaking about Michigan’s incoming senator, Abdul El-Sayed, when he told us: “I don’t think you can measure on a Richter scale in this room the concern about the El-Sayed election in Michigan.”

Gary Torgow, the federation’s board chairman and a Michigan business leader, had told Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers during the campaign: “We need you to get elected.” After El-Sayed won, Torgow urged local Jews to “move forward with optimism, dignity, and pride in who we are,” according to JTA.

David Axelrod, the former Obama adviser, argued at the GA that fears of a Democratic Socialists of America takeover exaggerated the faction’s strength. He may be right about the numbers. I would also pay attention to the Democrats who start adjusting their positions because they think they need its support.

One evening, I went to a separate closed event where a Democratic member of Congress spoke on the record. He was forceful about standing up for Jewish people and Israel. He said he would keep fighting and spoke about the importance of a democratic Israel to the region. After hearing so much anxiety about his party, it was encouraging to hear him.

Pro-Israel Democrats who won their races this year

Wesley Bell, the Black, pro-Israel congressman from Missouri, won reelection last week after again defeating Cori Bush in the Democratic primary. He first unseated her in 2024. We should spend some time looking at the people who win these arguments inside the party.

The National Black Empowerment Action Fund spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting Bell in this year’s primary, according to Alex Kane’s reporting in Jewish Currents. Its founder, Darius Jones, previously worked at the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.

The Black-led group has ties to pro-Israel donors, and its argument to voters has been about their own neighborhoods: Politicians concentrating on the Palestinian cause, it says, are neglecting concerns such as housing and public safety.

The group also campaigned against Jamaal Bowman in the 2024 primary won by George Latimer, who was reelected last week. Jones told Politico he was campaigning against Bowman and distinguished that effort from endorsing Latimer.

“I’m proud of work that builds bridges of understanding and advancement for two long-marginalized communities that historically have stood by one another,” Jones told Jewish Currents.

Black organizers and Jewish allies have been working together in these elections. Those relationships are worth putting time and money into.

Pennsylvania’s incoming Rep. Paige Cognetti has defended Israel’s right to defend itself. New York’s Cait Conley supports continued military assistance, although she defeated Mike Lawler, himself a strong Israel ally.

Michigan sent the pro-Israel Jeremy Moss to the House while electing El-Sayed to the Senate. These Democrats will face pressure from within their party. Writing off the party would make their work harder.

At the GA, Republican strategist Karl Rove challenged Vice President JD Vance’s approach to Israel and the Middle East, calling him a neo-isolationist. Jewish communities will need to keep an eye on both parties.

What Israelis and American Jews ask each other

I was answering plenty of questions myself. Could Gadi Eisenkot, the former IDF chief of staff tasked with forming Israel’s next government, put together a majority? Would he need the Arab parties? Could he bring in haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties?

While we were in Washington, the newly elected Knesset was sworn in on November 10.

Some people asked me how Israelis could vote for far-right parties. I asked them how Jewish voters could support New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Michigan’s incoming senator.

An exit poll put Mamdani’s share of New York City’s Jewish vote at 33% in last year’s election. He supports the boycott movement against Israel.

El-Sayed has questioned whether a Jewish state is compatible with liberal values. In his recent CBS interview, he said he could support two states or one shared state, depending on what Israelis and Palestinians agreed upon. For many Israelis, that is an alarming way to discuss the future of the Jewish state.

I understand that an American Jew may be voting primarily on housing costs, abortion rights, or opposition to President Donald Trump.

Israelis, after the October 7 massacre, may put security ahead of almost everything else. We tend to expect Jews on the other side of the Atlantic to understand the pressures behind our votes. We can be much less patient with theirs.

Israelis have to confront the damage caused by extremism in our politics. American Jews have to consider what they are accepting when hostility to Jewish national self-determination becomes a position within their political camp. We ought to be able to have that conversation with each other.

Keeping young Jews engaged after October 7

I also spoke with a senior Israeli educator whom I respect, a woman deeply involved in Jewish organizational life. She felt American Jews needed to get organized around what came next.

For two years after October 7, she said, there had been so much to do: fight for the hostages, support Israel, explain what was happening. People had found ways to help. She was concerned about where that involvement would lead as communal priorities changed, especially for young adults. They needed a place in Jewish life.

A young person who wants to become involved needs someone to invite them for a Friday-night Shabbat dinner and take their questions about Israel seriously. They should eventually be trusted with responsibility. That takes people whose job is to follow up and a budget to pay them.

OneTable had a session on the GA program about young adults and Shabbat, drawing on research from the Jim Joseph Foundation. Federations spoke about affordable Jewish education, summer camps, and Hillel’s Jewish campus communities. The question is whether the young people we keep talking about can find their way into these programs and feel at home.

We Jews are unlikely to run out of things to worry about. Much of the concern I heard in Washington was justified. I would hate for the Israeli educator’s question to wait until we have finished worrying.

Jewish leaders should expect politicians to stand publicly with their communities. They have more control over what happens when a young Jew comes looking for a place in one. Someone drawn to Jewish life by an emergency should know where to go next Friday night and who will be glad to see them.

Follow us on Google

---