Matthew Kassel | Jewish Insider | May 19, 2023
When Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) announced her retirement from the House in 2019, it was hardly surprising that most of the candidates who ran to replace her were Jewish. That none of them won, however, was a surprising development in New York’s 17th Congressional District, where voters had long elected Jewish lawmakers such as Lowey, a pro-Israel stalwart who served in the House for more than three decades….
“My sense is, for many Jewish voters, all else being equal, people would probably prefer a Jewish candidate,” Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, a Jewish Democrat and former state senator in Rockland County who lost a reelection bid last cycle, told Jewish Insider in a recent interview. “But for most voters, including in the Orthodox community, it isn’t enough.”
