In Georgia and Virginia, Republican candidates are speaking directly to Jewish concerns – while Jon Ossoff, who is Jewish, and Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger, side with their party
August 14, 2025 13:54
Amid rising antisemitism in the US, Democrats across the country are increasingly choosing party loyalty over the concerns of one of their most reliable voting blocs. Republicans, meanwhile, are addressing Jewish concerns over Israel and antisemitism.
In February, The New York Times covered the “backlash” among Georgian Jews to Jewish Sen. Jon Ossoff’s vote to withhold weaponry from Israel. State Representative Esther Panitch, Georgia’s lone state-level Jewish legislator and a fellow Democrat, called it a “betrayal.”
Jews – including Jewish Democrats – the Times discovered, were more concerned about Israel’s security and surging domestic antisemitism after October 7. Unsurprisingly, Ossoff’s vote, his accusation that Israel was engaged in “the reckless killing of noncombatants” in Gaza, and his failure to lead against surging domestic antisemitism alienated many Jewish voters.
A bipartisan group of Jews encouraged Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp to challenge Ossoff. Kemp opted not to run, and Ossoff voted to withhold weapons from Israel again in July.
Ossoff has chosen, and now Georgian Jews must as well.
Georgia’s three-man Republican primary includes two candidates with public track records, Congressmen Buddy Carter and Mike Collins. Jewish Insider’s summary of Carter’s record included leading on Holocaust education and addressing “antisemitism in health care.” Carter also backed “U.S.-Israel cooperative programs,” snapback sanctions on Iran, expelling Hamas leaders from Qatar, and the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would codify President Donald Trump’s 2019 executive order on antisemitism in educational institutions into law.
Carter told me, “Remarkably, Jon Ossoff empowers antisemitism by repeatedly voting against Israel’s right to defend herself. As the pro-Israel candidate in this race, I stand with our ally in the Middle East and Jewish citizens here at home. Hamas is a terrorist organisation that must be wiped off the face of the earth.”
Collins supported “supplemental [military] aid to Israel and a resolution describing anti-Zionism as antisemitic,” Jewish Insider reported. However, Collins also opposed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which could give Jewish voters pause.
The unknown is Derek Dooley, a football coach preferred by Governor Kemp. Asked about Israel and antisemitism, Dooley told me, “Israel is one of America's strongest allies, and I firmly believe we must ensure they have the necessary resources to defend against terrorists. While Jon Ossoff has proven he doesn't stand with Israel, Georgians can be confident that as their next Senator, I will always stand with our ally and be a leading voice in opposing the rise in antisemitism across our country.”
Unlike Georgians, Virginians have only a general election choice ahead. Jewish Insider reported that after Democratic State Delegate Sam Rasoul, who chairs Virginia’s House Education Committee, dubbed Zionism “evil” and “a supremacist ideology created to destroy and conquer everything and everyone in its way,” Abigail Spanberger avoided commenting. The subsequent milquetoast statement by the gubernatorial nominee and former member of Congress referenced “heartbreak and tragedy” in the Mideast, adding “one can and must denounce these tragedies without using antisemitic language, whether intentional or not.” Strikingly, even Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who’s repeatedly voted to block weapons for Israel, told Jewish Insider “he ‘forcefully reject[s] any claim that Zionism – the desire of Jewish people to have a state of Israel – is inherently racist or evil.’”
Republican gubernatorial nominee and current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears offers a contrast. Under Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration, Virginia made the IHRA definition law, added ethnic origin to state hate crime law, increased security grants for Jewish institutions, added antisemitism and Jewish history to state education standards, and offered antisemitism training to law enforcement.
Earle-Sears spoke from this position of strength when she criticised Spanberger’s sidestepping Democratic antisemitism, tweeting, “No more vague statements. No more excuses. No more dodges,” and asked why Spanberger couldn’t say antisemites don’t belong in her party.
Elsewhere on X, Earle-Sears dismissed Spanberger’s statement as “hollow, vague.” She reminded voters that “Spanberger voted to keep Ilhan Omar – who accused Jewish Americans of “dual loyalty” to Israel – on the Homeland Security Committee” and expressed pride in running alongside an anti-Israel State Senator. Earle-Sears concluded, “Virginia doesn’t need a governor who dodges hate in her own party . . . and cosies up to politicians who excuse antisemitism,” but rather has “guts” and “moral clarity.”
Spanberger, like Ossoff, lacks guts and moral clarity. Both failed Jewish voters. They’re focused on political considerations, but what benefits them is bad for Jews more broadly.
Georgian and Virginian Republicans have a golden opportunity to woo disaffected Jewish voters. They should seize it.
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