8 | OCTOBER 31 • 2024
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ntisemitism, Israel and
Jewish candidates are front
and center in many of
the seven swing states where either
candidate could prevail in the 2024
presidential election.
Those states are Arizona, Georgia,
Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
And while the percentage of Jewish
voters is small compared to the overall
electorate, the number of Jewish voters
in many of these states exceeds the
number of voters who determined the
winner in the 2020 presidential race.
Because Jewish voters are more
likely to be Democrats, Republicans
are making an extra effort to chip away
at their impact and maximize Jewish
GOP turnout. The Republican Jewish
Coalition is spending $10 million to
corral Jewish votes in swing states;
the Jewish Democratic Council of
America is spending $2 million on the
election.
Here’s a look at the Jewish vote,
Jewish candidates and Jewish issues
in states where the outcome of the
2024 presidential election is a tossup
between Vice President Kamala Harris,
the Democrat, and former President
Donald Trump, the Republican.
ARIZONA
Arizona has 85,000 Jewish voters, and
55% of them are Democrats, compared
to 44% of voters statewide, according
to the American Jewish Population
Project at Brandeis University. In 2020,
President Joe Biden beat Trump here
by fewer than 11,000 votes. Jewish
voters could be a critical factor in the
2024 outcome.
Two of the speakers at the
Democratic National Convention were
from Arizona: Gabby Giffords, the first
Jewish woman elected to Congress
from Arizona, and her husband,
former astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly, who
is not Jewish. Kelly, who has served in
Congress since 2020, was considered
a top candidate to run for the vice
presidency on Harris’ ticket but lost
out to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Giffords resigned her seat in 2012
after being shot in the head in a mass
shooting.
GEORGIA
Georgia, where Biden won in 2020 by
12,000 votes, is another state where
the Jewish vote could make a big
difference. Georgia’s 125,000 Jews
make up just over 1% of the electorate,
and 75% of them typically vote for
Democrats, according to the American
Jewish Population Project from
Brandeis.
Antisemitism has been making
headlines in Georgia since well before
the Oct. 7 attacks and the rise of anti-
Israel sentiment nationwide.
The Anti-Defamation League says
Georgia is one of a handful of states
targeted by the white supremacist
Goyim Defense League, which has
papered neighborhoods around
the state with antisemitic flyers for
the last few years. The GDL also
held antisemitic protests last year at
a Chabad in a Marietta suburb and
a Reform synagogue in Macon.
Other antisemitic incidents have
included threats against an Israeli-
owned bakery in Atlanta and against
the state legislature’s only Jewish
member, Esther Panitch.
A bill designed to curb antisemitic
attacks, sponsored by Panitch,
was signed into state law in January.
The Jewish Vote
How our demographic could swing the election
in 7 key battleground states.
BETH HARPAZ THE FORWARD
OUR COMMUNITY
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Senator Mark Kelly.
DYANN TAYLOR