With 30 Members, Jews Make Up 5.6% of New Congress

By Nathan Guttman January 3, 2017

The Jewish population in America may be shrinking, but there’s one place where it’s stronger than ever – the U.S. Congress.

The 115th Congress, sworn in Tuesday, will feature 30 Jewish lawmakers, up from 28 in the previous Congress, according to an analysis prepared by the Pew Research Center. That’s a full three minyans if only all 28 Democrats and two Republicans would wish to pray together on Capitol Hill.

Just how significant is Jewish overrepresentation in Congress? According to the study, Jewish senators and House members will make up 5.6 percent of the new Congress, almost three times our share of American population.

The Jewish congressional contingent has a few new faces, including Democrats Brad Schneider of Illinois who won back his seat, Maryland’s Jamie Raskin, Jacky Rosen from Nevada, and New Jersey’s Josh Gottheimer who defeated an incumbent Republican.

Republicans, on the other hand, managed to double their Congressional representation with David Kustoff of Tennessee joining New York’s Lee Zeldin.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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