J Street Hires Former Obama Official As Political Director
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — J Street has hired a former senior Obama administration official to serve as its national political director.
Aaron Davis worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, in its Congressional Affairs Division for five years.
The liberal Jewish Middle East lobby announced the hiring on Tuesday.
Davis will oversee JStreetPAC’s efforts to elect J Street-endorsed candidates to Congress in the 2018 midterm elections.
Prior to joining FEMA, he held several positions on Capitol Hill, including as legislative director for former U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa.
Davis succeeds Ben Shnider, who is running for a seat on the Montgomery County Council in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
In 2016, JStreetPAC raised an organizational record of over $3.5 million and endorsed 126 candidates.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
