Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

As Candidates Descend On Iowa, So Do ‘Campaign Kippahs’

Democratic presidential candidates are spending the weekend giving speeches and eating fried food at the Iowa State Fair — where fairgoers can also check out personalized kippot promoting the political contenders.

The “Campaign Kippahs” booth is near the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox stand, where candidates have been giving speeches. Rachel Stassen-Berger, an editor at the Des Moines Register, shared a pic of the booth.

The stand shows kippot featuring the English and Hebrew names of Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand. As of 2017, Iowa’s Jewish population was approximately 5,450 people, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.

Those politicians are hardly the only ones to offer branded yarmulkes — the Republican Jewish Coalition is offering red Trump kippot with a $100 contribution.

Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.