Campaign signs at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas Sept. 5. Photo by Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh September 9, 2024

The Republican Jewish Coalition launched a major TV ad campaign on Monday targeting Jewish voters in battleground states. The ad is part of a $15 million effort to portray Vice President Kamala Harris as more in step with the far left than President Joe Biden on Israel.

The RJC said it will spend $10 million on the ad, two-thirds of its overall election budget, to bring the message to Jews in swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania — in the coming weeks.

Titled “Meet the Squad,” the ad, which will begin airing during Tuesday’s presidential debate, portrays Harris as aligned with the informal group of left-wing members of Congress who have been critical of Israel. 

“Kamala Harris is no ordinary Democrat,” the narrator says in the 30-second spot. “She stands with the Squad, not with us.” It also highlights moments in which Harris conveyed sympathy for protesters anguish over Palestinian casualties in the Israel-Hamas war. 

Harris has a strong pro-Israel voting record, and has rejected the idea of conditioning military aid to Israel. But she has voiced more concern for Palestinian suffering in Gaza than has Biden.

“This is, by far, the largest and most comprehensive effort ever to turn out the Jewish vote for President Donald J. Trump,” the RJC said in a statement.

GOP Jews on the rise?

On the Democratic side, the Jewish Democratic Council of America said it plans to spend more than $2 million in Jewish voter outreach in the lead-up to the November election. Last week, JDCA released a digital ad that compared Trump to Hitler.

Polls show a tight race between Harris and Trump in the five states Biden won in 2020 by less than 3% — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania — and where Jewish voters make up an estimated 1% to 3% of the electorate. 

A new poll of Jewish Americans released  Monday morning and sponsored by the JDCA had Harris with a 68% to 25% lead over Trump. It also showed that and only 9% picked Israel as one of the two most important issues to them.

Republicans are aiming to grow Trump’s share of the Jewish vote by tapping into an emotional attachment to Israel among Jewish Americans: 75% of the poll’s respondents said they felt either very or somewhat connected to the Jewish state. The RJC will also highlight divides among Democrats over Israel, and unease among Jewish voters over rising antisemitism.. 

“Electing Kamala Harris will put an honorary member of ‘The Squad’ in the Oval Office,” said Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

In 2020, Trump received 21% of the Jewish vote, according to an exit poll commissioned by the same pollster for J Street, while the Associated Press’ Votecast showed him with 31%. The GOP Jewish group spent $10 million in that election.

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