Secretive GOP firm distorts Democratic candidate’s views on Israel in NJ governor race
Jewish supporters of Rep. Mikie Sherrill called the attack an “insulting” effort by Republican operatives to meddle in Democratic race
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) on Feb. 28, 2023. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh April 1, 2025
An anonymous group of Jewish donors is pouring money into the competitive New Jersey governor’s race, targeting a candidate as anti-Israel, though she holds the same positions that the majority of House Democrats do.
The Florence Avenue Initiative is a conservative dark money group known for past political campaigns, including one against Sen. Chuck Schumer over his purported opposition to a bill addressing antisemitism on campus. The group has now launched attacks on Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a leading candidate in New Jersey’s Democratic primary, accusing her of being anti-Israel and not taking a strong enough stance against antisemitism.
In a mailer sent to Jewish voters, the group highlighted five examples of Sherrill standing “against Jewish New Jersey families.” It cites three votes in which Sherrill joined many of her colleagues, including prominent Jewish members: a vote against a GOP-led bill that would have delivered 2,000-pound bombs to Israel after then-President Joe Biden paused them; a vote against censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American House member, for her critique of Israel; and a vote of “present” on a House resolution condemning antisemitism and equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Rep. Jerry Nadler, co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus, and most Jewish Democrats took the same positions on all three measures.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who is Jewish and among Sherrill’s primary rivals in the governor’s race, voted in favor of censuring Tlaib, supported the GOP-led resolution on anti-Zionism and broke with his Democratic colleagues in rebuking Biden on the arms pause.
The mailer also mentions Sherrill’s criticism of the Israeli operation that injured hundreds of Hezbollah leaders using exploding pagers and her call last year for Israel to unilaterally cease fire during the month of Ramadan.
Sean Higgins, a spokesperson for the Sherrill campaign, pushed back forcefully against the attacks, calling it “absolute bullshit and so sloppy it’s even disproven by their own citations.”
The Sherrill campaign shared a memo that highlights her “long record of supporting Israel and standing up to antisemitism.”
The Shadowy GOP firm’s mission
The Forward reported in November that the Florence Avenue Initiative is run by Howard Kenyon, Sara Lytle and David Neelley out of a UPS box outside Austin, Texas. It was launched as a coalition of “concerned Jewish donors” angry at Democrats for not pushing for the passage of the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, legislation that would require the Department of Education to use the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism — which classifies most anti-Zionism as antisemitic — when investigating allegations of discrimination.
The group spent more than $2 million on television ads and mailers in New York and several battleground states, saying that Schumer, who was then Senate majority leader, was blocking the bill from coming to a vote. “Faced with blind hatred, Chuck Schumer plays politics,” the ad said.
Schumer faced resistance from some in his caucus who wanted a vote on the bill, and negotiations with Republicans to include it in a defense spending bill last December failed. Some top Democrats and Jewish advocacy groups objected to the bill, worrying it could suppress constitutionally protected free speech on campuses and stifle legitimate criticism of Israel.
Sherrill was among 320 lawmakers in the House who voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act. She also backed the Countering Antisemitism Act, which would have implemented the Biden administration’s national strategy to counter antisemitism and does not endorse a single definition. But that never came up for a House vote. Sherrill’s record on Israel and statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have faced scrutiny from some pro-Israel leaders.
It’s unclear what the Florence Avenue Initiative’s interest is in New Jersey politics. A representative did not immediately return an email inquiry.
Jewish supporters speaking out
Sherrill, 53, is among six Democrats competing in the June 10 primary to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited. The contest was moved a week later than originally scheduled to accommodate Jewish voters observing the holiday of Shavuot.
Recent polls show Sherrill among the leading candidates, who include Gottheimer, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, former state Senate President Steve Sweeney and Sean Spiller, president of the New Jersey Education Association. Fulop is also Jewish. Sherrill has the backing of most Democratic county committees in the state.
Jack Ciattarelli, who ran against Murphy in 2021 and received 48% of the vote, is the frontrunner in the Republican primary. “MAGA Republicans are attacking Mikie because they know she’s the strongest candidate to beat Jack Ciattarelli in the general election,” Sherrill’s spokesperson said.
Sherrill’s allies see the attacks as a bad-faith effort to undermine her standing with pro-Israel voters in a race where Jewish support could be pivotal. New Jersey is home to the fourth-largest Jewish community in the U.S. and has the second-largest Jewish population per capita, making up 6% of the state’s electorate.
Benjamin Weisman, a councilman in the town of Boonton, called the mailers “deeply troubling” and “insulting.” Weisman said Republican attempts to meddle in the Democratic primary are dangerous. Labeling Sherrill as anti-Israel “not only misrepresents her record but also diminishes the gravity of the actual and dangerous antisemitism that our community is increasingly facing,” he said.
Another Sherrill supporter, Shawn Klein, who serves as deputy mayor in the Essex County town of Livingston, described the attacks as “shameful garbage.” He said that the “insidious propaganda is factually wrong. Worse, it dangerously continues efforts to paint Democratic elected officials as being weak on Israel.”
The Jewish Caucus in Morris County said in a statement that Sherrill “has been a friend to the Morris County Jewish community from the start.”
“While lies may be the coin of the realm in Trump’s Washington, here in New Jersey, facts still matter,” the statement reads. “And the fact remains that Mikie has consistently supported the State of Israel as a key democratic, economic, and strategic ally of the United States.”
This is not the only shadowy intervention in the Democratic primary. A recent clip circulating in Orthodox WhatsApp groups urges Jewish voters registered as Republicans to change their party affiliation ahead of an April 10 deadline to “be a Democrat for a day” or a “sheep in wolf’s clothing” to vote for Gottheimer, who has been more vocal on Israel. “He’s the least not, not, not bad guy in the race,” the two-minute ad says. “The Hasidim have been doing this for years. Not the worst thing in the world.” Gottheimer’s campaign said it is not behind the effort.
Arno Rosenfeld contributed to this report.
