J Street-Backed GOP Incumbent Walter Jones Survives N.C. Primary
Image by jones.house.gov
An incumbent Republican North Carolina congressman backed by J Street defeated a primary challenger who had been backed by pro-Israel conservatives.
Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) beat back a challenge by Taylor Griffin, a former George W. Bush administration official, in the primary Tuesday.
J Street, a liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, backed Jones in part because he opposes new sanctions on Iran while nuclear talks are underway, as J Street does.
Jones is one of only a handful of Republicans who have accepted J Street’s endorsement since it established a political action committee in 2008.
Jones’ non-interventionist foreign policy led pro-Israel groups such as the Emergency Committee for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition to back Griffin.
The Emergency Committee for Israel ’s PAC spent over $300,000 on the campaign, including money on a TV ad. A J Street spokeswoman said its PAC spent just over $10,000.
Jones’ foreign policy positions stem in part from his association with libertarians; he is close to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) who ran several presidential campaigns based on libertarian principles. On social and fiscal issues, Jones is a conservative.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
