Young Candidate Trolled by Anti-Semites Routed in California Congress Primary

Erin Schrode, the 25-year-old Jewish Congressional candidate who was subjected to vicious online anti-Semitic abuse, was routed in a California primary battle — and another young Jewish insurgent lost in New Jersey.
Schrode won just 8% of the vote in her northern California second district, falling badly to incumbent Rep. Jared Huffman who took nearly 70% of the votes. He will face a Republican challenger in the November general election.
Public service is my mission. That will not die on June 8, or November 8, or two years from now, or four years from now,” Schrode told the New York Times.
Schrode, who started a non-profit focusing on sustainability, was aiming to become the youngest representative in Congress.
After she was profiled in national media, anti-Semites and supporters of Donald Trump attacked her with death and gang-rape threats.
On the other side of the nation, 25-year-old Alex Law took 30% of the vote in a quixotic primary battle against Democratic Party boss Rep. Donald Norcross in a southern New Jersey district.
Law suggested that he knew the writing was on the wall, but insisted he proved a point by mounting a credible challenge to Norcross.
“The reality is we did something that no other campaign has been able to do in South Jersey,” he told Politicker NJ.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins — like me
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
News In Edan Alexander’s hometown in New Jersey, months of fear and anguish give way to joy and relief
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Opinion Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free
-
Opinion A judge just released another pro-Palestinian activist. Here’s why that’s good for the Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.