Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Dan Adler Courts Korean Vote With Bizarre ‘Send a Mensch to Congress’ Video

Which Dan Adler ad is weirder — the one where he lifts a barbell off actress Patty Duke’s chest with help from two black bodybuilders, or the spot in which he reveals he’s Jewish to a Korean constituent who shrieks “What’s a mensch?”

Our money’s on the second, which — as intended — has catapulted the unknown Democratic candidate’s profile into the spotlight in time for today’s special election to fill California’s 36th district congressional seat.

Adler, a former agent and film executive, told the UK Telegraph he entered the campaign “on the day before the deadline for filing. So I came into it with no money, no machine, nothing. We had to grab people’s attention and the videos were our way of doing it.”

So he shot the now notorious Mensch video — which has generated more than 219,000 views as of Tuesday morning.

Here’s the setup, according to the Telegraph: A Korean family complains to Adler that Congress doesn’t listen to Asian people. Adler tells them that he will listen and that, coincidentally, he has a Korean wife. An old Korean woman says that “We minorities should stick together.” Cut to Adler and an Asian crowd in a parking lot. “Send a Mensch to Congress!” they cry. “What’s a Mensch?” says the old Korean woman.

“Ultimate Pandering,” Time called it. “Bizarre” and “vaguely racist,” opined Talking Points Memo. But Adler was defiant. “If being unconventional will wake some [voters] up, then I am thrilled to be a part of that,” he told Talking Points Memo.

Despite the theatrics, local insiders predict Adler will get knocked out of the race after the primary, according to Southern California’s Daily Breeze.

A message from our CEO & publisher 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

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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.