Why New York’s Orthodox Jewish Voters Could Tip the Battle for the House
The New York Times
In three key swing districts in New York’s Hudson Valley, candidates are pressing for the support of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who tend to vote as a bloc.
Representative Pat Ryan of New York is locked in one of the country’s toughest races. So it was especially noteworthy when the Democrat recently traveled hours outside his upstate district to visit an unusual set of influencers, Hasidic rabbis.
Then the next night, an embattled Republican in a nearby district, Representative Marc Molinaro, went out of his way to name check the Orthodox community on the debate stage.
And the following Sunday, Representative Mike Lawler, yet another Republican on the front lines, took advantage of a break in the Jewish high holidays to tour a kosher shopping center here in Monsey, trying on yarmulkes and posing for selfies.
Where candidates spend precious campaign hours says a lot about who they believe may decide a race. And in the final weeks before Election Day, three of the most endangered congressmen keep showing up at the same places: the rapidly expanding ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclaves of New York’s Hudson Valley.
The investment reflects just how important Jewish voters across the religious spectrum have become in races around New York this year, as war rages in the Middle East and rising antisemitism scrambles political alliances at home.
But in a hyper-polarized nation, ultra-Orthodox voters in particular have emerged as the rarest of swing voters. Not particularly partisan, they have fervently supported both former President Donald J. Trump and Democratic politicians, often acting as a bloc.
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