GOP redistricting tests the strength of Florida’s pro-Israel Democrats

JTA — Two Jewish women who have long represented Southeast Floridians in Congress will take on progressive opponents in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, where last-minute redistricting efforts have redrawn the electoral battle lines.

This statewide shuffle stemmed from US President Donald Trump’s push for GOP governors to reshape voting district boundaries, with the goal of strengthening the Republican party’s majority on Capitol Hill. After Gov. Ron DeSantis urged state legislators to rewrite Florida’s district map, they merged multiple Democratic districts and reduced the number of seats expected to stay blue.

Among these solidly blue districts are those where veteran Democrats, Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Lois Frankel, are competing on Tuesday. But the two women, both of whom are Israel supporters, will be facing brand new constituencies.

Wasserman Schultz, who is seeking a 12th term, has been representing Fort Lauderdale and southern Broward County in Florida’s 25th District. But on the new map, that district will stretch from Miami Beach to Delray Beach and is expected to turn red, according to Ballotpedia.

Wasserman Schultz has instead chosen to run in a redrawn 20th District, which will include most of Broward County’s Black-majority precincts. Her move to that district has sparked significant unease in a region that has sent Black Democrats to Congress since 1992, the Associated Press noted.

“That creates tensions between Wasserman Schultz and parts of the constituency,” Luis Fleischman, a professor of sociology at Palm Beach State College, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “She’s trying to win that constituency, and that’s a problem.”

Though Wasserman Schultz is facing four rivals, all of whom are Black, her main competition is Elijah Manley, a 27-year-old gay activist who said he converted to Judaism but is also a fierce critic of Israel. Manley has described himself as a Democratic socialist but is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Stephen Sussman, a professor of public administration at Barry University, said he believes that Wasserman Schultz still has a chance at winning if the other candidates end up splitting the vote, since Florida primaries don’t require a majority win.

“The reality of it is that all she needs is a plurality,” Sussman added.

But Fleischman said he could imagine the current tension turning into “a Black-Jewish conflict” that could end in her resignation.

Whether it’s at the ballot box or a future resignation, Fleischman stressed that a Wasserman Schultz loss would be “a lose-lose situation for the Jewish community.”

Frankel, meanwhile, has been serving constituents from Delray to West Palm Beach in the 22nd District. The revamped District 22, also expected to turn red, will instead cross from Palm Beach County in the east to Marco Island in the west. Frankel, who has been in Congress since 2013, will run in a reshaped 23rd District, which includes parts of Broward County and southern Palm Beach County.

She will face retired attorney Victoria Doyle, whose priorities focus on affordability, women’s rights and immigration reforms.

Republicans today hold 20 of Florida’s 28 US House seats, but with the consolidation of several solidly blue districts, the GOP could gain a few more. Florida is among the many states whose Republican governors have accelerated redistricting efforts, which usually only occur after a census is taken at the start of each new decade.

Just over two decades ago, when Wasserman Schultz first took office as Florida’s first Jewish congresswoman, she served what the Forward described as “a heavily Jewish swath of Broward County.” She also advocated for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in a centrist stance that departed from her hawkish predecessor, Peter Deutsch.

Wasserman Schultz today lists Israel among her legislative priorities, with an emphasis on “the threat of antisemitism at home and abroad.” She has stressed the Jewish state’s right to defend itself while also expressing continued support for a two-state solution.

“She understands that she has a strong Jewish constituency, and it’s a very mixed Jewish constituency because many of them are recent immigrants,” Fleishman said. “She has done a terrific job for Israel, no question about it.”

Her main opponent, Manley, has been citing both her support of Israel and the financial backing her campaign receives from AIPAC in his messages against her.

In a recent social media post, Manley called Wasserman Schultz “a key Netanyahu ally” who has accepted “more pro-Israel PAC money than anyone else in Florida.” He made these claims after the House Democratic Caucus appointed her to the Foreign Affairs Committee, where she vowed to “fight Trump’s self-serving, America-last foreign policy.”

Pro-Israel PACs have spent around $1.5 million on Wasserman Schultz over the course of her career, according to Track AIPAC, which uses Federal Election Commission data to document contributions from Israel-linked special interest groups. FEC filings from the current race link at least $250,000 to AIPAC. A lump sum of $250,000 came from Pro-Choice Majority Action, an affiliate of the Elect Democratic Women Action Fund, whose biggest funder is the United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC.

Manley, who has repeatedly slammed such contributions, earned the endorsement of Track AIPAC. He also appeared on Friday at a contentious “Chomp The Oligarchy” rally in Fort Lauderdale, where a top DSA voice and Israel detractor, Michigan US House Rep. Rashida Tlaib, was a featured guest, the Miami Herald reported.

Among Manley’s platforms is a belief “that Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in peace, safety, dignity, and freedom — with equal rights and the right to self-determination.” That platform includes a condemnation of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 onslaught on Israel, which he said “killed over 1,200 Israeli civilians and took hundreds of hostages.” Most, but not all, of the some 1,200 people killed by invading Hamas-led terrorists were civilians of diverse nationalities. Manley’s campaign also stressed that Israel’s response has not qualified as self-defense and is instead “a genocide, paid for by American taxpayers.”

In Sussman’s mind, the idea of accusing Israel of committing genocide in this region of South Florida doesn’t necessarily “fly so well here.”

“I know many, many, many Jewish Democrats who would support Israel to their death,” Sussman said, noting that Manley’s position against Israel might be popular in other parts of the country. “But it doesn’t necessarily fly here because we have old-time Democrats.”

Manley’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Wasserman Schultz, meanwhile, told JTA in a statement that Israel and AIPAC haven’t typically come up “in the thousands of conversations” she’s had on the campaign trail.

“Voters here always ask how I’ll help lower gas, grocery and healthcare costs, and stop Trump’s rampant cruelty and corruption,” she stated.

When constituents speak to her about foreign affairs, she said they focus on how to protect District 20 families who fear that the Trump administration could “force their family and friends to be deported back to brutal homelands plagued by lawless violence and oppressive poverty.”

As for the neighboring Frankel-Doyle race, Israel and AIPAC have not been major points of contention. Frankel is a staunch supporter of Israel and has pledged “continued security assistance to Israel and robust funding for Israel’s missile defense capabilities.” Pro-Israel PACs have spent about $861,000 backing her over the course of her career, according to Track AIPAC.

In a recent social media post, Doyle acknowledged that “Israel is a sensitive subject.” Doyle wrote in a Facebook comment that “no matter what you say or do when it comes to Israel, someone will criticize if not attack you.”

In another comment, Doyle described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel as an “aggressor with not only no peace plan, but a seemingly endless plan of violence.” She expressed hope that Israel will elect a leader “who commits her or himself to a lasting peace process” and that the US will do its utmost to support that effort.

“The major focus of our campaign is the need to get big money out of politics,” the Victoria Doyle for Congress campaign said in an emailed statement.

Accusing her opponent of taking “millions of dollars in special interest, corporate, big donor, and PAC money” and calling out AIPAC as Frankel’s biggest donor, the campaign stressed that Doyle “takes no PAC or special interest money, and runs a scrappy grassroots campaign centered on voters rather than donors.”

“For a while Frankel supporters attempted to label Victoria as ‘antisemitic,’ but the attack was laughably crude and unbelievable, seen more as Frankel’s desperation and being out of touch with the new district than anything else,” the statement added.

Frankel’s campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

As a resident of Frankel’s current district, Sussman credited Frankel for the work she has done on Jewish issues, stressing that “Jews here have felt very safe.”

“We never expect her to say anything crazy,” he said. “She supports Israel. She supports Jewish life, Jewish community.”

But Sussman recognized that Doyle has launched a strong campaign and is “a very serious challenger,” whose progressive platforms might resonate with young voters.

“Much of South Florida, we’re getting younger and younger,” he said, noting that West Palm Beach is attracting young families. “I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if Lois lost.”

Sussman expressed concern about Doyle’s ability or willingness to challenge more senior committee leaders on Israel-related issues. Stressing that Frankel has too much history “to be bought at this point,” he observed that someone like Doyle, who would be “just cutting their teeth,” might not be as willing to stand up to pressure.

Offering a similar perspective, Fleishman said it remains to be seen how she would vote on bills related to the Jewish state in Congress.

“If she says she has no problem with Israel, I think it’s a good thing,” he added. “There is a lot of peer pressure in the Democratic Party, and that worries me tremendously.”

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