Twenty-five years ago today, Aug. 7, 2000, presidential nominee Al Gore announced Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate on the Democratic ticket. Lieberman made history as the first Jewish candidate, let alone Orthodox Jew, on a national ticket. At the time, his faith and center-left beliefs were viewed as an asset for the campaign.
Lieberman’s foreign policy hawkishness and outspoken support for Israel were squarely in the Democrats’ mainstream. The biggest issue was not whether a Jew could win votes but how an observant Jew would handle the demanding job of being vice president. But for some hanging chads and Supreme Court litigation, Gore-Lieberman almost won.
As an American Jew, recalling the pride and excitement that came with the nomination of my friend and mentor to the vice presidency makes Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City mayoral primary all the more unsettling. Mamdani’s rise and the failure of Democratic Party leaders to repudiate Mamdani’s antisemitic statements is accelerating a Jewish exit from the Democratic camp.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Take the word of the voters.
According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, Democrats sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis by a whopping 43 points. Compare that to 2017 when Democrats favored Israel by 13 points. CNN analyst Harry Enten could not contain his shock at this seismic shift. The shift among younger voters age 18-49 was even more stark — a jump of 70 points.
These voters gave Mamdani the push he needed to easily beat Andrew Cuomo and become the Democratic nominee. For them, Mamdani’s refusal to condemn Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023 and his “Globalize the Intifada” strain of politics is a feature, not a bug.
What makes Mamdani’s victory so upsetting is that he isn’t alone. The morning after his win, scores of New York and national Democrats gave Mamdani their stamp of approval. The Democratic Party is also home to outspoken critics of Israel and much of the Jewish community, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Bernie Sanders, and others.
Once reliable pro-Israel Democrats like Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Chris Murphy have taken a decidedly anti-Israel turn, leading efforts to withhold U.S. aid from Israel as it fights Iran and Hamas.
Beyond the political realm, antisemitism is exploding in many of the liberal camp’s cultural institutions — academia, public education, Hollywood, medicine — where anti-Jewish discrimination, harassment, and violence are a common occurrence. After several years of trying to hold these institutions accountable, it is increasingly clear that we are not dealing with an epidemic of laziness or incompetence, but an ideological hatred coursing through their bloodstream.
This kind of ideological shift has consequences. After nearly 100 years of loyalty, some American Jews are changing their political allegiance. The Pew Research Center’s June report shows that Kamala Harris won 63% of the Jewish vote, while Trump won 35% — the largest share of the Jewish vote for a Republican since 1988. Put another way, Jewish voters went from D+43 in 2020 to D+28 in 2024, a swing of 15 points towards Republicans.
This is a stunning change for a party that elevated and embraced Lieberman 25 years ago. Could it happen again today? Many American Jews wondered as much when Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was under consideration to be Harris’ VP. We will never know why Harris didn’t pick Shapiro, but we all saw the concerted antisemitic campaign against him in social media and the press.
To be fair, there are some fearless Democrats standing against the tide such as Sen. John Fetterman and Reps. Ritchie Torres and Tom Suozzi, but they appear to be the exception, not the rule. They stand out because most of their colleagues don’t stand up to the Jew haters and baiters.
The Democratic Party once drew Jews to its cause because it was seen as the party of tolerance and equal opportunity. This was a natural home base for immigrant Jews fleeing the ghettos and pogroms of Europe.
Today, the Democratic Party is battling to redefine itself in the wake of its failures in the 2024 election. A growing portion of the left wants it to be a party Lieberman could no longer call home. Having switched his registration to Independent in 2006, Lieberman was ahead of the curve. If Democrats don’t change course, many more Jews will follow his lead.
Diament is the executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center.
