|
|
October 29, 2020 |
Your
weekly look at the latest news, analysis, and RJC activities around
the country. |
|
|
—
Featured —
The Outlook and the
Stakes
Over the last few months, I've used this space to discuss the
key races in - and the stakes of - the battle for the Senate. With
just five days to go before Election Day, the battle has never been
more intense, and the stakes have never been higher.
Recently, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
assessed the state of play and concluded that maintaining the
Republican majority is a 50/50 proposition. The current GOP majority
is 53 seats, and we expect to gain one in Alabama, where Tommy
Tuberville leads incumbent Doug Jones. Less
encouragingly, GOP incumbents in Arizona, Colorado, and Maine are
behind in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, and Sen.
Thom Tillis and Sen. Joni Ernst
trail narrowly in North Carolina and Iowa as well.
On Election Night, we'll also be closely tracking races that
are close, but with an apparent edge to the party currently holding
the seat - for the Democrats, that’s Gary Peters in
Michigan and for the GOP, it’s Steve Daines in
Montana, David Perdue in Georgia, and Lindsey
Graham in South Carolina. Dan Sullivan in
Alaska, John Cornyn in Texas, and Rep. Roger
Marshall seeking the open seat in Kansas will only be in
danger if Democrats significantly outperform expectations.
Remember that the battle for the Senate could go into
'overtime,' with control of the chamber determined by the outcome of
January run-off elections that are expected in two Georgia races:
Perdue's showdown with Jon Ossoff and the special
election to fill the remaining portion of retired Sen. Johnny
Isakson's term.
When I say the stakes in the fight for the Senate could not be
higher, I mean the stakes for our country, for our party, and for the
Jewish people. Especially if Democrats are able to win the presidency
and hold the House, a GOP Senate could be the only brake on the
ambitions of an increasingly radical Left. And an all-Democrat federal
government is a clear threat to the hard-won gains of the last four
years: the Iran maximum pressure policy, the peace treaties between
Israel and Arab neighbors, the Taylor Force Act's restrictions on aid
to terrorist murderers, and the relocation of the American Embassy in
Israel to Jerusalem.
That's why I'm so proud of the extraordinary effort RJC and
its members have made to win this fight. GOP Senators know that the
Republican Jewish Coalition punches far above its
weight in terms of financial and grassroots impact - and they are
grateful. We need to maintain that all-out push for just a few more
days and pray that the result we've been working toward is achieved
next Tuesday.
Make Your Voice Heard – Make Your Vote
Count – Cast Your Ballot! In person or by mail, early or on Nov. 3, whether you’re in
New York or Montana, be sure to vote!
To make last-minute
donations to our great GOP candidates, visit the RJC PAC here. All donations must be made
by 11:59PM on Tuesday, November 3.
If you’d like to share your thoughts with me on
any of these races, please email me at [email protected]. Click here
to see previous "Notes from
Norm."
Trump campaign strategic advisor Boris
Epshteyn joined RJC members in Florida for a debate watch party last
week.
RJC Helps Get
Out the
Vote
Omri Nahmias reports at the Jerusalem
Post about Jewish “get out the vote” efforts in the battleground
state of Ohio. He writes:
With 18 votes in the electoral college, Ohio has been long
considered a “must-win state” on the way to the White House. The key
battleground state has predicted the identity of the winner in the
presidential election in every cycle since 1964. In 2016, President
Donald Trump carried the state by eight percentage
points.
According to the FiveThirtyEight polling average, Trump is
currently leading [Joe] Biden in the
Buckeye State, giving him a chance of 58 out 100 to win there again.
…Barbara Amper is the Cleveland chapter
chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “I think
Ohio will comfortably vote for Trump,” she said.
Mobilizing voters at a time of a pandemic is not easy, Amper
said. “A lot of people are just staying away. Some would help from
home; people don’t want to go out. They’re being very, very careful.”
With COVID-19 preventing in-person events, Amper said that
most of the get-out-the-vote efforts are made by phone. “I am
basically on the phone,” she said. “Sometimes I was checking to make
sure that they got their absentee ballot. Now it’s getting closer to
the election, so we’re asking for poll observers. And so it changes
weekly.”
Asked about the breakdown of the Jewish vote in Ohio, she said
that while recent polls have shown Biden leads Trump in the community
in about 70-30 margin, “there is such a thing as the silent Trumper,
as I call them, people who won’t answer the phone, they won’t take a
survey and they won’t tell anybody who they’re voting for. So they’re
not in any of the polls. You’re not going to find them anyplace.”
Amper added that there is a wedge within the Jewish community.
“[Jewish Democrats] just can’t stand it, that anybody would vote for
Trump. Actions speak louder than words. He’s been such a good friend
to Israel. I just do not understand how more Jews cannot back him. But
I think for some reason, they’re married to the Democrat Party. I wish
I knew why; I just don’t.”
For more about
what the RJC is doing to get out the vote, see our newsletter from
Monday here.
Join our
efforts by making calls in these last crucial days before the polls
close! Sign
up here.
President
Trump’s Record of
Success
Pay careful attention to what will happen to the US Senate if
Republicans lose the majority, as Politico reports:
If Democrats win control of the Senate in November, the new
committee chairs will include a senator tried on federal corruption
charges, two octogenarians, a democratic socialist and a former tech
industry executive, among others.
… Potential committee chairs include 79-year-old
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at Budget; 80-year-old
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) at Appropriations; 87-year-old
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) at Judiciary; Sherrod
Brown (D-OH) at Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs;
Mark Warner (D-VA) at Intelligence; and
Robert Menendez (D-NJ) at Foreign Relations.
Other
potential future Democrat Senate chairmen include:
- Maria Cantwell (D-WA) - Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee
- Patty Murray (D-WA) - Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions Committee
- Gary Peters (D-MI) - Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee (assuming he wins his competitive race
for reelection next week)
Axios
interviewed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and she
had a lot to say about how the “progressive” Left would influence
a Joe Biden administration.
Rep. Ilhan Omar told "Axios on HBO" that given the way
progressives have shaped Joe Biden's policy platform, she and other
members of "The Squad" expect a liberal turn from him if he's elected.
… "We will have a cohort of progressives that are very clear
about their objectives for wanting the implementation of Medicare for
All and a Green New Deal and raising the minimum wage and not allowing
for fracking," Omar said.
… If Biden is elected, progressives will be pushing him on
personnel in addition to policy. Omar said she would not be OK with
Biden appointing any Republicans to his Cabinet — something he is
reportedly considering.
Only you can prevent this reality from unfolding: cast
your vote for President Trump and all the GOP candidates on the
ballot!
Sudanese leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah
Burhan, US President Donald Trump, and Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu
President Trump’s Latest
Wins in the Middle
East
At the end of last week, President Donald
Trump announced that another Muslim country is normalizing
relations with Israel, in what the Wall Street Journal
editors call “the
Arab-Israeli peace cascade.” The Hill reported:
President Trump on Friday announced an opening of relations
between Sudan and Israel, building upon a breakthrough of diplomatic
ties between the Jewish state and Gulf Arab nations that have
traditionally shunned Israel over its conflict with the Palestinians.
The RJC
had this to say about this latest positive development in the
region:
President Trump and his team have quietly produced innovative
solutions to some of the most intractable foreign policy problems in
the world. Today, Muslim countries are entering into diplomatic,
trade, and other relations with the State of Israel. These amazing
changes will bring greater peace, stability, security, and opportunity
to millions of people. And the credit for bringing those historic
achievements to fruition goes to President Donald Trump.
Today the
Trump administration announced a
change in US policy regarding how Americans born in Jerusalem can list
their place of birth on their US passport. In the past, US
citizens born in Jerusalem could only list the city as their place of
birth. Now they can list “Jerusalem, Israel” as their place of
birth.
The RJC responded
to this meaningful change:
This change is consistent with President Trump’s Israel
policies, including formally recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of
Israel and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. It is also in keeping
with the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling that the President is empowered
to decide on the recognition of foreign nations, and therefore on what
is written in US passports.
American Jews as well as American Christians and Muslims who
were born in Jerusalem can now carry passports that demonstrate the
immutable connection between Jerusalem and Israel. President Trump is
once again coming through for American Jews. This is just one more
reason the American Jewish community should be casting their votes for
President Donald J. Trump.
JNS reports on
another, very significant move by the Trump Administration regarding
Israel. The US and Israel signed new bilateral agreements, and one
important clause reversed years of Carter and Obama settlement
policies:
Less than one week before Americans will decide whether to
entrust President Donald Trump with another four years in office, the
current administration completed its reversal of a legacy US policy
prejudiced against Israeli settlements.
The United States and Israel signed new bilateral agreements
on Wednesday that further enhance the cooperation between the close
allies in the areas of science, industrial research, and agricultural.
Yet perhaps more noteworthy is that legacy “geographic
restrictions” have now been removed from existing agreements.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman noted
at the ceremony that the two nations were to “sign a revision that
will eliminate the geographic restriction that prohibits the funding
of American and Israeli joint research and development and cooperation
over the Green Line.”
International
law expert Prof. Eugene Kontorovich explains:
“This is really quite momentous,” he said on Tuesday. “It is
the first time the US has adopted a policy that explicitly and clearly
authorizes the use of funds across the green line… It’s a very strong
recognition that settlements are not illegal. They announced that, but
now they’re putting meat on the bones.”
… Kontorovich also said the new agreements “send an important
message that science has no borders and you can’t politicize science.
The idea that scientific research shouldn’t be funded based on where
it takes place is a problematic one; it holds progress hostage to
politics.”
The RJC
is committed to reelecting President Donald Trump,
keeping the Senate, and winning back the House. We encourage
our members to participate in our outreach phonebank project to help
Republicans win in November. It's easy, and you can do it from
home! Here's how YOU can help:
- Sign up to
call Jewish voters from home by clicking HERE.
-
Fill out all of the fields.
- Listen to the instructions and write
down your username and password when a member of the RJC Victory Team
contacts you.
- Make as many phone calls as you can. Everyone you
speak to is a potential vote for President Trump and the
GOP!
Sign up now and help us finish
strong!
-------
The RJC PAC
has endorsed a terrific slate of House and Senate candidates, and we
need them to continue their work on Capitol Hill!
CLICK
HERE to donate through the RJC PAC portal and show your support for
our great candidates!
-------
 |
And
don't forget your RJC/Trump kippah!
Our extremely popular
red Trump kippah is now for sale for just $18. This includes shipping
and handling. Supplies are limited.
BUY YOUR KIPPAH HERE.
|
— Events —
RJC Victory Team National Days of
Action
We are be making calls EVERY
DAY (except Saturday) through
Election Day! It's not too late to join in for the
last big push to get out the vote in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia, key battleground states
of the 2020 election cycle. We’ve made over 650,000 grassroots Jewish
voter contacts. More to come!
Click
here to sign up and help!
And don't miss the our
final pre-election virtual event:
"Closing Arguments: An Important Conversation –
What’s at Stake in 2020 for the Jewish
Community" TONIGHT at 7:30PM
Eastern Time
Click here to register.
While RJC offices are closed and our staff are teleworking, you
can reach us by email or by phone (please leave a voicemail message
and your call will be returned). Contact
information for our offices can be found on our web site. Please
visit us online for the latest RJC
news, to volunteer
for our 2020 outreach efforts, to see details of upcoming events,
and to donate
to the RJC.
If you like the work we’re doing, consider joining us on
Facebook and Twitter, and renew or upgrade your RJC
membership. Ensure that your voice is heard in our party
and our community!
|
|
|
