Fighting for Wins Everywhere, All the Time

I spent the past few days in Texas, meeting with Jewish voters across the state. While Texas has long been considered a Republican stronghold – and was the first stop on Donald Trump’s midterm gerrymandering crusade – the political tide in Texas appears to be shifting. The Democratic candidate for Senate, James Talarico, is leading in general election polling ahead of the GOP Senate primary runoff later this month, and the five Texas House seats that were redrawn last year in Republicans’ favor are not guaranteed wins for the GOP. As demonstrated by this week’s Virginia referendum, Republicans overplayed their hand with midterm redistricting, and it now appears to be backfiring.

On Tuesday, Virginians voted in support of redistricting, which is projected to create four new Democratic seats and effectively negate the impact of last year’s Texas gerrymandering. Upon winning the vote in Virginia – an election where JDCA organized and made calls to voters for weeks – Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries described Democrats’ approach to the midterms as “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time,” which means Democrats are now fighting for electoral pickups everywhere, including in deep-red districts and states. While Republicans forced new congressional maps in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, Democrats have leveled the playing field by making the case to voters and passing referendums in California and Virginia. Democrats are also fighting to win in places like Texas.

In Texas, Trump’s approval rating began to fall early in his second term, given economic instability. Latino voters, who helped to ensure Trump’s win in 2024, have experienced the biggest shift in Texas due to Trump’s mishandling of key issues such as the economy and immigration. In February, Latino voters helped to flip a “ruby red” state Senate district in Central Texas that no Democrat had won in nearly half a century. Last month, in five key Latino-majority counties in Texas, more votes were cast in the Democratic primary than were cast in support of Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Latino shifts away from Trump and the GOP suggest they could play a critical role in ensuring Democratic wins in the midterms.

Texas is also home to more than 200,000 Jewish voters, largely concentrated in and around Dallas, Houston, and Austin. While these Jewish voters are politically engaged, their support of Democrats is not guaranteed, which is why I visited all three cities and met with Jewish voters to make the case for Democrats. While I was there, two teenagers were arrested for plotting to attack Jewish institutions, including Congregation Beth Israel in Houston, the oldest synagogue in Texas. I also met with someone helping to rebuild Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, which was burned in an antisemitic hate crime five years ago and targeted with antisemitic graffiti yesterday.

Whether in Texas or any other state, Jewish Americans are rightfully shaken by rising antisemitism. It’s unconscionable that anti-Israel sentiment has manifested in antisemitic attacks on synagogues, and we must elect those who will take action to combat it. Donald Trump has aligned with dangerous far-right extremists, exploited the rise of antisemitism to defund higher education, and failed to increase – and, for a time, completely froze – funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which provides critical security funds to protect synagogues. Democrats have advocated for increased funding for NSGP and other measures to protect Jewish Americans, and we at JDCA have played a leading role in unequivocally condemning antisemitism in all its forms and wherever it may emerge, on the right and the left.

We are hopeful that Democrats who share our values – such as the 121 Democrats we’ve endorsed – will win in the midterms and take back control of Congress, which is vital to serving as a critical check on this White House and preserving our democracy, the number one issue for Jewish voters in the past two elections. Democrats are overperforming and making up ground across the country, winning nearly every election since 2024, including in Texas. This is a trend we hope will continue in the midterms, but we know we’re going to have to “fight everywhere, all the time” for Democratic wins in November.

JDCA has already begun this work, including recently in Virginia, as the only organization focused on mobilizing Jewish voters across the country in support of Democrats who share our values. We hope you’ll join and support this work, so we can do even more in the next 193 days before the midterm elections.

Shabbat Shalom,

Halie Soifer

CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America