Haaretz: ‘The Stakes Could Not Be Higher’: Jewish Democrats’ Ad Blitz in Swing States Links Trump to Dictators
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Jewish Democratic Council of America plans to spend more than a million dollars on targeted ads in this election cycle to drive the Jewish vote for Democrats
Ben Samuels
Sep 4, 2024 7:25 am IDT
A screengrab from the Jewish Democratic Council of America video. Credit: YouTube / Jewish Democratic Council of America
WASHINGTON – Jewish Democrats are stepping up their attacks on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to go alongside their efforts at shoring up the American-Jewish community’s support for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America is paying particular attention to Jewish voters in key swing states, taking out a new ad campaign seeking to remind them of the stakes of the 2024 presidential election by highlighting ties between Donald Trump and dictators, his use of hate in campaign rhetoric and his threats to democracy.
The ad, which does not make any references to the Holocaust, is the third time JDCA’s political action committee has launched an ad detailing the parallels between the MAGA movement and Nazism, as well as the aforementioned use of hate speech and alignment with dictators.
“Donald Trump is an antisemite. He has repeatedly disparaged the vast majority of American Jews and continues to denigrate millions of Jewish voters. He aspires to be a dictator and has echoed Adolf Hitler, whom he reportedly said ‘did some good things.’ He has blatantly refused to condemn white supremacy, aligned with neo-Nazis, and instructed his Christian supporters that they’ll only have to vote this once and never again,” said JDCA CEO Halie Soifer.
The new ad, which is backed by an initial spend of $167,000, brings JDCA PAC’s current ad campaign spend to nearly $500,000 of ads targeting millions of Jewish voters via OpenWeb, social media and connected TV streaming platforms in seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Soifer, who previously served as Harris’ national security advisor during her time in the Senate, added that Trump is “not only a threat to democracy but also to Jewish Americans, for whom he clearly has animus. Years of history cannot erase the ominous similarities between Trump’s rise to power and the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s.”
The group plans to spend more than a million dollars on targeted ads in this election cycle to drive the Jewish vote for Democrats. This is in addition to its direct voter engagement efforts reaching more than two million Jewish voters in battleground states via phone, text, and canvassing.
“The stakes of this election could not be more clear for Jewish voters,” she added. “It’s a choice between a dangerous aspiring dictator or democracy. This is why the vast majority of Jewish voters will support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
The ad was unveiled one day after the Harris-Walz campaign launched their official outreach to Jewish voters in an organizing call headlined by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff — the first Jewish spouse of a U.S. president or vice president — along with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, Rep. Jamie Raskin and comedian Alex Edelman (among others).
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff waving after a reception to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, in the White House two years ago. Credit: Susan Walsh,AP
Emhoff, like other Jewish Democrats, has been directly targeted by Harris’ Republican rival Donald Trump as being a “crappy Jew” as Republicans have attempted to frame the GOP as the only viable political home for Jewish-Americans over its positions on Israel.
Pro-Trump and pro-Harris Jews alike are using their fundraising, networks and star power to rally support among the community, in ways that could potentially make significant impact in swing states in an election where Israel and antisemitism may be more front of mind than any previous race.
Given U.S. President Joe Biden only won these states by less than three percent in 2020, the importance of the vote — which has consistently been disproportionately large considering the size of the population — the importance of the votes are only further emphasized.