New York Republicans are hoping to flip a largely Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn state Senate district that has strongly backed President Donald Trump in recent years as Democrats continue to struggle with antisemitism from certain corners of the party’s coalition.
Voters in largely conservative and Orthodox Jewish parts of southern Brooklyn will head to the polls Tuesday to elect a successor to former Democratic New York state Sen. Simcha Felder, who resigned in April, in a race where voters who see the party as largely soft on antisemitism may flock to the GOP. Democrats have nominated Sam Sutton, an activist in the local Sephardic Jewish community, while Republicans nominated attorney Nachman Caller, who also received the nod of New York’s Conservative Party.
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The vacant 22nd district includes Borough Park and Midwood, two neighborhoods with significant Haredi Jewish communities that are known to be bastions of Trump support in otherwise deep-blue Brooklyn. Trump carried the district in 2024 over failed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris with 77% of the vote, The New York Post reported.
Trump’s margin of victory in the district has steadily increased over the past three election cycles, as several prominent far-left members of the Democratic Party have been accused of antisemitism. The president had carried the seat with 70% and 62% of the vote in 2020 and 2016, respectively, according to data from Dave’s Redistricting App (DRA). In 2022, Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin, who is Jewish, carried the district with over 80% of the vote, also per DRA data.
However, despite the district voting heavily GOP in presidential and statewide elections, Democrats still hold a wide voter registration edge, outnumbering Republicans by more than two to one. As of Feb. 20, just under half — 49.5% — of the 22nd district’s active voters were registered as Democrats, 23.6% are Republicans and 24.7% are not members of any party, according to enrollment data from the New York State Board of Elections.
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Former Democrat-turned-Republican New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represented many of the heavily Orthodox Jewish communities now in the 22nd district for 35 years, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he “definitely supports” Caller and wants “to see him win.”
“The Democratic Party has been an absolute disaster for the Jewish people,” added Hikind, who represented parts of Brooklyn in Albany from 1983 until his retirement in 2018 and established a group called Americans Against Antisemitism. “You have betrayed us. You have not been there for us.”
He emphasized that with the rise of antisemitic violence in recent years, it would send “such a powerful message for a Republican to win this district.”
Hikind said that while he considers Sutton to be a “good guy,” the fact that he is a member of today’s Democratic Party is “alone a problem.” He stated that Hasidic groups in the 22nd district are uniting against Sutton because he is a Democrat.
Both candidates in the special election had emphasized combating antisemitism in their campaign materials.
In an April 27 Instagram post, Sutton’s campaign listed “fighting antisemitism with zero tolerance” first on a list of his “highest priorities.” The list post also affirmed his “unwavering support for Israel,” and his opposition to defunding the police, policy stances that put him at odds with many of his fellow Democrats.
“We have all witnessed the recent ugly rise in antisemitic incidents all around the US, and we can’t allow ourselves to be passive when it comes to our safety,” Caller’s website states.
Both candidates in the Senate special election have notably received endorsements from federal lawmakers from their respective parties — Caller is backed by Republican New York Reps. Elise Stefanik and Mike Lawler and Sutton by Democratic New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, the Post reported.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
