By: JACK BOWMAN
Capital News Service
ANNAPOLIS–Republican Larry Hogan is looking to peel off Democratic-leaning Jewish voters in his race for the U.S. Senate seat in Maryland, as the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict nears its one-year anniversary on Oct. 7.
“The governor has said that he’s looking to win the Jewish vote in this election,” Michael Ricci, a spokesperson for former Gov. Hogan, told Capital News Service. “It’s a big point of emphasis for him every day, and not just because it’s about winning votes.”
In the lead-up to the election, Hogan has spoken to Jewish community groups, posted on social media and released official campaign statements that support Israel and Maryland’s Jewish community.
But leading Democratic officials argue that the Republican play for Jewish voters is a calculated political move, meant to drive a wedge between Democrats and this constituency.
“It’s pretty clear that some of the candidates would like to make that a wedge, but I don’t think they will be successful,” U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, told CNS in an exclusive interview. He argued that both candidates for Maryland’s open Senate seat, Hogan and Democratic nominee Angela Alsobrooks, strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself, as does he.
Alsobrooks provided a statement to CNS via a spokesperson but her campaign did not grant a request for an interview with her or her staff.
The two candidates face different paths to winning the race. As a Republican, Hogan is free to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without worrying about alienating progressives increasingly concerned with the human toll in Gaza. Alsobrooks, on the other hand, faces the challenge of holding together an ideologically diverse Democratic coalition, reaching out to all Jewish voters as well as to progressives.
The Hogan campaign’s focus on Jewish voters represents an effort to pull from a generally strong Democratic base. According to the Pew Research Center, 71% of Jewish adults in the U.S. leaned towards or identified with the Democratic Party in a survey conducted between 2019 and 2020.
Democrats dominate voting in Maryland, where President Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by more than 33 points, taking home 65.4% of the state’s votes to Trump’s 32.2%. But recent polls suggest this race might be much tighter than that.
“I still think that the county executive [Alsobrooks] will win the majority of the Jewish vote,” said Ron Halber, chief executive officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington. “But, like I’ve said to others, it’s whether she’s going to win 55% or 85%.”
Still, Hogan is trying. He has repeatedly expressed support for Israel and its right to defend itself, making it a key part of his campaign platform.
In a March 2024 address to the JCRC, which represents Jewish organizations, synagogues and agencies, Hogan took aim at demonstrations in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks that killed about 1,200 in Israel.
“[The protests] are attacking the legitimacy of the world’s only Jewish state and its right to defend itself,” Hogan said.
Hogan, in the same address, also said, “Maryland needs a pro-Israel champion in the United States Senate.”
Another way Hogan has sought support in the Jewish community is through emphasizing his track record as governor. In addressing the JCRC, Hogan spoke of his trade mission to Israel in 2016 and his enactment of an executive order in 2023 that prohibited Maryland agencies from entering contracts with businesses unless the businesses certify that they will not boycott Israel.
“Larry gets it,” former Democratic Maryland State senator and co-chair of Democrats for Hogan Robert “Bobby” Zirkin told CNS. “He’s been to Israel a number of times when he was governor.”
Meanwhile, Alsobrooks and her campaign have focused more on the areas of common ground among Democrats. In her own address to the JCRC in April, Alsobrooks focused on bringing home hostages and removing the threat of Hamas from the world while mitigating the civilian casualties in Gaza.
Similarly, in the statement provided to CNS this week, Alsobrooks emphasized her support of Israel, focusing on the hostages taken by Hamas.
“Our priority must be bringing home every single hostage and getting to a ceasefire,” Alsobrooks said in the statement. “As a mother, my heart breaks for the families of the hostages and we must do everything in our power to bring them home now.”
Alsobrooks also stressed the importance of protecting the civilians of Gaza, saying, “we need to ensure that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is addressed, that aid is arriving, and that we are doing everything we can to ensure the flow of aid to innocent civilians.”
Alsobrooks, who visited Israel in 2019, has been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, whom she hopes to replace. Cardin, who identifies as a “proud Jewish-American,” has supported Israel’s right to defend itself in the conflict.
Van Hollen has been outspoken in his concern about the civilian casualties in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, where the death toll has climbed to over 40,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
He says that Maryland’s Jewish community is not homogenous in its views.
“There’s a great diversity of opinion within the Maryland Jewish community,” he said.
