Some Jewish voters in presidential swing states reconsider their longtime devotion to Democrats

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — For Rona Kaufman, the signs are everywhere that more Jews feel abandoned by the Democratic Party and may vote for Republican Donald Trump.

It's in her Facebook feed. It's in the discomfort she observed during a question-and-answer at a recent Democratic Party campaign event in Pittsburgh. It's in her own family.

“The family that is my generation and older generations, I don’t think anybody is voting for Harris, and we’ve never voted Republican, ever," Kaufman, 49, said, referring to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. “My sister has a Trump sign outside her house, and that is a huge shift.”

How big a shift? Surveys continue to find that most Jewish voters still support the Democratic ticket, and Kaufman acknowledges that she's an exception.

Still, any shift could have enormous implications in Pennsylvania, where tens of thousands of votes decided the past two presidential elections. Many Jewish voters say the 2024 presidential election is like no other in memory, coming amid the growing fallout from Hamas’ brutal attack on Israelis last year.

Jews represent a sliver of the voting-age population in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the so-called blue wall of states that Democrats have come to rely on in recent presidential elections. In a close election, they are a big enough constituency that the campaigns of Harris and Trump see the potential for any slippage to swing a close contest.

That has forced Harris to walk a line between traditional Democratic constituencies with strong feelings about the war in Gaza, both Jews and Arab Americans — balancing support for Israel with outrage over the deaths of Israeli and Palestinian civilians and destruction in the region. The Biden administration has been pressuring Israel to end its attacks, which continued last week with the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops.

Trump has looked to exploit the opening among Jewish voters especially, saying Harris “ doesn't like ” Jewish people, Jews who don't vote for him “need their head examined ” and that he’ll be the “ best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.”

In the past, surveys have shown that Jews overwhelmingly vote Democratic. A Pew Research Center poll released last month found that about two-thirds of Jewish voters back Harris. In 2020, about 7 in 10 Jewish voters supported President Joe Biden, according to AP VoteCast.

The question is whether that has changed, as Jews now see Israel's survival in a new light as its war with Hamas widens to Hezbollah and possibly Iran.

That has put a new focus on the relationship between Israel and the U.S., which continues to provide military aid. And many Jews say rising acts of antisemitism in the United States and anti-Israel protests sweeping across cities and college campuses — including in Philadelphia — have made them feel unsafe.

In Pennsylvania, still fresh in many minds is a gunman absorbed by white supremacist ideology murdering 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

As Pennsylvania plays a central role in the election, many say they've never seen such outreach from campaigns as they have now.

From Trump on down, Republicans are attempting to win over Jewish voters by highlighting a Democratic Party torn between its traditional and unconditional support for Israel and a growing faction that has accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza, called for Israel to unconditionally stop attacking Hamas, and demanded that the U.S. end its military support for Israel.

For some Jews who typically vote Democratic, that has resonated.

“I think that there are folks who are reluctant Trump voters who feel scared as Jews in this country,” said Jeremy Kazzaz, a Pittsburgh resident and Harris supporter.

Kazzaz, however, said Harris has a long record of fighting antisemitism that is relatively unknown to many voters.

He pointed out that the Biden administration tapped her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, to lead a task force to develop a strategy to fight antisemitism well before Hamas attacked Israel. Emhoff has been a key surrogate, campaigning in front of Jewish audiences in the Philadelphia suburbs and speaking at the groundbreaking of a new complex replacing Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.

Still, where Harris' supporters see strong support of Israel — for instance, the Biden administration sent a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to Israel, along with the troops needed to operate it — others see conditional support.

That includes Biden urging Israel not to hit Iran’s nuclear program or oil fields. At the same time, Biden has stressed his administration’s support for Israel and, in her remarks on the anniversary of Hamas' attack, Harris said she'll “always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and that I will always work to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people here and around the world.”

Steve Rosenberg, of Philadelphia, who voted for Trump in 2016 and then Biden in 2020, will vote for Trump in 2024. In part, Rosenberg criticized Biden’s extending sanctions waivers to Iran, contending that it provided the Islamic Republic with the cash to finance a war against Israel.

“The question is, ‘Who is better off today than four years ago?’” Rosenberg said. “And the answer is Iran and the mullahs and their proxies, and it's because Biden and Kamala Harris have capitulated to Iran.”

Biden administration officials have said they were extending Trump-era waivers that gave Iran access to money restricted for humanitarian supplies and that was vetted to ensure the cash could only be used for food, medicine, medical equipment and agricultural goods. Iran hawks contend that the waivers can allow Iran to free up domestic revenue it would have otherwise spent on humanitarian goods to fund proxies like Hamas.

The U.S., meanwhile, has imposed other new sanctions on Iran this year.

Kaufman, a self-described progressive who lives in Pittsburgh's heavily Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood, never thought she would vote for Trump.

But now, she expects Trump will continue a hardline stance against Iran — which she calls an imminent threat to democracy, human rights and western civilization — and worries that Harris will appease Iran and pander to the party's left wing.

Jews with very strong connections to Israel — her parents were born there and her daughter just finished a two-year eight-month mandatory service with the Israeli army — are similarly conflicted over supporting Harris, Kaufman said. “I’m saying it out loud everywhere, but most people aren't saying it out loud.”

Many Jews who support Harris, however, say they see Trump as a threat to democracy.

That's important, they say, because minorities — including Jews — have reason to fear persecution under dictators.

They can unfurl a list of comments by Trump that they see as threatening: using the military against domestic enemies, peddling dual-loyalty tropes about Jews, setting up Jews as scapegoats if he loses and, in the days after Hamas' attack, criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while praising Hezbollah as “very smart.”

Emhoff called Trump a “known antisemite.”

Some see Trump's efforts on Jan. 6, 2021, to stay in power as a threat. Many are wary of his affinity for dictators, and bring up his dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort with far-right activist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, two men known for spewing antisemitic rhetoric.

"That’s the conversation that I’m having with Jews," said Rabbi Beth Janus of Philadelphia.

Janus said Jews she knows are excited that a woman could be president and that she's married to a Jewish man. Conversely, Trump's support for Israel is transactional, she said.

“When it serves his needs, his objectives, he supports Israel,” Janus said. “But if it didn’t, then he wouldn't support Israel.”

This story has been corrected to delete an erroneous reference to lifting Trump-era sanctions on Iran and replaces it with the Biden administration extending Trump-era sanctions waivers.

Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter.

Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris gather around a Sukkot before going door to door canvassing Jewish voters during the Jewish holiday in Bala Cynwyd, Pa, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Rona Kaufman, a self-described progressive who is conflicted over who she will vote for in the presidential election, poses for a portrait outside her synagogue in Squirrel Hill, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Adam Chaikof from Arlington, Va meets with other Kamala Harris supporters in a Sukkot in Bala Cynwyd, Pa on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Mark and Suzan Lopatin gather with other supportes of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in a Sukkot before going door to door to canvass Jewish voters Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Dan Vogl, a doctor from Bala Cynwyd, left, talks to Chris Dorian as he goes door to door to canvass Jewish voters during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Rona Kaufman, a self-described progressive who is conflicted over who she will vote for in the presidential election, poses for a portrait outside her home in Squirrel Hill, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

FILE - Second gentleman Doug Emhoff from left, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Carole Zawatsky, CEO of The Tree of Life, Sen. Bob Casey, Jr., D-Pa., Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and others listen during a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Tree of Life complex in Pittsburgh, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

FILE - First lady Melania Trump, accompanied by President Donald Trump, puts down a white flower at a memorial for those killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Oct. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - Second gentleman Doug Emhoff gives remarks during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Tree of Life complex in Pittsburgh, June 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke, File)

FILE - This is the signage on the dormant landmark Tree of Life synagogue is pictured in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar/File)

Rona Kaufman, a self-described progressive who is conflicted over who she will vote for in the presidential election, poses for a portrait in Squirrel Hill, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Jayson Tatum was already a proven winner before last season.

In Tatum’s first six seasons, no NBA player won more games with one team than he did. Tatum played in 334 wins with the Boston Celtics over that span, including playoffs. He was a five-time All-Star, a legitimate MVP candidate, a four-time All-NBA pick, even an Olympic gold medalist.

He just wasn’t a champion.

“I had to listen to all the (stuff) that people said about me,” Tatum said.

That’s all in the past now. The Celtics are champions, coach Joe Mazzulla leading them to that crown, and when the season starts on Tuesday night in Boston — where last season ended — Tatum doesn’t seem to be considering it the start of a title defense. He’s looking at it as the start of a chase for a 19th title, and according to BetMGM Sportsbook, the Celtics are the favorite to claim the 2025 championship.

“It was never just about trying to just win one,” said Tatum, who added a second Olympic gold to his collection this summer. “Now you get to be mentioned with — at least be in the same room with — the other Celtics great teams, great players. All the guys that I looked up to growing up at least won one championship. Now it’s just a conversation of: ‘How great are you trying to be? What room or what tier are you trying to be mentioned in when it’s all said and done?’”

That journey starts with ring night in Boston, where the Celtics take on New York in the first game of a doubleheader to formally open the league's 79th season. The nightcap is Minnesota at the Los Angeles Lakers, a game that will see LeBron James tie Vince Carter by playing in a 22nd NBA season — and potentially the first official game where a father and son are teammates, with Bronny James entering his rookie season.

There will be challengers to a Boston repeat, and a lot of them. New York (adding Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns) and Philadelphia (adding Paul George) loaded up to try to supplant Boston atop the Eastern Conference. And there are rising teams in the East as well, like the Paolo Banchero-led Orlando Magic and Donovan Mitchell-led Cleveland Cavaliers — who made Round 2 of the playoffs last season.

“We've just got to keep our foot on the gas,” Mitchell said. “We've got to keep going.”

And the Western Conference also has several contenders.

BetMGM has Oklahoma City — the No. 1 seed in the West last season, led by MVP hopeful Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — as the narrow favorite to win that side of the league, with 2023 NBA champion Denver, reigning West champion Dallas and a Minnesota team that went to the West finals a season ago all in the mix.

“You have to be careful with expectations put on outcomes,” Thunder forward Chet Holmgren said. “Around here we really emphasize putting expectations on processes, how we show up every day, how we go about our work, what we do, and the attention of detail that we do it to. That’s what we’re really focused on.”

Golden State's Stephen Curry helped the U.S. win Olympic gold this summer; the Warriors can never be counted out. And with James, neither can the Lakers.

“We’re the hunters, amongst many other teams,” Curry said. “What can this team do to maximize every skill set that we have in that locker room? That’s the challenge for us.”

The West is just loaded. But these Celtics — who return virtually intact from a year ago — know what it takes to be the last team standing.

“Boston can say whatever they want to say. They’ve earned it. They beat all of us and they were crowned,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So, they can feel however they want to feel going into this season. With that said, (they) still have to earn it. But it’s a new season, new year. There’ll be a bunch of teams that are gunning for that title.”

JJ Redick was coaching the fourth-grade team at Brooklyn Basketball Academy earlier this year. He's now coaching the Los Angeles Lakers.

Redick is one of three coaches about to make their NBA debuts, joining Charlotte's Charles Lee and Brooklyn's Jordi Fernandez.

Other coaches who have new jobs entering this season are Mike Budenholzer in Phoenix (a franchise he led Milwaukee past for the 2021 NBA title), along with Kenny Atkinson in Cleveland and JB Bickerstaff in Detroit. Bickerstaff coached the Cavaliers last season and the schedule-makers just happened to have the Pistons as the opponent for Cleveland's home opener on Friday.

Technically, Brian Keefe is a new coach as well. He finished last season as Washington's interim coach for the final 39 games, and had the interim tag removed over the offseason.

Half of the league's coaches — 15 of the 30 — enter this season having completed two years or less with their current clubs.

Some notable events this season:

—Nov. 2: Miami plays Washington in Mexico City.

—Nov. 4: All 30 teams will be in action, with all start times staggered 15 minutes apart.

—Nov. 5: For the third straight year, no games will be played on Election Day.

—Nov. 12-Dec. 17: The NBA Cup is back for a second season, with the semifinals on Dec. 14 in Las Vegas and the title game there three days later. The Lakers are the defending champions.

—Dec. 25: The Christmas games are San Antonio at New York, Minnesota at Dallas, Philadelphia at Boston, Lakers at Golden State and Denver at Phoenix.

—Jan. 20: The league celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Among the highlight games are Minnesota at Memphis and Boston at Golden State.

—Jan. 23 and 25: Reigning rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama returns to Paris, with San Antonio taking on Indiana in two games there.

—Feb. 6: The trade deadline.

—Feb. 16: The NBA All-Star Game takes place in San Francisco.

—April 11 and 13: The last two game days of the regular season, with all 30 teams in action both days.

—April 15-18: Play-in tournament, followed by the playoff openers on April 19.

—June 5: The 2025 NBA Finals begin.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates a basket behind Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick reacts during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

FILE - Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Sunday, March 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)