The Republican Party’s organizing effort in Israel is leaving nothing to chance, especially given the record of Kamala Harris, the U.S. vice president whom U.S. President Joe Biden has endorsed and whose record suggests she is to the left of Biden on policies toward Israel.
Marc Zell, chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, told JNS that about 500,000 of the estimated 750,000 U.S. citizens living in Israel—per the U.S. State Department count—are of voting age and eligible to vote in U.S. elections.
“Our task is to reach out to them. The party calls them low-propensity voters,” Zell told JNS. “If we can get them to vote, then they’ll vote Republican by a large majority, which is unusual for Jews, as you know, here in the United States.”
U.S. Jews historically vote heavily Democratic, although those figures have shifted in the past two election cycles.
“In Israel, they’ve already understood where their fate lies in terms of American politics, and it lies with the Republican Party,” Zell told JNS.
Half a million low-propensity voters sounds like a small number, given Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by 7,060,347 votes. But Zell cites the 2000 presidential election, in which George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in Florida by 537 votes. With that margin, the Republican took the Electoral College and the presidency.
In that election, 1,200 U.S. voters with Florida residency voted from Israel, almost certainly swinging the election to Bush, according to Zell.
“Had they not done so, the election would have changed and history would have changed as a result,” Zell told JNS. “This election cycle looks like it will be close in many of the swing states, particularly large states where there are significant Jewish populations,” such as Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In recent weeks, Zell’s organization found about 100 Americans living in Israel with Minnesota residency, many of whom were unaware that they had the right to vote. The North Star State is considered to be a swing state this cycle.
Even if the Israeli-American vote doesn’t decide the Electoral College, Zell thinks it is important for two other reasons. The popular vote doesn’t decide the presidency but still carries weight in terms of legitimacy, and every vote has equal value, he said.
And it is important for party officials and politicians to take the Israel-based vote seriously, Zell told JNS.
“Five-hundred thousand people is a lot. It’s a lot more than many states in the union,” he said. “So it’s important that they understand that Israel is on the electoral map, along with the jurisdictions in the United States.”
Zell, who also serves as general counsel for the larger Republicans Overseas operation, is making do with what he describes as limited resources.
Speaking to JNS from last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, he said Republicans Overseas Israel has a database of several thousand self-identified Republican voters in Israel.
“We can do much better, and that’s one of the things we’re trying to do,” he said. “We’re doing a crowdfunding campaign and a private donation campaign to provide us with resources, because the Republican Party does not support expat voting anywhere in the world, including Israel.”
{Matzav.com}