Project Description

The Jewish Vote is a home for New York Jews seeking to secure a pluralistic city that works for all of us through the power of the Jewish vote. We are intellectuals, day school kids, bubbes, queers, geeks, resistance moms, carpenters, bartenders, lawyers, nurses, farmers  — deeply rooted cosmopolitans and proud members of the diaspora. We are Black and Brown, Latino/a/x and Asian, Mizrahi, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, immigrant and US-born. Together we are building a future with Medicare for All, universal rent control, a Green New Deal, publicly funded elections, fair wages and working conditions for all, and an end to mass incarceration and criminalization of people of color. The Jewish Vote is at the forefront of efforts to hold accountable both the Democratic Party and the Jewish establishment, who too often serve the interests of the donor class at the expense of the rest of us. The Jewish Vote endorses candidates who will fight alongside us to achieve all of this and more. The Jewish Vote is a vote for the many, not the few.

The Jewish Vote will make endorsement decisions along with local members based on our comprehensive assessment of the candidate and race. If a candidate does not support any of the elements below, it may not be disqualifying, but they must explain their current position and indicate whether they are open to change. 

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We are building democracy that serves the people, not corporate interests. In the wake of the January 6 insurrection this means taking threats to our democracy seriously, particularly from white nationalists’ parliamentary and paramilitary wings, while maximizing political participation from those historically disenfranchised.

We are building a political movement powered by our neighbors, community members, and voters. We are pushing for politicians to be accountable to we the people, not Wall Street, big real estate, police unions, or corporate donors. Our candidates must:

  • Reject corporate, real estate, carceral, and fossil fuel money
  • Actively seek small donor dollars and support the public financing of elections
  • Support the expansion of voting rights & measures to give everyone meaningful access to voting

We explicitly reject white nationalism, antisemitism, and right-wing extremism

As Jews, we understand that antisemitism is part of the same machinery of fear and division fueling white nationalism, racism, sexism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and other forms of oppression. We know solidarity with all the groups targeted by Trump’s GOP and its white nationalist base, and an inclusive pluralist multiracial democracy, are our only hope. Our candidates:

  • Are explicit in resisting the politics of hate and fear, specifically including antisemitism
  • Fight against the rise of authoritarian regimes grounded in racial, ethnic, and religious nationalism, at home and abroad
  • Reject the idea of increased policing and prosecution as the only way to keep our communities safe from hate violence

Our elected leaders must govern in partnership with grassroots movements and community advocates

We elect leaders with a strong commitment to governing alongside advocates and communities most impacted by policies. Our candidates must commit to:

  • Meet and consult with advocates and directly impacted groups on laws, policies, and budgets 
  • Protect the right to protest, and reject attempts to criminalize, bar, and surveil any form of protest or political speech

We fight for immigrant justice

We elect leaders who will protect immigrants and refugees, as previous generations stepped forward to protect many of our immigrant parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Our candidates commit to:

  • Defund and block participation in ICE’s deportation machine. They are committed to abolishing ICE in its current form and actively blocking the agency’s access to schools, workplaces, hospitals, courts, and public spaces
  • Support laws, policies, and budgets that protect immigrants, including universal free right to counsel and removal of gatekeeping from public programs and services based on immigration status

We fight for healthcare and long term care for all

We believe in a society where everyone gets the full healthcare and long-term care they need, regardless of ability to pay. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deep wealth and racial inequality in New York State, with working class and poor communities of color disproportionately harmed by a public health crisis that continues to wreak havoc. Our candidates know that the New York of the near future can be a better, more just, and more compassionate place for everyone to live. They fight for a legislative and budget agenda of compassionate care to heal from the COVID-19 pandemic. They work to cherish the health and safety of all people, from essential workers to students to incarcerated or unhoused people. Most of all, they fight for Medicare for All, the New York Health Act, and a caring economy in which women, older adults, disabled people, caregivers, care workers, and all of us are valued, protected, and able to provide and receive care with dignity and respect.

We fight for Homes for All

For too long the interests of real estate developers have been prioritized over those of our neighbors and communities. Our candidates recognize housing as a human right. They fight for universal rent control, a #HomesGuarantee platform, stronger protections for tenants including the right to free counsel, and permanently affordable housing for all. They fight for ending homelessness through guaranteeing secure and stable housing for all. They actively fight for policies to undo the disproportionate harm our housing policies have had on communities of color, including collateral damage in education and nutrition. They support community ownership, development and control of housing and other institutions through Community Land Trusts.

We fight to change the criminal legal system 

We are electing candidates who will hold the police accountable and dismantle unjust systems of mass criminalization and incarceration. Our candidates must:

  • Support policies that decarcerate and decriminalize, including: working to end money bail; legalizing marijuana and expunging convictions; closing Rikers while building no new jails; ending solitary confinement;  and ending the criminalization of poverty (e.g. fare evasion enforcement), homelessness, and sex work
  • Demand accountability for police and support greater transparency throughout the system
  • Support decreasing the overall size and scope of the police and carceral system, investing instead in housing, education, jobs, mental health, and other social services.

We fight for a Green New Deal

Our candidates fight for real climate justice by holding corporations responsible and pushing for a Green New Deal. That means 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030, a guaranteed living wage job for anyone who needs one, and a just transition from fossil fuels for both workers and frontline communities. They actively push to divest from fossil fuels, and fight for policies that support the people most harmed by climate change: people of color, poor people, refugees, older adults, youth, and people with disabilities.

We fight alongside workers against corporate power

We are electing candidates who will work to undo the massive increase in corporate power and income inequality. We support leaders who support workers by joining at picket lines, and with policy, law, and the power of budgets and procurement. Our candidates support living wages, safe working conditions, and the expansion of fair scheduling and leave. They support unionization, worker ownership and governance; the right to strike, and protections for whistleblowers. They support expansion of labor rights to historically excluded groups such as domestic workers, and oppose any efforts to remove protections from workers through re-classification or misclassification. They reject the race to the bottom of unaccountable economic development policy, tax breaks, and giveaways to corporations.

Our elected leaders have a progressive vision for foreign policy

As Jewish New Yorkers, we pursue justice arm-in-arm with our neighbors here at home. At the same time, we are in solidarity with struggles for democracy, equality, and liberation beyond our city, including in Israel and Palestine, recognizing the deep connections between issues on the local and global levels. If we are going to realize our vision for a just society with dignified housing, education, and healthcare for all, we must pursue a grassroots internationalist vision and put a stop to never-ending wars. Our candidates commit to:

  • Implementing a foreign policy which focuses on democracy, human rights, equity, self-determination, diplomacy, and economic fairness
  • Working with movements for democracy around the world to build societies that work for and protect all people. In Israel and Palestine, that means ending the occupation and ensuring freedom and dignity for all
  • Refusing relationships with authoritarian leaders or organizations, at home and abroad.