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  Another Consequence of Coleman’s Concession
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ContributorJason 
Last EditedJason  Jul 02, 2009 02:16am
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AuthorNaftali Bendavid
News DateThursday, July 2, 2009 08:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionA little-noticed result of Republican Norm Coleman’s concession to Democrat Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race—coming two months after the party switch of Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter—is that for the first time in more than a half-century, no Jewish Republicans serve in the Senate.

In contrast, 11 Senate Democrats are Jewish, plus the two independents who align themselves with the Democrats, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The National Jewish Democratic Council, which monitors these things, notes that at least one Jewish Republican—generally a moderate like the late Sen Jacob Javitz of New York—has been serving in the Senate continuously since 1957.

Both Franken and Coleman are Jewish, and both were born in New York. Franken has joked that of the two, “I’m the New York Jew who actually grew up in Minnesota,” since he moved to the state at age four, while Coleman made the move after law school.

The Jewish community has leaned Democratic for a long time, but today’s scarcity of GOP Jewish lawmakers is unusual. Through the 1990s, four Jewish Republicans served in the Senate and eight in the House. Today, the House has just one Jewish Republican, Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia. In contrast, 30 Jewish Democrats serve in the House.
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