Most Americans may not hate Israel or Jews, but if enough do, is standing up worth losing an election?

The presidential bellwether that is the Virginia gubernatorial election holds an ominous sign for American Jews. The election saw a crushing 57% victory for Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who won on the strategy of side-stepping Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ transgender-focused campaign for an election focused on tariffs, federal layoffs; kitchen table issues.

It’s not that Spanberger or the Democrats do not care about trans people, but learning the lessons of the 2024 presidential campaign, they were not willing to make it an issue of the campaign. Most Virginians may not hate trans people, most Virginians may not see trans people as a threat to their communities, but if enough do, the Spanberger campaign determined that it isn’t worth alienating or aggravating these voters and losing the election.

A similar phenomenon occurred in the 2025 New York City mayoral election regarding Islam and Muslims. Independent former Gov. Andrew Cuomo made Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s Islam the central pillar of his attack campaign, attempting to make Mamdani’s Israel stance, policies of otherwise little relevance to a mayor race, the story of the election. Mamdani did not engage, running a disciplined and eventually victorious campaign on rent and cost-of-living issues.

Mamdani is a Muslim, engaged in the Shia community of New York, but learning the lessons of previous Democrat campaigns he was not willing to make it an issue of the campaign. Most New Yorkers may not hate Muslims, most New Yorkers may not view Islam as a threat to their communities, but if enough do, the Mamdani campaign determined that it isn’t worth alienating or aggravating these voters and losing the election.

This is not a statement on transgender people or Muslims, on gender theory or Islam, but a sober reckoning with the increasingly opportunistic nature of American politics in regards to minority groups.

Most Americans may not hate Israel or Jews, most Americans may not view Israel or Jews as a threat to their communities, but if enough do, is standing up for them really worth losing an election?

We can already see from the leading contenders among each party the answer is a clear and disappointing no. On one side California Gov. Gavin Newsom openly calls Israel an “apartheid state” and accuses Israel of “killing kids, young girls” in Iran, while Vice President. JD Vance claims antisemitism is “overstated by people who want to avoid having a foreign-policy conversation about America’s relationship with Israel” and hosts podcasts with Tucker Carlson.

Gavin Newsom may not really hate Israel and JD Vance may have no problem with Jews, but a significant enough portion of their potential voters do, and standing up for American Jews in the face of blood libels and incitements on the campaign is simply not good politics.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)