What do Jewish voters in Kansas think of Mike Pompeo?
Pompeo is known for having strong pro-Israel positions. Last month, he declared that the settlements are not illegal under international law.
By OMRI NAHMIASUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a joint news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan, April 30, 2018.(photo credit: MUHAMMAD HAMED / REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – It is no secret that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is considering a possible Senate bid for a Kansas seat in 2020.While the secretary is yet to decide, the latest reports indicated that he is thinking about it seriously. The Kansas City Star reported on Saturday that Pompeo opened a personal Twitter account “for future plans” and cited three sources.Pompeo is known for having strong pro-Israel positions. Last month, he declared that the settlements are not illegal under international law. He maintains a close relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer.However, what does the Jewish community in Kansas think about the possible Senate run? Between 15,000 and 30,000 Jews live in Kansas. The Jerusalem Post has reached out to people on both the Right and Left to understand how the community would vote if Pompeo ran. While people on both sides of the aisle had different views on him, they all agreed that the breakdown of the small Jewish community would be similar to the overall views of Jews across the US: The majority of supporters would lean toward the Democratic candidate.Marjorie Robinow, chairwoman of the Heartland Republican Jewish Coalition, told the Post, “I think that the Jewish community in Kansas reflects the proportions of Democrat and Republican voters [among the Jewish community] across the nation, which means they are primarily Democrat voters.... The area that I live in, which is a primarily Democrat area, it’s where most of the Jewish people live.“However, more and more people recognize that Mr. Trump, and Pompeo as the vehicle to extend policy, has been so pro-Israel that more and more people are willing to say out loud that they would support Pompeo in the elections.”Robinow told the Post that she is not sure if Pompeo would join the race.“Most of us in Kansas who do have conservative and strong pro-Israel views would like him to jump in. I am aware that he really loves his job in the State Department, and he is doing some incredible things. Senate is a six-year go, and it would give him quite a good position to move forward for an additional great career. I would personally be very happy to vote for him,” she said.She did clarify, however, that even if Pompeo could sway more voters thanks to his pro-Israel positions, she does not expect it to make a dramatic shift in the overall vote among the community.“Something really exceptional has to happen for that to happen,” she said. “Americans vote top-down [the ballot]. So, whoever is the Democrat presidential candidate will predict some of it, too.”
Rabbi Mark Levin, founding rabbi of Congregation Beth Torah told the Post that the main focus in the Jewish community is on the race for Kansas’s third congressional district, since Democrats understand that the Republican candidate has the best chance to win the Senate seat anyway.“People think that the Republican would be the senator, and whoever that is, Pompeo is no more objectionable [among the Jewish community] than anybody else who would fill that role,” he said.“As far as I could see, my friends and the people I know who were raising money – they’re all getting behind [Rep.] Sharice Davids,” he continued. “I think people want to hang on to the seat [of Kansas 3rd congressional district]. So I think in this area, which is the major Jewish population of Kansas, I think that’s going to be the real race.”Levin added that if Pompeo were to run, he expects that he’ll maintain Trump’s positions.“And there are a number of influential people here who are very enamored of that position,” he said. “The settlements, Golan Heights, Jerusalem; they’re enamored of [US Ambassador] David Friedman. I think that these people on the Right will assume that Pompeo will not be different.”Levin said he presumes that the Jewish community in Kansas votes for Democrats at a rate similar to the general level of support across the US. “It may be a little bit more Republican, but I don’t think it’s dramatically different.“We’re not a large community in terms of statewide, and I think we’re not going to have an enormous amount of influence,” he emphasized. “Overall, Israel is important here, [but] I don’t think the vast majority of people really take it into account strongly in their voting.”Leslie D. Mark, a community organizer and registered Democrat told the Post that people in the Jewish community are mostly worried about the price of our medicine, of insurance, and about the cost of food, when considering who to vote for.“Most Jews are registered Democrats,” she said. “Most Jews live in urban areas. They live in Kansas City, they live in Wichita, a few live in Topeka, a few in Lawrence, where the University of Kansas is. Jews live in the urban and suburban areas where political shifts have moved toward the Democrats, broadly speaking. Jews right here in Kansas City metro recently experienced antisemitic violence and loss of life. In that context, the Jews of Kansas are not supporting relaxed gun laws and expansion of the Second Amendment; they are wondering what is happening in America and how a small town, second-tier congressman like Pompeo supports a guy like Trump – both of whom completely undermine the values I learned as a Jew.“This is an issue, in my opinion, of a man who has a goal that’s bigger than either of those two positions,” she continued. “And he’s making a political calculus about power. And the question for him is what will get me to the White House. I don’t think he will garner most of the Jewish vote.”
