Rona Kaufman, an associate professor of constitutional law at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, went to sleep before the election was called on Tuesday and woke up on Wednesday relieved to learn of Trump’s victory.
“In all honesty, I had deep concerns about a Harris win and what that means for our country, and what that means for the future of Jewish security, both at home and abroad,” Kaufman told The Jerusalem Post. “And I have more faith right now in the Republican Party to lead us in a better direction.”
Kaufman, who was also clear to identify herself as a “mother, Zionist and feminist,” has written extensively about leaving the Democratic Party this election cycle over its handling of Israel and antisemitism.
The Biden administration, along with the Harris campaign, could’ve rejected the far-left, antisemitic contingency within their party, she said, and instead embraced political moderates.
According to Kaufman, most Americans were turned off by the Democratic Party’s embracing of far-left views on topics like gender, micro-aggressions, and terrorism.
She believes that Americans, including herself, were “totally offended” by the party’s constant claim that voting Republican was to vote for authoritarianism and against democracy.
“I think, broadly, Americans rejected the Democratic Party,” Kaufman said. “I don’t think Trump won. I think Harris lost.”
Kaufman’s first issue of importance under Trump’s presidency is to see a Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights that responds strongly to antisemitic attacks on college campuses.
Her second priority is for Trump to prosecute hate crimes being committed against Jews.
As far as Israel is concerned, she’s hopeful that the president-elect will do as he’s stated and encourage Israel to quickly finish the war.
Trump will follow through on all of this because that’s what his base wants, Kaufman believes.
And Jewish Americans can hold him accountable by becoming more involved in the Republican Party, she said.
“I think Jews [will] begin to recognize, if that all happens, that the Republican Party may be the party that best reflects Jewish security at home and abroad.”
Valerie Habif
VALERIE HABIF, who co-founded the Jewish Democratic Women’s Salon in Atlanta, spoke to the Post on Tuesday hours before the polls closed and again on Wednesday hours after Trump declared victory.
On Tuesday, Election Day, Habif expressed sheer amazement at the work Jewish Democratic women have done to effect political change in the historically conservative state.
“The work that we are doing to bring change to the state – we will not be stopped. No national election is going to stop us, no state election is going to stop us,” she said on Tuesday. “We’re not going to stop until we’re done because that is truly what it means to be Jewish – with the work that we are doing on the issues that matter most to us.”
“There’s no room for us to stop.”
On Wednesday, after the polls revealed that Trump won Georgia by just over 2% of the vote, Habif stood by what she said that if Democrats lost, they’d lick their wounds and then keep on going.
Habif sees divisions within the Jewish community as either healing or deepening, depending on what path the Trump administration pursues.
She emphasized that American Jews are used to being a minority voice, and the election reminded her once again of that.
The salon co-founder said Democratic Jewish women will continue to use their voices to preserve democracy.
“We, as Democratic Jewish women, if need be... will get louder.”
Sarah Meadows
SARAH MEADOW, a first-year graduate student at the University of Michigan completing a degree in environmental sustainability, was overwhelmingly shocked on Wednesday while processing the news of Trump’s victory.
She stayed up late with friends on Tuesday night to watch the results come in and recalled getting concerned around midnight. Even after her friends went home, Meadow said she stayed up texting with some until 5 a.m.
Meadow, who grew up in central Michigan, said all of her friends, including her Jewish friends, voted for Harris.
She described walking to campus on Wednesday morning, constantly refreshing election results, the news, and social media as the razor-thin Michigan senate race between Democrat Elissa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers had yet to be called (Slotkin won). Most other women had their heads down buried in their phones as well, Meadow said.
She said some students in her grad program are talking about how Trump’s environmental policies could impact their careers in environmental sustainability.
Other women were talking about wanting to get an IUD before Trump officially comes into office.
Jerry Bein-Willner
JERRY BIEN-WILLNER, the mayor of Paradise Valley, Arizona, told the Post that deciding who to vote for was not easy as he felt there were flaws and issues of concern with both Harris and Trump.
While he declined to say who he voted for, he said he wasn’t at all surprised by Trump’s victory.
A common refrain he heard from members of his community was frustration over the Harris campaign “both-siding” Israel and its war against Hamas.
Israel was something that he and other Jewish voters in the state were paying attention to.
The way Harris’s campaign approached Israel caused a lot of anxiety within the community, Bien-Willlner said, which, coupled with the palpable rise in antisemitism, led to overall confusion about the campaign and a lack of confidence in her ability to lead on these issues.
He said October 7 heightened the Jewish community’s need to stand together to protect itself.
At the end of Trump’s term, Bien-Wilner said he’d like to see the promises kept in regard to holding those accused of committing hate crimes accountable and ensuring safety on college campuses.
Dylan Marks
FOR DYLAN MARKS, a 20-year-old sophomore at Arizona State University studying business finance, there was a clear choice regarding which presidential candidate championed the state of Israel and Jews on campus.
In “this election, [it] was very, very clear who was going to stick up for Israel,” he said.
Marks was among about 40 Jewish students who Trump met with this year on ASU’s campus.
“It was an absolute pleasure to see the now president [elect] of the United States take the time to want to meet Jewish students on campus. That was a real eye-opener, and it really showed who cared in this election,” Marks told the Post.
According to Marks, the Jewish community under Harris “sees the status quo.”
“We didn’t have an Israel war going on under president Trump. Now, we have a war going on under President Biden and [Vice President] Kamala Harris,” he said. “We don’t want to see more wars in the future, and I think a vote for president Trump is a vote for a secure future.”
Jon Cohen
JON COHEN, who was born and raised in South Florida and is the nationwide director of community mobilization at Keshet, an organization focused on LGBTQ equality in Jewish life, said he was initially devastated at the outcome of the election.
“Our freedoms as Jews and as LGBTQ people are threatened when democracy is threatened, and we learned from the last Trump presidency that democracy is very much threatened by his administration,” Cohen said.
Living in Miami, a politically and ideologically diverse Jewish community, felt like a warning leading up to the election, he said.
“It prepared me to not be so shocked,” he said. “Living in Miami, I definitely do not live in an echo chamber, and so I have known many, many Jewish people who have been supporting Trump and a conservative platform my entire life.”
He described being comforted by the paradoxes of the way people in Miami show up for the community, like walking in pride together, with how they vote.
Cohen said he understood the election as a culmination of the real uncertainty within the Jewish community over the past year.
After a divisive election, he hopes the community can heal and come together around those it disagrees with to fight against antisemitism – and also come together around LGBTQ protections and religious freedoms.
“We need to be prepared,” Cohen said. “And we can only do that successfully if we come together.”