Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters is warning that a Democratic takeover of Congress would elevate figures he describes as antisemitic and create what he calls a “direct threat to the Jewish community.”
“A Democratic majority in November is not just a political setback for our party and our movement — it is a direct threat to the Jewish community,” Gruters is expected to say Monday at the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit in Las Vegas, according to speech excerpts obtained by The Post.
In the prepared remarks, Gruters argues that a new Democratic majority would not be led by the party’s more moderate voices who have at times challenged antisemitism. Instead, he says, power would shift to “the squad,” the Democratic Socialists of America and “the people who looked at Oct. 7 and stood with Hamas.”
Gruters is also expected to accuse Democrats of allowing anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism to gain a foothold inside the party, saying the shift “did not happen overnight.”
“Radical extremists took over the party — and the Democrat leaders let them,” he says in the address.
The RNC chairman’s remarks single out democratic socialists with growing influence in Democratic politics, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who leads the city with the largest Jewish population in the United States.
Gruters points to Mamdani’s response after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which terrorists killed more than 1,200 people, saying the mayor did not immediately condemn the group. He also notes that Mamdani has repeatedly declined to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and, on his first day in office, rescinded former Mayor Eric Adams’ executive order aimed at combating antisemitism.
“That was his priority,” Gruters says in the planned speech.
The RNC chief also flags Jew-bashing Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rashida
Tlaib (D-Michigan) and the rantings of the anti-Israel Democratic candidate running for Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed.
El-Sayed apologized Saturday for saying the attempted targeting of a synagogue preschool in Michigan was a case of “hurt people hurt people.”
Gruters says in his speech, “These are not isolated incidents.
“They are the pattern. And the Democrat Party has not just tolerated it — they have embraced it.These DSA candidates who refuse to condemn Hamas are now defeating establishment Democrats all across the country. The radical left has officially taken over the Democrat Party.”
Gruters says the GOP is meanwhile running candidates fighting for the Jewish community in New York, citing Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler and Long Island congressional nominee Michael LiPetri.
Lawler, seeking re-election to a third term in the heavily Jewish 17th District, faces a tough challenge from Democrat Cait Conley, an Army veteran.
LiPetri is running in a rematch against Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi in the 3rd House District that encompasses Nassau County’s north shore and parts of Queens. Suozzi defeated him by only 3 percentage points in 2024.
Gruters says the GOP is trying to defy history because the party in power almost always loses seats during a midterm election.
While previously serving as a Florida state senator, Gruters championed measures to combat antisemitism in the Sunshine State.
