Can Jewish Exodus from Democratic Party keep Florida red in 2020?

Jill Weinstein attends Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas.

For most of her life, Jill Weinstein never questioned voting Democrat. As a Jewish woman, it never seemed a question who to support at the polls.

“It’s genetic,” she jokes. “We’re all basically born Democrats.”

Weinstein supported President Barack Obama both times he ran for president. Four years ago, she supported Bernie Sanders as he sought the Democratic nomination, hoping to become the first Jewish President.

But now, the Port St. John voter talks glowingly about President Donald Trump. She labels Sanders an “anti-Semitic Jew.” Leading to 2020, she will be volunteering with her local Republican Executive Committee.

“Now I see things differently,” she says.

“At this point, I plan to talk to other Jews who are feeling betrayed like I did but are willing to make that step.”

Weinstein spoke this weekend at the national Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas. At the event, she felt embraced by the GOP, and hopes other Jewish voters will as well.

She became involved in the event through state Rep. Randy Fine, a Brevard Republican. Fine, the only Jewish Republican lawmaker in Florida, sees her story and others as a sign of change.

By Fine’s analysis, it’s political shift that may already have elected Gov. Ron DeSantis. And it may be what gets Trump another term in the White House.

Exodus

Anyone who follows American foreign policy knows the shift that’s taken place in partisan rhetoric on Israel.

The party of John and Robert Kennedy held an unwavering support if the Jewish State — so much so Robert while running for president died at the hands of a Palestinian assassin.

A half century later, support of Israel sounds like a universal Republican position.

There’s areas where the issue remains potent. Certainly, Florida counts, as demonstrated by U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch’s policy advocacy in the House or Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried’s recent AIPAC attendance.

But a new generation of Democratic officials deeply critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has further undercut notions of bipartisanship support for Israel.

Recent comments by U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, led U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican, to sponsor a resolution condemning the words.

In just a couple years, Fine said he’s seen a significant shift among Jewish voters from Democrats to Republicans. He headed Jewish outreach for the Governor’s 2018 campaign, and the experience demonstrated the movement clearly.

He pointed a Fox News poll that showed 5 percent of voters in the gubernatorial race identify as Jewish, Of those, 35 percent voted for DeSantis.

That’s 7 percent more than vote for Trump in Florida in 2016 or who supported Rick Scott for Governor in 2014. And that jump in voters roughly equates with the 32,463-vote lead that delivered victory to DeSantis over Democrat Andrew Gillum.

“We have the ability to move the needle,” Fine said.

BDS Wedge

Fine sees an opportunity presented because of the BDS Movement, a call to boycott divest and sanction Israeli companies worldwide.

He’s filed anti-BDS legislation this year in the Florida Legislature, with no Democratic co-sponsors. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, meanwhile made similar moves at the federal level.

“Democrats have just embraced anti-Semitism,” Fine said.

Weinstein tends to agree.

She said her concerns about Democratic leadership began with Obama leaving Israel out of talks on a treaty with Iran. That got her questioning her loyalty to party principles from gun control to veteran support.

Neither Weinstein nor Fine see any connection between white nationalism under Trump with the president himself. That’s despite nationalists chanting “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville, Va. before Trump said there were “very fine people” on both sides of that deadly protest.

Extremists don’t represent the Republican Party, Weinstein said.

“Within the far right, they are always there and always ignored,” she said.

Fine notes Trump and Vice President Mike Pence this weekend spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition. That actually marks the first time outside Washington, D.C. that a sitting president and vice president appeared the same day at the same event.

It shows Trump values Jewish voters and citizens, and won’t bend to hatred. Nationalists, he said, have more in common with socialist nationalists under Adolf Hitler. He doesn’t see white nationalists fitting anywhere in the American mainstream politic.

Weinstein notes, meanwhile, Jews face more hatred worldwide than any minority group. Yet, Democrats no longer seem interested in protecting that minority interest.

“The Democratic Party, they want victims,” Weinstein said. “Jews aren’t seen as victims anymore.”