Trailblazing Jewish Democrats #20: Jewish Democratic Representatives

Jason Attermann — May 27, 2011 – 2:49 pm | Jewish American Heritage Month 2011 Comments (0) Add a comment

Jews have had a presence in the House of Representatives since 1844, when Lewis Charles Levin won a seat from the American Party. Up until 1998, approximately 80% of the Jewish members elected were from the Democratic Party. Subsequently, the percentage of newly elected Jewish members to Congress who are Democrats is substantially higher. Currently, there are 25 Jewish Democratic members of the House of Representatives, making up about 13% of the House Democratic caucus. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) is the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, and Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) is the Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Past Jewish Democratic Representatives:

David Spangler Kaufman D-TX 1846-1851

Emanuel Bernard Hart D-NY 1851-1853

Philip Phillips D-AL 1853-1855

Henry Myer Phillips D-PA 1857-1859

Myer Strouse D-PA 1863-1867

William Mallory Levy D-LA 1875-1877

Leopold Morse D-MA 1877-1885; 1887-1889

Julius Houseman D-MI 1883-1885

Joseph Pulitzer D-NY 1885-1886

Isidor Rayner D-MD 1887-1889; 1891-1895

Adolph Meyer D-LA 1891-1908

Julius Goldzier D-IL 1893-1895

Isidor Straus D-NY 1894-1895

Mitchell May D-NY 1899-1901

Jefferson Levy D-NY 1899-1901; 1911-1915

Henry Mayer Goldfogle D-NY 1901-1915; 1919-1921

Martin Emerich D-IL 1903-1905

Harry Benjamin Wolf D-MD 1907-1909

Adolph Joachim Sabath D-IL 1907-1952

Jacob Aaron Cantor, D-NY 1913-1915

Samuel Marx D-NY Elected 1922; died before assuming office

Meyer Jacobstein D-NY 1923-1929

Samuel Dickstein D-NY 1923-1945

Sol Bloom D-NY 1923-1949

Emanuel Celler D-NY 1923-1973

William Wolfe Cohen D-NY 1927-1929

William Irving Sirovich D-NY 1927-1939

Theodore Albert Peyser D-NY 1933-1937

Henry Ellenbogen D-PA 1933-1938

Herman Paul Kopplemann D-CT 1933-1939; 1941-1943:1945-1947

William Paul Citron D-CT 1935-1939

Leon Sacks D-PA 1937-1943

Morris Michael Edelstein D-NY 1940-1941

Arthur George Klein D-NY 1941-1945; 1946-1956

Samuel Arthur Weiss D-PA 1941-1946

Benjamin J. Rabin D-NY 1945-1947

Leo Frederick Rayfiel D-NY 1945-1947

Abraham Jacob Multer D-NY 1947-

Theodore Irving, D-NY 1949-1953

Abraham A. Ribicoff D-CT 1949-1953

Louis Benjamin Heller D-NY 1949-1954

 Earl Chudoff D-PA 1949-1958

Isidore Dollinger D-NY 1949-1959

Sidney Richard Yates D-IL 1949-1963; 1965-1999

Sidney Asher Fine D-NY 1951-1956

Lester Holtzman D-NY 1953-1961

Samuel Nathaniel Friedel D-MD 1953-1971

Irwin Delmore Davidson D-NY 1955-1956

Herbert Zelenko D-NY 1955-1963

Ludwig Teller D-NY 1957-1961

Leonard Farbstein D-NY 1957-1971

Herman Toll D-PA 1959-1967

Jacob H. Gilbert D-NY 1960-1971

Charles Samuel Joelson D-NJ 1961-1969

Benjamin S. Rosenthal D-NY 1962-1983

Joseph Yale Resnick D-NY 1965-1969

Herbert Tenzer D-NY 1965-1969

James Scheuer D-NY 1965-1973; 1975-1993

Lester Lionel Wolff D-NY 1965-1981

Joshua Eilberg D-PA 1967-1979

Bertram L. Podell D-NY 1968-1975

Allard K. Lowenstein, D-NY 1969-1971

Abner Joseph Mikva, D-IL 1969-1973; 1975-1979

Edward Irving Koch D-NY 1969-1977

Bella Savitsky Abzug D-NY 1971-1977

Abzug was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Edward M. Mezvinsky D-IA 1973-1977

Elizabeth Holtzman D-NY 1973-1981

William Lehman D-FL 1973-1993

John Hans Krebs D-CA 1975-1979

Gladys Noon Spellman D-MD 1975-1981

Frederick W. Richmond D-NY 1975-1982

Elliott Harris Levitas D-GA 1975-1985

Stephen Solarz D-NY 1975-1993

Theodore S. Weiss D-NY 1977-1992

Daniel Robert Glickman D-KS 1977-1995

Glickman was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Anthony C. Beilenson D-CA 1977-1997

Martin Frost D-TX 1979-2005

Frost was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Howard Elliot Wolpe III D-MI.1979-1993

Thomas Peter Lantos D-CA 1981-2008

Robert Norton Shamanksy D-OH 1981-1983

Ronald Lee Wyden D-OR 1981-1996

Charles Ellis Schumer D-NY 1981-1999

Schumer was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Samuel Gejdenson D-CT 1981-2001

Norman Sisisky D-VA 1983-2001

Sala Galant Burton D-CA 1983-1987

Barbara Boxer D-CA 1983-1992

Benjamin Leader Erdreich D-AL 1983-1993

Meldon Edises Levine D-CA 1983-1993

Lawrence Jack Smith D-FL 1983-1993

Benjamin Cardin D-MD 1987-2006

Bernard Sanders Ind.-VT 1991-2006

Peter R. Deutsch D-FL 1993-2005

Sam Coppersmith D-AZ 1993-1995

Eric Fingerhut D-OH 1993-1995

Daniel Hamburg D-CA 1993-1995

Herbert Charles Klein D-NJ 1993-1995

Margolis M. Mezvinsky D-PA 1993-1995

Lynn Schenk D-CA 1993-1995

Jane F. Harman D-CA 1993-1999, 2001-2011

Robert Wexler D-FL 1997-2010

Rahm Emanuel D-IL 2003-2009

Emanuel was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Ronald Klein D-FL 2007-2011

Paul Hodes D-NH 2007-2011

Steve Kagen D-WI 2007-2011

 John H. Adler D-NJ 2009-2011

Alan Grayson D-FL 2009-2011

 

Below are all active Jewish Democratic Representatives. Click on their names to read their biography.

Henry Arnold Waxman D-CA 1975-

Barney Frank D-MA 1981-

Gary Leonard Ackerman D-NY 1983-

Howard L. Berman D-CA 1983-

Sander Martin Levin D-MI 1983-

Eliot Lance Engel D-NY 1989-

Nita Melnikoff Lowey D-NY 1989-

Jerrold Lewis Nadler D-NY 1992-

Robert Filner D-CA 1993-

Steven R. Rothman D-NJ 1997-

Brad Sherman D-CA 1997-

Shelley Berkley D-NV 1999-

Jan Schakowsky D-IL 1999-

Anthony Weiner D-NY 1999-

Susan Davis D-CA 2001-

Steve Israel D-NY 2001-

Israel was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Adam Schiff D-CA 2001-

Allyson Schwartz D-PA 2004-

Debbie Wasserman Schultz D-FL 2005-

Wasserman Schultz was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Gabrielle Giffords D-AZ 2007-

John Yarmuth D-KY 2007-

Steve Cohen D-TN 2007-

Jared Polis D-CO 2009-

Ted Deutch D-FL 2010-

David Cicilline D-RI 2011-

 

More about Jewish Representatives can be read in the book Jews in American Politics, which was edited by L. Sandy Maisel and Ira N. Forman.

The information was provided by The Jewish Virtual Library.

Comments

There are no comments for this entry