Trailblazing Jewish Democrat #17: Steve Israel

Jason Attermann — May 24, 2011 – 6:01 pm | Jewish American Heritage Month 2011 Comments (1) Add a comment

Steve Israel was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 30, 1958 and grew up in Levittown, Long Island. During high school, he volunteered on Democratic campaigns, including Frank Ornstein’s congressional race. He received an A.A. degree from Nassau Community College in 1978. He attended Syracuse University from 1978-1979, and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in political science from The George Washington University in 1982. In 1983, he served as Suffolk County Director for the American Jewish Congress.

Israel started working on Capitol Hill in the 1980s. He began as an administrative assistant to Representative Robert Matsui (D-CA). He moved to Representative Richard Ottinger’s (D-NY) office, advising on foreign policy and national security issues.

He made a successful run for a seat on the Republican-dominated town board of Huntington, NY on Long Island in 1993. In 2000, the incumbent Representative Rick Lazio (R-NY) vacated his seat to run for Senate. Israel ran for the seat to represent New York’s 2^nd Congressional district, and defeated his Republican opponent Joan Johnson.

Jumping quickly into his position, Israel passed more new measures as a Representative than any other freshman Democrat in his first term. Notably, he passed a bill to improve research of ovarian cancer. In his second term, Israel received his first leadership role in the Party as Assistant Whip. He helped form the bipartisan Congressional Center Aisle Caucus as well as the Democratic Study Group on National Security. He chaired the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Defense and Military during his third term. Among the issues Israel has focused on throughout his career, he has played a large role in encouraging and increasing Congressional support for the state of Israel. He recently led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel.

Following major losses for the Democratic Party in the 2010 election, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tapped Israel to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2012 election season. This position is the 5^th highest in Democratic Party leadership.

Israel served as the President of the Institute on the Holocaust and the Law in New York from 1998 to 2000. The Institute is a think tank which explores what happened to lawyers and judges during the Holocaust, and the tactics used by those in Nazi Germany to strip legal rights of some citizens.

Israel’s wife, the Honorable Marlene Budd, is a family court judge for Suffolk County. The couple has two daughters.

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