Trailblazing Jewish Democrats #19: Jewish Democratic Senators

Jason Attermann — May 26, 2011 – 5:47 pm | Jewish American Heritage Month 2011 Comments (0) Add a comment

Jews have a long history of involvement in American politics. Jewish presence in the U.S. Senate dates back to 1845. Jewish Senators were sporadic through the 19^th century. Since 1949, however, there has always been a Jewish Senator in Congress. More recently, Jews have held significant percentages of the Senate’s 100 seats, especially considering the percentage of the Jewish population of the United States. Since 1905, 22 of the Jewish Senators have been Democrats.

 

Past Jewish Democratic Senators:

David Levy Yulee (D-FL) 1845-1851, 1855-1861

Benjamin Franklin Jonas (D-LA) 1879-1885

Isidor Rayner (D-MD) 1905-1912

Herbert Henry Lehman (D-NY) 1949-1957

Lehman was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Richard Lewis Neuberger (D-OR) 1955-1960

Ernest Henry Gruening (D-AK) 1959-1969

Abraham A. Ribicoff (D-CT) 1963-1981

Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-OH) 1971, 1976-1995

Richard Bernard Stone (D-FL) 1975-1980

Edward F. Zorinsky (D-NE) 1976-1987

Paul David Wellstone (D-MN) 1991-2002

Schumer was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Russell Dana Feingold (D-WI) 1993-2001

 

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

Carl Milton Levin (D-MI) 1979-

Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (D-NJ) 1982-2001, 2003-

Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) 1989-

Herbert Kohl (D-WI) 1989-2012

Kohl was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) 1992-

Barbara Boxer (D-CA) 1993-

Ronald Lee Wyden (D-OR) 1996-

Charles Ellis Schumer (D-NY) 1999-

            Schumer was honored as an NJDC Trailblazing Jewish Democrat.

Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) 2007-

Bernard Sanders (I-VT) 2007-

Al Franken (D-MN) 2009-

Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) 2011-

 

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

 

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