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This Week:

• RJC PAC Overview: 2026 Congressional Battlefield
• The Annual Census Update Points to a Redder America
• RJC in the News
• Melania Trump Hosts Keith and Aviva Siegel in Emotional White House Reunion
• Short Takes
• Week's Best Tweets
• Upcoming Events

RJC PAC Overview: 2026 Congressional Battlefield

With nine months until the Midterm Election this November, the congressional battlefield is still taking shape. The deadlines to declare a candidacy for the House or Senate have not yet passed in most states. Many incumbents have yet to announce whether they’ll seek reelection. And a few more states are probably going to redraw their congressional districts to benefit the party in power - as Texas and California did last year.

But we know some things already:

• There will be an intense fight for control of the House of Representatives focused on a few dozen genuinely competitive seats (out of 435).

• The Democrats, who currently hold 47 seats in the Senate, believe that momentum is on their side, but also realize the four-seat gain they would need to wrest control of the chamber still looks like a long shot.

• We also know that the President’s approval ratings are predictive of midterm election outcomes, so observers will be tracking that number carefully over the course of the next nine months.

Click here to read the full RJC PAC analysis of some key 2026 races for the House and Senate.

We’ll also be watching closely to see how party committees and individual candidates perform in the fundraising race. Party committees and Super PACs will pour resources into key contests after Labor Day, but individual candidates can advertise at lower rates, so a candidate’s ability to fill their own war chest is a key measure of strength.

Making sure campaigns are well funded continues to be of vital importance. That's why the RJC is gearing up for our biggest midterm effort ever through our Political Action Committee, our RJC PAC Portal where you can support congressional candidates directly, and our and our grassroots activism.

Read more here.

The Annual Census Update Points to a Redder America

Dan McLaughlin writes at National Review (paywall):

The annual Census Bureau estimates of national and statewide population growth from July 2024 to July 2025 arrived later than usual this year, but, like U-Haul’s data on internal migration, the new census figures paint a picture that ought to be a serious wake-up call to blue America.

First, the big picture: the population growth rate for the country as a whole dropped in half, from 1 percent in 2023–24 to 0.5 percent in 2024–25. That’s almost entirely the result of tighter borders rather than domestic trends. Net international migration peaked in 2024, with 2.7 million more people entering the United States than leaving it. That dropped to 1.3 million in 2025 and is projected to keep plunging.

McLaughlin reviews the data on which states gained and lost population overall and as expected, red states such as Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia gained population, while five blue states declined in population: Vermont, Hawaii, West Virginia, New Mexico, and California. In addition, Rust Belt states are losing ground to Sun Belt states.

These trends are projected to influence the political map after the redistricting that will follow the next census in 2030. McLaughlin writes that strongly red states may gain 8 seats in the House of Representatives, while deep-blue seats could lose 8 seats, with smaller adjustments in purple states. In a future presidential election, there could be a shift of 11 electoral votes in favor of the GOP ticket. That would make the path to the White House easier for the 2032 GOP candidate for President.

RJC in the News

JNS: Trump poll numbers seem to be inching up among American Jews

US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped from 40% in the fall to 37%, but his support among American Jews appears to be inching up, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.

… Sam Markstein, national political director at the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS that Trump "received the largest share of the Jewish vote in over 40 years, powering his historic 2024 victory in decisive battleground states, including resounding wins in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan."

Since his re-election, Trump has deported "foreign jihadist sympathizers and Hamas supporters," ended the war against Hamas and returned the hostages, "obliterated" Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, directed the whole federal government to "do everything in their power to end the scourge of antisemitism" and filed "historic civil rights lawsuits to cut off funding to colleges and universities that refuse to defend their Jewish students," according to Markstein.

"President Trump is the greatest friend the Jewish people have ever had in the White House, and it isn’t even close," he told JNS. "Jewish Americans across this country are profoundly grateful and thankful to have President Trump back in the Oval Office."

Melania Trump Hosts Keith and Aviva Siegel in Emotional White House Reunion

The Jewish Insider reports:

First Lady Melania Trump welcomed freed Israeli hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel to the White House on Wednesday, one year after Aviva met the first lady for the first time and pleaded for help securing her husband’s release.

… The Siegel couple was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023. Aviva was held hostage for 51 days before being released in the first ceasefire deal in November 2023, but Keith was not released until 2025, after 484 days of captivity. Over the course of the war, Aviva became one of the most visible activists advocating for the release of all the hostages.

"Aviva is a warrior. She’s a warrior. She was fighting very hard for Keith, and I know he suffered a lot," Trump said on Wednesday. "I’m happy to see you healthy at home with your children, with your grandchildren, with your family, and I know you’re giving back your time, your energy, to other people."

Keith responded to the first lady’s remarks with emotional comments of his own, getting choked up at times.

"I want to thank you for being a very compassionate person, for supporting and helping Aviva during those difficult days, and you helped her enormously in many ways," Keith said to Trump. "I’m eternally grateful to you and President [Donald] Trump for bringing me home and for bringing all of the hostages back to their families."

The RJC had the honor of meeting with a delegation of four hostage families in December 2024, including Aviva Siegel. Their loved ones, Keith Siegel, Romi Gonen, Naama Levy, and Karina Ariev, returned home alive in early 2025.

Short Takes

Greenblatt: The Iranian Regime’s First Victims Are Its Own People

Any discussion of the Iranian regime—whether diplomatic, strategic, or military—usually begins with its external threats: nuclear enrichment, missile development, regional proxies and the danger these pose to Israel, US Arab allies and global stability. These risks are real, and they could quickly produce widespread damage and large numbers of victims far beyond Iran’s borders.

But before any of that happens, there are already victims. They live inside Iran.

The Iranian people are too often treated as a secondary concern, eclipsed by geopolitical calculations and security debates. That framing misses something fundamental. The regime’s threat to the outside world begins with how it governs at home. The same system that projects coercive power abroad sustains itself through coercion within.

… Iran’s repression is not episodic or reactive. It is structural. The regime does not deviate from its purpose when it terrorizes its population—it fulfills it.

NY Post: Senate launches probe of Mamdani’s anti-Israel orders, threatens NYC’s federal funding

A US Senate panel launched a probe Wednesday of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, citing "serious concerns" about the "rescission of executive orders related to antisemitism and boycotts of Israel."

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) wrote a letter to Mamdani asking whether the scrapping of the orders would hamper the enforcement of civil rights law — thus risking the revocation of $2.2 billion in federal funds.

“Antisemitism is not an abstract concern in New York City; it is a lived reality for millions of students and residents, and its consequences are very serious,” Cassidy told Mamdani in the letter reviewed by The Post.

“Decisions by your administration that weaken established safeguards for Jewish students in New York and are out of alignment with federal executive orders warrant careful scrutiny,” he said.

PennLive: First woman elected to the Pa. Supreme Court dies

Retired Justice Sandra Schultz Newman, the first woman elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, died Monday. She was 87.

… "Justice Newman’s tenure on the bench was defined by integrity, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to fairness and the rule of law," said Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Todd. "She was a remarkable jurist, public servant, and trailblazer for women, whose work and impact will leave a legacy beyond the bench."

Justice Newman was a former member of the RJC Leadership and a well-respected member of our Greater Philadelphia Chapter. The RJC offers condolences to her family.

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