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This Week:

• The Races That Will Determine the House Majority
• Remembering 9/11
• Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling Reflects on How the Republican Jewish Coalition "Started" His Political Career

• RJC in the News

• RJC vs. CAIR
• Short Takes
• Week's Best Tweets
• Shana Tova!

The Races That Will Determine the House Majority

In his remarks at the RJC Annual Summit last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke  about the 2026 races that will make or break the GOP majority in the House for the next Congress.

Speaker Johnson listed some of the 21 competitive races that are the top targets for Republicans. These are mostly incumbents in GOP-held seats and a couple of open seats with strong Republican candidates running. There are another four Democrat-leaning districts where Republicans have an opportunity to flip the seat and the Speaker talked about those as well.

Click here for a list of the toss-up seats and the other four seats the Speaker mentioned. We encourage our members to direct some of their political giving to these important races via the RJC PAC Portal. The RJC PAC Portal is always the most valuable way for RJC members to make an impact with their donations to candidates.

Speaker Johnson warned that if Republicans lose the majority, Democrats would "impeach President [Donald] Trump on the first day of Congress in January, they would convert every committee of Congress into an investigative body to go after him and his family and his Cabinet and it would be lawfare on steroids. That would roil the markets and it would empower our enemies at the worst possible time." The Speaker made it clear that there is important work to do on the President's agenda in the last half of his term, and we need a Republican majority to take care of that business.

Now is the time to take action and support the GOP incumbents and challengers whose races matter most!

RJCPAC.com

Remembering 9/11

On the 25th anniversary of the attacks against our country on September 11, 2001, we remember: the horror and the disbelief; the heroism and the miracles; the determination and the grief; the fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, siblings, and friends who were lost. We remember who carried out the largest terrorist attack in history, and we honor the men and women who answered their country's call and served, in the years since, to protect us from another 9/11. We remember who celebrated that attack and who mourned with us.

Today, the battle against Islamic terrorism continues right here at home. People who applauded the attack on 9/11 – and "Israel's 9/11" on October 7, 2023 – now rise to public office, influence our educational system from kindergarten to graduate school, and try to bend American culture and politics to their agenda.

With the 2026 midterm elections just around the corner, we have a chance to stop them. Your support and your vote will make a difference.

Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling Reflects on How the Republican Jewish Coalition "Started" His Political Career

Matt Foldi reports at the Washington Reporter:

For years, now-Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling has been attending Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) events. This year, he addressed the RJC from the main stage, and after his remarks he spoke with the Washington Reporter about what that meant to him.

"The Jewish conservative movement continues to grow, and for me, before I was in government, I played a big role in this organization in making sure that people understood the issues facing Jewish Americans, and I continue to give a lot of credit to the RJC for continuing to grow their organization and to continue to make sure that Jewish voters know that there is a Republican conservative outlet for them, and this organization continues to do a great job," Sonderling told the Reporter in his latest interview.

From the main stage, Sonderling noted that his "political career started with the RJC" back in 2008, and he called it "surreal" for him to be able to address the audience from the main stage.

In his interview with the Reporter, Sonderling echoed his point that he told the audience about the importance that the Trump administration places on Jewish Americans and in combatting anti-Semitism. "You have two cabinet members here, the Vice President, and the who's who of Congress and the Senate," he said. "Hats off to RJC for continuing to put on a great conference and continuing to work with this administration and making sure that a lot of the issues that this that this base here in the conservative Jewish movement cares about continue to be implemented in D.C."

See also: JNS: Rooting out workplace Jew-hatred 'personal' to acting US labor secretary, grandchild of Holocaust survivors.

RJC in the News

Daily Mail: Jewish voters turn on top Democrats as anti-Semitism worries become major flash point in crucial Senate races

Jewish voters are increasingly being turned off by some Democrats' refusal to forcefully condemn anti-Semitism among the progressive wing of their party, and it may cost them in critical Senate races across the country.

…Sam Markstein, spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition told the Daily Mail, that 'the Republican Party is the only political home where American Jews can be proudly Jewish and loudly pro-Israel — and the Democrats have made the contrast impossible to miss by handing their party over to the far-left mob.'

JNS: Even as Democrats nominate anti-Israel candidates, poll suggests 67% of Jewish voters plan to cast ballots for Dems in November

The poll reported on here is by the Jewish Voters Resource Center, a polling organization with ties to the liberal Left.

Sam Markstein, political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS that key battleground states and districts are important, not national numbers.

"The fact that Jewish Democrat groups continue to whistle past the political graveyard while American Jews flee their radicalized party—particularly in places like Michigan—is as pathetic as it is sad," he said.

RJC vs. CAIR

Last week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) designated the Republican Jewish Coalition as "anti-Muslim extremist organization."

CAIR has been designated a terrorist organization by the governors of Texas and Florida. CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial and has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Yet they chose to lob the "hater" label at the RJC.

JNS reported on the RJC's response:

Sam Markstein, national political director and spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS on Thursday that being blacklisted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations is a "badge of honor."

…Markstein told JNS that the RJC Summit, held earlier this week in Las Vegas, "brought together the top leaders in the Republican Party—cabinet secretaries, members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, governors, key opinion leaders and 1,000 of the most active and influential Jewish Americans."

"We will never cower to vile groups like CAIR," he said.

Short Takes

Kemp: Political warfare against Israel, led by Russia and China

Support for Zionism is an American patriotic duty. It should be the unwavering policy of all political parties that wish to advance the interests of the United States. Not for historic, sentimental or religious reasons, but because, whether you like Jews and the Jewish state or not, Israel is an indispensable component of U.S. national security.

Before setting out what that means, I will offer proof that it is true. That proof is the importance America's adversaries attach to undermining U.S. backing for Israel, especially China and Russia, and the massive efforts they make to bring it about.

The Algemeiner: Fatah Admits the Palestinian Authority Never Stopped 'Pay-for-Slay'

The Fatah spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Mundhir Al-Hayek, has now confirmed what Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has documented all along — the Palestinian Authority (PA) has rejected the US demand to stop Pay-for-Slay.

White House: President Trump Delivers Historic Results for the American People in Under Two Years

In less than two years, President Donald J. Trump has driven the most consequential stretch of governing in modern American history… Promises made. Promises kept. Results delivered.

Click here to see the full fact sheet, which includes successes in securing our borders, public safety, economic growth, restoring American military might, unleashing American energy dominance, defending women and children from gender ideology excesses and much more.

Kaploun: A case for optimism this New Year

Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun is the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism at the U.S. State Department.

What we require is a sustained commitment to action. Under U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, America is confronting this scourge [of antisemitism] head-on. We are withdrawing from antisemitic international bodies, countering antisemitic terrorism and holding governments accountable for failing to protect Jewish communities. Through our decisive action, we are making it clear that if you are willing to fight hatred and bigotry, we will stand proudly with you.

Yes, the challenge is enormous, but America will always answer the call.

Tweets

Shana Tova!

On behalf of the Officers and Staff of the RJC, we wish you and yours a happy, healthy, sweet new year. Thank you for your support and for everything you do for our community!