Overview
- RNC Chairman Joe Gruters told the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas that a Democratic congressional majority would empower voices he called antisemitic, naming the Squad, the Democratic Socialists of America and those who "looked at Oct. 7 and stood with Hamas."
- Excerpts of Gruters’s prepared remarks were reported over the weekend and have been amplified by GOP strategists as part of a broader message tying Democratic progressives to threats against Jewish communities.
- Republicans at the summit highlighted recent DSA or DSA-backed primary wins and warned the group’s endorsements could raise the number of sympathetic House members from two to as many as seven, depending on November’s results.
- The party pointed to specific incidents to press the case, including Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El‑Sayed’s apology for comments about an attempted attack on a synagogue preschool, and promoted GOP candidates such as Rep. Mike Lawler and Michael LiPetri as defenders of Jewish communities.
- The debate reflects a wider dispute over how criticism of Israel overlaps with definitions of antisemitism and signals that Israel policy and Jewish community security will be a focal point for turnout and messaging in the 2026 midterms.