Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) is one of the most prominent pro-Israel, Jewish Democrats on Capitol Hill.
After mid-decade redistricting in Florida, he’s facing off against Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, a Jewish Republican, in a new, more Republican district that may be one of the key seats to determine control of the House in 2027.
Singer told JNS on Monday at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas that Moskowitz is out of step with a party that is increasingly opposed to Israel.
“In the district that’s second-most Jewish in America, I think it’s important we have a strong Jewish voice in the party that is now standing with Israel and standing up to antisemitism,” Singer said. “It pains me as a Republican, as an American, to say where the Democratic Party has gone. We have to call it out.”
Singer pointed to the rise of anti-Israel socialists in the Democratic Party and a recent vote to cut off military aid to the Jewish state. Moskowitz was in the minority of Democrats who voted at the time to continue aid.
“Voters in this district now finally have a choice of a true defender of Israel with a record of results, who’s not beholden to party leadership that is increasingly out of whack with what most of us feel,” Singer said. “He’s in the wrong party, and that’s a real problem where we’re seeing this nation go.”
Singer has been mayor of Boca Raton for eight years and spent four years before that as a city councilman. The new 25th Congressional District is the most Jewish district in the state, extending along the Florida coast from Boca Raton to Miami Beach.
The state’s Jews were once reliable Democratic voters, but that has changed as both the state and the national Jewish population have become more amenable to voting for Republicans.
“Republicans have consistently gained year after year in terms of Jewish votes, and what was at one point one-third is now rising more to 40%, maybe even approaching 50%,” Singer said, of Jews voting for the GOP.
“People are horrified with what they’ve seen out of the Democratic Party embracing the far-left Democratic Socialists of America platforms that include opposition to Israel on all levels,” he told JNS.
“We also have a very engaged Orthodox Jewish community who are voting more conservatively,” he said. “I’m optimistic that we’re going to pick off historic voters who were Democrats.”
Not only is it not “our parents’ Democratic Party” today, he told JNS, but “it’s no longer the party of the Democrats it was a year ago.”
“We’ve seen multiple socialist candidates oust long-term, progressive, Democratic members of Congress, because their stances on Israel and on Jewish issues were still not far left enough,” he said.
Moskowitz handily defeated his own DSA-backed challenger, Oliver Larkin, in the Democratic primary last month.
Shortly after Moskowitz defeated Larkin, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced Moskowitz as the ranking member of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee. That would give Moskowitz a powerful voice in setting Israel policy if he holds on to his seat in November, particularly if Democrats take the House.
The Cook Political Report rates the 25th Congressional District a toss-up, one of only five such seats nationwide with an incumbent Democrat.
Singer and Moskowitz will likely be competing for pro-Israel votes, but Singer pointed to votes where he said Moskowitz had been disappointing on that issue.
“He still voted to keep Ilhan Omar on the Foreign Affairs Committee after her outrageous remarks. I would not,” he told JNS. “He voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, which included key provisions for Israel and United States security. Six other members of his Democratic caucus crossed party lines. He was unwilling to do so.”
Another area of distinction is Iran. Moskowitz said that he would vote to oppose a war powers resolution during U.S. negotiations with Iran to preserve leverage but voted to restrict U.S. President Donald Trump’s authority to wage war after the president commenced hostilities in February.
“No one will miss the Ayatollah, and I am happy that he is no longer able to reign terror on his country,” Moskowitz stated. “Regardless of how one feels about this war, or this president, Congress’s constitutional role in any declaration of war is a completely separate issue.”
Singer told JNS that he supported the president’s actions over the past year, because a nuclear Iran “would be an existential threat to the world.”
“President Trump deserves credit for the efforts last year, and he has brought Iran to its weakest state in the last 50 years,” he said. “I think that’s important.”
Singer said that he is looking to both pro-Israel Jews and evangelical Christians to back him in November.
“There’s a greater exodus among Jewish voters from the Democratic Party. They now have a choice of a pro-Israel Republican nominee with a record of results,” Singer said. “I think this is a time where people really need to look beyond what was their historical party label and look at where the parties are now.”
