In an Arizona swing district home to a sizable Jewish community, Amish Shah, a former state lawmaker, is mounting a formidable challenge against Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), who is among the most vulnerable Republicans on the brink to be re-elected.
Shah, who served five years in the Arizona state legislature before launching his bid for Congress, remains somewhat unknown among members of the Jewish community in northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale — who make up nearly 9% of the district and could be decisive in an exciting battle that the Democrats will wage. strive to win back the majority.
Unlike the Democratic runner-up in this summer’s primaries, Andrei Cherny – a Jewish activist who campaigned for coordinated outreach to Jewish and pro-Israel voters – Shah claims fewer long-standing relationships in the community and has maintained a quieter profile on key issues such as Israel.
But even as he has allowed some room to define himself, Shah’s supporters describe him as a committed ally of the Jewish community and a reliable defender of Israel, which he visited as a state lawmaker in 2019 on a trip that “helped” his political life to shape’. “worldview,” he said in one Middle East policy document written last spring.
“He is a strong pro-Israel candidate” and “very open to the Jewish community,” said Aaron Lieberman, a Jewish Democrat in Phoenix who served with Shah in the Arizona Legislature and accompanied him on the trip to Israel. an interview with Jewish insider on Wednesday. “I saw it at the Statehouse, where he voted with us on every issue that came up,” he explained, calling Shah a “pragmatic” lawmaker committed to passing bipartisan legislation.
Alma Hernandez, a Jewish Democrat from Tucson who also served with Shah in the Capitol, said he has “always been very supportive of the Jewish community and Israel,” noting that he was “one of the first to sign up” when she led the delegation to Israel five years ago. “I know that if elected, he will continue to be a great ally and supporter of one of the most important issues for Jewish voters.”
Hernandez serves on the board of the Democratic Majority for Israel, whose political arm exists support Shah’s campaign.
A campaign spokesman for Shah, a 47-year-old doctor, said his team has engaged in “relational organizing” to help boost Jewish turnout in the race, using a term to describe how supporters use personal connections to build potentially persuasive reach Jewish voters. . “Dr. Shah takes absolutely nothing for granted,” the spokesperson told JI.
Debra Stein, a political activist in Scottsdale who directs outreach and strategic partnerships for the Arizona chapter of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which has endorsed Shah, said in an email to JI that the former state lawmaker “understands the significance of the district’s Jewish population and conducted targeted communications to the district’s Jewish voters through a series of phone banks.”
On behalf of the campaign, JDCA volunteers have supported such efforts “to talk about how Dr. Shah is a strong ally for the Jewish community and for Israel,” Stein said.
A Middle East position paper obtained by JI this week and prepared in April largely mentions Shah hugs a mainstream democratic approach to Israel, expressing support for, among other things, the continuation of US aid to Israel without “additional restrictions,” as he put it. He also supported Israel in its fight against Hamas in Gaza, even as he expressed reservations about the war, citing his religion.
“I am a Jain person, and our first principle and most cherished core value is ahimsawhich means non-violence, which extends to all living beings,” writes Shah, who is Indian-American. “I believe, however, that war is necessary under a certain limited set of circumstances.”
Shah only favors war “when a ruling political entity or group embraces the rhetoric of killing innocent people and then shows a willingness to carry out such a program,” he says, condemning Israel’s efforts to expel Hamas to put it in that category. “I am appalled by the lack of international pressure to combat and dismantle Hamas,” he added. “Israel is virtually alone in its effort, with the notable exception of the United States.”
In his bid to dethrone Schweikert, who was drawn out last cycle in a highly competitive district when he won a seventh term by less than a percentage point, Shah faces an experienced incumbent who was once seen as a renegade conservative but tempered his views as he tries to court moderate voters.
Shah and his allies have done just that concentrated their attacks over Schweikert’s approach to abortion, a top issue in the state, while the congressman and Republican Party super PACs, including the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fundhave tried to portray his opponent as a far-left radical weak in border security and a mainstay of “socialized medicine.”
Like most Democrats are running in swing districts this cycle, Shah has done that promoted a more aggressive stance on immigration, saying in one ad that he was “working with both parties to increase border security” — a claim Republicans have rejected as misleading.
Although Israel is not prominent in the fight, Schweikert, 62, has been endorsed by AIPAC’s political action committee – which notes his online political portal that he “has developed over his time in the House of Representatives into a champion of the US-Israel relationship.
Still, some of AIPAC’s local allies, who have long promoted policies supporting so-called “friendly incumbents” up for re-election, say they are not concerned about Shah’s record, even though until recently they were unknown of his policy towards Israel. and were unaware of its Jewish reach in the district.
“I have never had anyone contact me with concerns about his position on Israel,” said a Jewish leader in Scottsdale, who supports Schweikert but believes he will be unseated in a race where limited voting round has shown a dead heat. “I think he’s going to lose and that’s fine with me.”
Schweikert’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from JI.
At the end of his Israel stance, Shah encourages readers to contact him, “even if we disagree,” he says, adding: “My commitment to dialogue and understanding is unwavering, and it starts on a personal level.”