Kamala Harris has been warned she runs the risk of losing the state of Pennsylvania and the election if she does not denounce anti-Israel activists who have appeared on the campaign trail for her.
The incumbent Vice President is to campaign in Pittsburgh tomorrow as the race for the White House enters its final hours alongside the likes of Lady Gaga.
Backlash has been brewing in the city after her campaign hosted speakers who have openly blamed Israel for the horrific October 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato both spoke at events, despite previously saying Israel was responsible for the massacre.
The two co-signed a statement with Representative Summer Lee that claimed the violence ‘did not start on October 7’.
The incumbent Vice President, seen here on Sunday night, is to campaign in Pittsburgh tomorrow as the race for the White House enters its final hours
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is seen here speaking during a campaign event on October 10. He had signed a letter blaming Israel for the October 7 attack
Their statement drew the ire of the Jewish communities across Pittsburgh, which according to the New York Post accounts for a sizeable chunk of the population.
The outlet reported that there is a 400,000 strong Jewish population set to cast their ballots on Tuesday in the election, but they are now on the line.
With those votes now in jeopardy, she could potentially lose the state’s 19 Electoral College votes, which would see her chances of clinching the presidency evaporate.
Several Jewish Democrats in Pittsburgh told the post that they feel betrayed by the party over the issues.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato previously signed a letter saying Israel was responsible for the massacre
Mom-of-two Aviva Lubowsky, 45, wasn’t one of them however saying she would support Harris but warned that Democrats should fear losing the Jewish vote.
She said: ‘If the Democratic Party wants to retain its Jewish voter base, they have to eschew and denounce extremists in the party.
‘The rhetoric they are using is dangerous for the safety of my children. It’s causing people who otherwise would vote for [Harris], to vote for Trump.’
Lubowsky said she would support Harris for president, but will be casting her ballot for Republican James Hayes, in the hopes of unseating Squad member Summer Lee.
Jennifer Murtazashvili, a Jewish political scientist at the University of Pittsburgh, told The Post she wasn’t surprised to hear that Jewish voters were concerned.
She said that around 60 percent of her liberal Jewish friends are all considering voting for Trump because they don’t trust Harris to combat antisemitism.
‘The mainstream progressive left has a major problem on its hands. How can we discern what her policies are except by the people she surrounds herself with?’, she said.
Trump pumps his fist after speaking at the end of a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia, on Sunday evening
One other Jewish Democrat told the outlet: ‘There are undecided voters in the Jewish community where I never thought they’d be.
‘These are Democrats, not just registered Democrats but [people] who voted for Obama, Clinton and Biden.
‘The lack of moral clarity is giving people pause’, adding that Harris refusing to say if she would limit support to Israel as a problem.
Another voter said she was considering voting Trump, citing people like Gainey and Innamorato as the problem.
The unknown woman said: ‘They obviously understood how dangerous it would be for Summer [Lee] to be there. They are aware of this issue. They could have distanced themselves.’
Concerns over Jewish safety are especially important in Pittsburgh, after Robert Bowers killed 11 worshippers inside the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.
Two people support each other in front of flowers at a makeshift memorial at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018
First lady Melania Trump, accompanied by President Donald Trump, puts down a white flower at a memorial for those killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh
In more recent times, three Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh were attacked on campus.
Murtazashvili added: ‘When you have faced the kind of violence that our community has faced here and when you see the kind of violence facing Israel, this seems awfully existential.
‘It was shocking to see that language after the mayor saw what happened to Jewish students in his own city.’
Harris supporter and a survivor of the Tree of Life massacre Audrey Glickman meanwhile didn’t blame the Harris campaign for trying to appeal to Arab and Muslim voters.
She said: ‘Kamala Harris is not a Squad member. She’s been to Pittsburgh more than once and talked to us more than once and has worked on antisemitism as an issue.’
Polling in September revealed that Harris’ support among Jewish voters was the lowest in more than three decades for the Democrats.
Jewish voters in the U.S. are historically liberal and the majority have voted for Democratic candidates in every single presidential election since 1924.
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