As everyone who follows American politics knows, a special election was held yesterday in New York’s Ninth Congressional District – a stone’s throw from CLR headquarters here at St. John’s – to replace former representative Anthony Weiner (D), who resigned because of a sexting scandal. For the first time in nearly 90 years, in a district where registered Democrats have a 3-1 advantage, the district went Republican. In fact, it wasn’t all that close. Bob Turner, the Republican candidate, beat his Democratic opponent, State Assemblyman David Weprin, by 8 percentage points.
Numerous factors contributed to Turner’s upset victory: the bad economy, voters’ disapproval of President Obama’s job performance, in particular, his perceived toughness on Israel, a serious issue in a district with a large Jewish electorate. But, over at Mirror of Justice, Robert George notes that religion also helped turn the race, in a way that will interest CLR readers:
In the run up to the election, a group of Orthodox rabbis, most from Brooklyn, but including others, notably Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky and Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, two nationally prominent Orthodox Jewish authorities, published a letter stating that “it is forbidden to fund, support, or vote for David Weprin.” The reason? As a member of the New York state legislature, Weprin, despite his Orthodox Jewish beliefs, voted to redefine marriage to include same-sex partnerships. This, the Read more