In the past four years, there has been increasing reason to believe that Orthodox Jewry is becoming a political force to be reckoned with, despite its relatively small numbers—and in a way that the overall Jewish population is not. The recent election appears to confirm that this is so, as Armin Rosen explains:
Even before precinct data were available, there was strong circumstantial evidence that there had been historic turnout in Orthodox communities across New York and New Jersey and that the benefits had been largely—though by no means solely—reaped by the Republican party. Republicans have likely flipped a state senate seat in a southern Brooklyn district that includes Orthodox and Syrian Jewish areas, as well as state senate and assembly districts in Rockland County that include large ḥasidic enclaves. A Republican took an unexpected election night lead for an open state assembly seat in the disproportionately Orthodox [Long Island town of] Great Neck.
In the city, Orthodox Jews are often registered Democrats, since general elections aren’t usually competitive and nearly all of the city’s meaningful politics take place within the Democratic party itself—thus the conservative and Trump-supporting Dov Hikind represented southern Brooklyn in the state assembly as a Democrat for over 30 years. . . . But Tuesday’s results hint that the Orthodox connection to the party is now largely tactical.
In [the current] landscape of ambiguity, the Orthodox are a rare unambiguous winner. . . . In New York City, the rise of a more reliable and cross-partisan Orthodox vote has far-reaching implications. A recently introduced term-limits measure means that 34 of 48 City Council seats will become vacant next year—much to nearly everyone’s delight, Mayor Bill de Blasio will be term-limited out of office as well. This year’s state senate, state assembly, and congressional results in southern Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island show that New York City isn’t quite as monolithically blue as believed. The Orthodox represent a potential swing vote in future elections, coming from a community that just turned out in massive numbers.
Read more on Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-new-jewish-vote2