Acting to Stop Antisemitism on Campuses Could Cost Democrats Votes. They Should Do It Anyway

Students are back on campus while university administrators are scrambling, lawsuits are flying, and the problems that caused rampant antisemitism last spring still have not been addressed. Both Presidential candidates promise to address antisemitism, but Jewish students on campus cannot afford to wait until the next President takes office in 2025. Congress needs to act now, in the narrow window before Congress goes on campaign break, to update their rules and regulations to better address antisemitism. Unfortunately, the politics of this vote create short-term problems for Democrats, who will have to answer whether confronting antisemitism is worth the political cost, a tough calculation two months before the election.

Perhaps the most important power from having the majority in Congress is the ability to choose issues that unify your party while dividing the other. Less than 10% of Americans support a complete ban on abortion (JD Vance being one of them), one reason the Senate’s focus on reproductive rights makes political sense leading in to the election. Legislation to counter antisemitism, meanwhile, splits Democrats while uniting Republicans. The Antisemitism Awareness Act would put into law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when enforcing discrimination on campus: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” To illustrate how antisemitism manifests, IHRA provides several examples, including “[d]enying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” This law would allow the Department of Education to cut off federal funding to schools that tolerate antisemitism.

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Some Democrats oppose this legislation because of concerns around free speech, academic freedom, and legitimate protests on campuses. Others disagree that these positions constitute antisemitism and argue this definition could be used to silence criticism of Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. When the House voted in May to pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act (320-91), over one-third of Democrats voted against it while 90% of Republicans supported it. The Democratic-controlled Senate has failed to take up the legislation.

The political logic is clear: Taking a vote on this legislation could be taken as a proxy for sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict that divides Democratic voters, a divide that is especially sharp among younger liberal voters who are more likely to sympathize with Palestinians and are harder to bring to the polls, particularly in states such as Ohio and Montana, where incumbent Democratic Senators are in tough re-elections. For first time more Democratic voters sympathize with the Palestinians (49%) than with Israel (38%), while nearly 80% of Republicans stand with Israel. And looking at the broad question of support for the protests on college campuses, one poll found that Republicans opposed protests 69-16, while Democrats supported them 46-31 (the rest were uncertain). Independents broke with Republicans on the issue opposing the protests 44-24. This explains why Republicans are planning to make this an issue in swing Senate elections with a massive ad campaign.

I know what it’s like to pass a law that requires a tough vote before an election. I was the chief economist on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee as the American banking system teetered on the edge of collapse in September 2008. Democrats and Republican leadership in Congress came to a deal with the Bush Administration, but that deal was voted down in the House when rank-and-file Republican members saw the unpopularity of the bailout bill coinciding with the upcoming election. But after the stock market fell almost 1,000 points, the Senate had one last chance to act before Congress went away to campaign. I was on the floor of the Senate when members stood at their desk to vote on the law that created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) by a vote of 74-25. That strong, bipartisan vote sent the message and the House quickly passed the legislation.

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Voting for TARP cost members of Congress their seat. Some lost in 2008, others in the 2010 midterm, when anger over the Wall Street bailouts inspired Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party revolts. But Democrats and Republicans who supported the legislation took that vote because they knew they had to act against the threat of financial catastrophe at home and across the globe.

While the issues are different, the history of financial crises shows that pretending a problem is contained and will go away on its own is a recipe for disaster. The history of antisemitism shows that it must be directly confronted.

The good news is that tackling antisemitism, unlike TARP, is overall politically popular. The Countering Antisemitism Act, introduced in both chambers with bipartisan support, seeks the same objective as the Antisemitism Awareness Act but through establishing a national coordinator to combat antisemitism, requiring the Department of Education to coordinate strategy to counter antisemitism in higher education without using the IHRA definition of antisemitism. But even this legislation, while not as proscriptive and generally preferred among Democrats, could be used by some on the far left as a proxy vote on the conflict in the Middle East and could drive down enthusiasm among a small but important share of the Democratic Party base.

Jewish students are returning to college campuses rightfully concerned after the events of last school year. While some are suing their university to protect them, a sad statement on the failure of leadership at those institutions, only Congress can change federal law in a way that brings Uncle Sam’s strength to bear against the growing antisemitism taking hold on campuses. That is what both the Antisemitism Awareness Act and The Countering Antisemitism Act do. While the former is less popular among Democrats, they seem reluctant to take up even the more widely supported option out of fear of weighing in on a contentious issue so close to the election. This despite the fact that if Majority Leader Chuck Schumer put either bill to a vote, it would probably pass. It is critical that Senate pass antisemitism legislation to move the legislative process forward and allow the House and Senate to work through a final compromise that could be another part of President Joe Biden’s legacy, which has included wise leadership during this war between Israel and Hamas.

Will the Senate prioritize addressing antisemitism even if doing so harms some members election prospects? Soaring increases in antisemitic acts have caused a level of fear among Jews not seen in America in my lifetime. I hope that Senate leadership stands as strong now to combat antisemitism as it did then to combat financial panic.