List of Jewish American politicians

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of notable Jewish American politicians, arranged chronologically. For other Jewish Americans, see Lists of Jewish Americans.

Federal government

Members of Congress

Main article: List of Jewish members of the United States Congress

Cabinet officials

Main article: List of Jewish United States Cabinet members

State government

Governors

	State	Portrait	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office	Notes
	Georgia		David Emanuel[1]	Democratic-Republican	March 3, 1801	November 7, 1801	Emanuel may not have been an openly practicing Jew. As an adult he became a Presbyterian, but modern historians accept he was Jewish.[2]
	Wisconsin		Edward Salomon[3]	Republican	April 19, 1862	January 4, 1864
	Washington		Edward Salomon[4][5]	Republican	March 4, 1870	May 26, 1872
	California		Washington Bartlett[6]	Democratic	January 8, 1887	September 12, 1887	California's first and only Jewish governor
	Idaho		Moses Alexander[1]	Democratic	January 4, 1915	January 6, 1919	Idaho's first and only Jewish governor
	Utah		Simon Bamberger[1]	Democratic	January 1, 1917	January 1, 1921	Utah's first and only Jewish governor
	New Mexico		Arthur Seligman[1]	Democratic	January 1, 1931	September 25, 1933	New Mexico's first Jewish governor
	Oregon		Julius Meier[1]	Independent	January 12, 1931	January 14, 1935	Oregon's first Jewish governor
	New York		Herbert Lehman[1]	Democratic	January 1, 1933	December 3, 1942	New York's first Jewish governor
	Florida		David Sholtz[7]	Democratic	January 3, 1933	January 5, 1937
	Illinois		Henry Horner[1]	Democratic	January 9, 1933	October 6, 1940	Illinois' first Jewish governor
	Wisconsin		Julius Heil[8]	Republican	January 2, 1939	January 4, 1943
	Alaska		Ernest Gruening[1]	Democratic	December 6, 1939	April 10, 1953	Alaska's first and only Jewish governor
	Connecticut		Abe Ribicoff[9]	Democratic	January 5, 1955	January 21, 1961	Connecticut's first and only Jewish governor
	Illinois		Samuel Shapiro[1]	Democratic	May 21, 1968	January 13, 1969
	Rhode Island		Frank Licht[1]	Democratic	January 7, 1969	January 2, 1973	Rhode Island's first Jewish governor
	Maryland		Marvin Mandel[1]	Democratic	January 7, 1969	January 17, 1979	Maryland's first and only Jewish governor *Blair Lee III served as Acting Governor from June 4, 1977, to January 15, 1979
	Pennsylvania		Milton Shapp[1]	Democratic	January 19, 1971	January 16, 1979	Pennsylvania's first Jewish governor
	Vermont		Madeleine Kunin[1]	Democratic	January 10, 1985	January 10, 1991
	Oregon		Neil Goldschmidt[9]	Democratic	January 12, 1987	January 14, 1991
	Rhode Island		Bruce Sundlun[1]	Democratic	January 1, 1991	January 3, 1995
	Hawaii		Linda Lingle[10]	Republican	December 2, 2002	December 6, 2010	Hawaii's first Jewish governor
	Pennsylvania		Ed Rendell[11]	Democratic	January 21, 2003	January 18, 2011
	New York		Eliot Spitzer[12]	Democratic	January 1, 2007	March 17, 2008
	Delaware		Jack Markell[13]	Democratic	January 20, 2009	January 17, 2017
	Vermont		Peter Shumlin[14]	Democratic	January 6, 2011	January 5, 2017
	Missouri		Eric Greitens[15]	Republican	January 9, 2017	June 1, 2018
	Colorado		Jared Polis[16]	Democratic	January 8, 2019	Incumbent	Colorado's first Jewish governor
	Illinois		J. B. Pritzker[17]	Democratic	January 14, 2019	Incumbent
	Hawaii		Josh Green	Democratic	December 5, 2022	Incumbent
	Pennsylvania		Josh Shapiro	Democratic	January 17, 2023	Incumbent
	North Carolina		Josh Stein	Democratic	January 1, 2025	Incumbent	North Carolina's first Jewish Governor
	Delaware		Matt Meyer	Democratic	January 21, 2025	Incumbent

Lieutenant governors

	State	Portrait	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
	Louisiana		Henry Hyams[13]	Democratic	January 23, 1860	January 25, 1864
	New York		Herbert Lehman[1]	Democratic	January 1, 1929	December 31, 1932
	Illinois		Samuel Shapiro[1]	Democratic	January 9, 1961	May 21, 1968
	Vermont		Madeleine Kunin[1]	Democratic	January 10, 1979	January 10, 1983
	Missouri		Ken Rothman[18]	Democratic	January 12, 1981	January 15, 1985
	Rhode Island		Richard Licht[19]	Democratic	January 1, 1985	January 1, 1989
	Missouri		Harriett Woods[13]	Democratic	January 14, 1985	January 9, 1989
	Maryland		Melvin Steinberg[13]	Democratic	January 21, 1987	January 18, 1995
	Pennsylvania		Robert Jubelirer[20]	Republican	October 5, 2001	January 21, 2003
	Ohio		Lee Fisher[21]	Democratic	January 8, 2007	January 10, 2011
	Delaware		Matthew Denn[22]	Democratic	January 20, 2009	January 6, 2015
	New York		Richard Ravitch[23]	Democratic	July 9, 2009	December 31, 2010
	Louisiana		Jay Dardenne[24]	Republican	November 22, 2010	January 11, 2016
	Hawaii		Brian Schatz[25]	Democratic	December 6, 2010	December 26, 2012
	Connecticut		Nancy Wyman[26]	Democratic	January 5, 2011	January 9, 2019
	Kentucky		Jerry Abramson[27]	Democratic	December 13, 2011	November 13, 2014
	Florida		Carlos Lopez-Cantera[28]	Republican	February 3, 2014	January 7, 2019
	Vermont		David Zuckerman[29]	Vermont Progressive Party	January 5, 2017	January 7, 2021
	Hawaii		Josh Green[30]	Democratic	December 3, 2018	December 5, 2022
	Vermont		David Zuckerman	Vermont Progressive Party	January 5, 2023	January 9, 2025

State Attorneys General

	State	Portrait	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
	New York		Simon Rosendale[31]	Democratic	January 1, 1892	December 31, 1893
	Maryland		Isidor Rayner[32]	Democratic	1899	1903
	Maryland		Isaac Straus[13]	Democratic	1907	1911
	New York		Carl Sherman[33]	Democratic	January 1, 1923	December 31, 1924
	New York		Albert Ottinger[34]	Republican	January 1, 1925	December 31, 1928
	Ohio		Gilbert Bettman[13]	Republican	January 14, 1929	January 12, 1933
	New Jersey		David Wilentz[35]	Democratic	1934	1944
	New York		Nathaniel Goldstein[13]	Republican	January 1, 1943	December 31, 1954
	Delaware		Albert Young[36]	Independent	1951	1955
	Massachusetts		George Fingold[37]	Republican	January 8, 1953	August 31, 1958
	New York		Jacob Javits[13]	Republican	January 1, 1955	January 9, 1957
	New York		Louis Lefkowitz[13]	Republican	January 10, 1957	December 31, 1978
	California		Stanley Mosk[13]	Democratic	January 5, 1959	1964
	New Hampshire		Warren Rudman[13]	Republican	1970	1976
	Rhode Island		Richard Israel[13]	Republican	January 5, 1971	January 7, 1975
	Florida		Robert Shevin[13]	Democratic	January 5, 1971	January 2, 1979
	Vermont		Jerome Diamond[13]	Democratic	1975	1981
	Rhode Island		Julius Michaelson[13]	Democratic	January 7, 1975	January 2, 1979
	New York		Robert Abrams[13]	Democratic	January 1, 1979	January 31, 1993
	Maryland		Stephen Sachs[13]	Democratic	January 17, 1979	January 21, 1987
	Connecticut		Joe Lieberman[13]	Democratic	January 5, 1983	January 3, 1989
	Connecticut		Richard Blumenthal[13]	Democratic	January 9, 1991	January 5, 2011
	Ohio		Lee Fisher[13]	Democratic	January 14, 1991	January 9, 1995
	New York		G. Oliver Koppell[38]	Democratic	January 1, 1993	December 31, 1994
	Rhode Island		Jeffrey Pine[13]	Republican	January 5, 1993	January 2, 1999
	New Jersey		Deborah Poritz[39]	Republican	1994	1996
	New York		Eliot Spitzer[13]	Democratic	January 1, 1999	December 31, 2006
	New Jersey		David Samson[40]	Independent	January 15, 2002	February 15, 2003
	New Jersey		Stuart Rabner[41]	Democratic	September 26, 2006	June 26, 2007
	Maryland		Doug Gansler[42]	Democratic	January 17, 2007	January 21, 2015
	Louisiana		Buddy Caldwell[43]	Democratic	January 14, 2008	February 2, 2011
				Republican	February 2, 2011	January 11, 2016
	New York		Eric Schneiderman[44]	Democratic	January 1, 2011	May 8, 2018
	Arizona		Tom Horne[45]	Republican	January 3, 2011	January 5, 2015
	Georgia		Sam Olens[46]	Republican	January 10, 2011	November 1, 2016
	Oregon		Ellen Rosenblum[47]	Democratic	June 29, 2012	December 31, 2024
	Delaware		Matthew Denn[22]	Democratic	January 6, 2015	January 1, 2019
	Maryland		Brian Frosh[48]	Democratic	January 21, 2015	January 3, 2023
	North Carolina		Josh Stein[49]	Democratic	January 1, 2017	January 1, 2025
	Pennsylvania		Josh Shapiro[50]	Democratic	January 17, 2017	January 17, 2023
	Michigan		Dana Nessel[51]	Democratic	January 1, 2019	Incumbent
	Colorado		Phil Weiser[52]	Democratic	January 8, 2019	Incumbent
	Washington D.C.		Brian Schwalb	Democratic	January 2, 2023	Incumbent

State Secretaries of State

	State	Portrait	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
	New York		Samuel Koenig[13]	Republican	January 1, 1909	December 31, 1910
	New York		Mitchell May[13]	Democratic	January 1, 1913	December 31, 1914
	New York		Caroline Simon[53]	Republican	1959	1963
	Connecticut		Mildred Allen	Republican	January 3, 1955	January 3, 1959
	Florida		Richard Stone[13]	Democratic	January 5, 1971	July 8, 1974
	Florida		George Firestone[13]	Democratic	1979	1989
	Vermont		Deborah Markowitz[13]	Democratic	January 1999	January 2011
	Louisiana		Jay Dardenne[24]	Republican	November 10, 2006	November 22, 2010
	Missouri		Jason Kander[54]	Democratic	January 14, 2013	January 9, 2017
	Colorado		Jena Griswold[55]	Democratic	January 8, 2019	Incumbent

State Treasurers

	State	Portrait	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
	New Jersey		David Naar	Democratic	1865	1865
	New Jersey		Katharine White[13] Acting	Democratic	1961	1961
	Maine		Samuel Shapiro[13]	Democratic	1981	1996
	Rhode Island		Nancy Mayer[13]	Republican	1993	1997
	Delaware		Jack Markell[13]	Democratic	January 16, 1999	January 20, 2009
	Kentucky		Jonathan Miller[13]	Democratic	December 1999	December 11, 2007
	Massachusetts		Steve Grossman[56]	Democratic	January 17, 2011	January 21, 2015
	Ohio		Josh Mandel[57]	Republican	January 10, 2011	January 14, 2019
	Nevada		Dan Schwartz[58]	Republican	January 5, 2015	January 7, 2019
	Rhode Island		Seth Magaziner[59]	Democratic	January 6, 2015	January 3, 2023
	Massachusetts		Deb Goldberg[60]	Democratic	January 21, 2015	Incumbent

Other State Cabinet Positions

	State	Position	Portrait	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
	Florida	Agriculture Commissioner		Nikki Fried[61]	Democratic	January 8, 2019	January 3, 2023

Municipal government

Mayors of major cities

Current mayors of major cities

	City	State	Portrait	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
	Austin	Texas		Steve Adler[62]	Democratic	January 6, 2015	Incumbent
	Burlington	Vermont		Miro Weinberger[63]	Democratic	April 2, 2012	Incumbent
	Chattanooga	Tennessee		Andy Berke[64]	Democratic	April 15, 2013	Incumbent
	Jersey City	New Jersey		Steven Fulop[65]	Democratic	July 1, 2013	Incumbent
	Las Vegas	Nevada		Carolyn Goodman[66]	Independent	July 6, 2011	Incumbent
	Sacramento	California		Darrell Steinberg[67]	Democratic	December 13, 2016	Incumbent
	San Antonio	Texas		Ron Nirenberg[68]	Independent	June 21, 2017	Incumbent
	St. Petersburg	Florida		Rick Kriseman[68]	Democratic	January 2, 2014	Incumbent
	San Francisco	California		Daniel Lurie[69]	Democratic	January 8, 2025	Assuming office January 8, 2025
	Minneapolis	Minnesota		Jacob Frey[70]	Democratic	January 2, 2018	Incumbent

Former mayors of major cities

• Jerry Abramson (D-Louisville, KY: 1986–1999; 2003–2011)^[27]
• Moses Alexander (D-Boise, ID: 1897–1899; 1901–1903)^[1]
• Abe Aronovitz (R-Miami, FL: 1953–1955)^[71]
• Harry Bacharach (R-Atlantic City, NJ: 1912; 1916–1920; 1930–1935)^[72]
• Walt Bachrach (R-Cincinnati, OH: 1960–1967^[73]
• Abraham Beame (D-New York, NY: 1974–1977)
• Martin Behrman (D-New Orleans, LA: 1904–1920; 1925–1926)^[74]
• Richard Berkley (R-Kansas City, MO: 1979–1991)^[75]
• Ethan Berkowitz (D-Anchorage, AK: 2015–2020)^[76]
• Bruce Blakeman (R-First Presiding Officer of Nassau County, NY)
• Michael Bloomberg (D-New York, NY: 2002–2013)^[77]
• David Cicilline (D-Providence, RI: 2003–2011)^[78]
• Josh Cohen (D-Annapolis, MD: 2009–2013)^[79]
• Larry Cohen (D-Saint Paul, MN: 1972–1976)^[80]
• Norm Coleman (R-Saint Paul, MN: 1997–2002)^{[citation needed]}
• Leopold David (Anchorage, AK: 1920–1923), first mayor of Anchorage^[81]
• Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago, IL: 2011–2019)^[82]
• Mutt Evans (D-Durham, NC: 1951–1963)^[83]
• Dianne Feinstein (D-San Francisco, CA: 1978–1988)^[84]
• Bob Filner (D-San Diego, CA: 2012–2013)^[85]
• Samuel Folz (D-Kalamazoo, MI: 1903)^[86]
• Lois Frankel (D-West Palm Beach, FL: 2003–2011)^[78]
• Sandra Freedman (D-Tampa, FL: 1986–1995)^[87]
• Jeffrey Friedman (D-Austin, TX: 1975–1977)^[88]
• Eva Galambos (R-Sandy Springs, GA: 2005–2014)^[89]
• Eric Garcetti (D-Los Angeles, CA; 2013–2022)^[90]
• Bailey Gatzert (I-Seattle, WA: 1875–1876)^[91]
• Susan Golding (R-San Diego, CA: 1992–2000)^[92]
• Neil Goldschmidt (D-Portland, OR: 1973–1979)^[9]
• Stephen Goldsmith (R-Indianapolis, IN: 1992–2000)^[93]
• Phil Gordon (D-Phoenix, AZ: 2004–2012)^[94]
• Bill Gradison (R-Cincinnati, OH: 1971)^[95]
• Robert Harris (D-Ann Arbor, MI: 1969–1973)^[96]
• Adlene Harrison (D-Dallas, TX: 1976)^[97]
• Max Heller (D-Greenville, SC: 1971–1979) ^[98]
• Julius Houseman (D-Grand Rapids, MI: 1872–1873; 1874–1875)^[99]
• Vera Katz (D-Portland, OR: 1993–2005)^[100]
• Ed Koch (D-New York, NY: 1978–1989)^[101]
• Joseph Lazarow (R-Atlantic City, NJ: 1976–1982)^[102]
• Oscar Leeser (D-El Paso, TX: 2013-2017, 2021-Present)^[103]
• Henry Loeb (D-Memphis, TN: 1960–1963; 1968–1971),^[104] later converted to Episcopalianism
• Zachariah J. Loussac (D-Anchorage, AK: 1948–1951)^[105]
• Sophie Masloff (D-Pittsburgh, PA: 1988–1994)^[106]
• Sam Massell (D-Atlanta, GA: 1970–1974)^[107]
• Laura Miller (D-Dallas, TX: 2002–2007)^[108]
• Arthur Naftalin (D-Minneapolis, MN: 1961–1969)^[80]
• Meyera Oberndorf (D-Virginia Beach, VA: 1988–2009)^[109]
• Ed Rendell (D-Philadelphia, PA: 1992 – 2000)^[110]
• Jonathan Rothschild (D-Tucson, AZ: 2011–2019)^[111]
• Libby Schaaf (D-Oakland, CA: 2015-2023)^[112]
• Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo, TX: 1993–2001)^[113]
• Florence Shapiro (R-Plano, TX: 1990–1992)^[114]
• Joseph Simon (R-Portland, OR: 1909–1911)^[115]
• Paul Soglin (D-Madison, WI: 1973–1979; 1989–1997; 2011–2019)^[116]
• Jerry Springer (D-Cincinnati, OH: 1977–1978)^[117]
• Annette Strauss (D-Dallas, TX: 1987–1991)^[118]
• Adolph Sutro (R-San Francisco, CA: 1895–1897)^[119]
• Susan Weiner (R-Savannah, GA: 1992–1996)^[120]
• Edward Zorinsky (R-Omaha, NE: 1973–1976)^[121]

Other

• Daniel Ankeles, Member of the Maine House of Representatives^[122]
• Simcha Felder, Member of the New York State Senate^[123]
• Lazarus Joseph (1891–1966), NY State Senator and New York City Comptroller
• Loretta Weinberg, former Majority Leader of the New Jersey Senate^[124]

Presidential and vice presidential candidates

• Tonie Nathan was the vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1972. She received one electoral vote for vice president (from a faithless elector that had pledged his vote for Republicans Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew), thus becoming the first Jew to receive an electoral vote for either president or vice president.^[125]
• Arlen Specter ran for the Republican nomination in 1996, but dropped out before the Iowa caucuses. He later became a Democrat.^{[citation needed]}
• Joe Lieberman was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, receiving 266 electoral votes for vice president. Four years later, he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2004 election.^{[126][127][128]} He became an Independent in 2006.
• Jill Stein was the Green Party nominee in 2012. She lost with 0.36% of the vote, or 470,000 votes. She ran in the 2016 Presidential Election, but lost with just over one percent.^{[citation needed]}
• Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016 as a Democrat. He became the first Jewish candidate to win a Democratic party primary with a victory in New Hampshire. He lost the nomination to Hillary Clinton.^[129] He ran again in 2020. Sanders received one vote in the electoral college in 2016 from David Mulinix of Hawaii, thus making him the first Jew to receive a vote for president in the college. In addition to this, he received two invalidated votes from other voters in the electoral college.^[130]
• Michael Bennet ran in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.^[131]
• Michael Bloomberg ran in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.^[132]
• Marianne Williamson, raised in a Jewish family, ran in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.^[133]

See also

• List of Jewish political milestones in the United States
• List of Jewish American jurists