A Guide to the 2026 Democratic Primary
Races that Will Shape the Future of the Broader Baltimore Jewish Community
by Shmuel Gopen
The fast-approaching June 23, 2026,
Democratic primary is not just another election but rather may be the most
consequential in a generation. Reflecting our country’s increasingly polarized
political environment, candidates across multiple races in this primary who
openly support anti-Israel ideas and actions are running against elected
officials who have stood steadfastly with the Jewish community. Due to the
overwhelming number of Democrats versus Republicans in Maryland, the winner of
the Democratic primary typically goes on to win the general election. If you
are not registered as a Democrat, then you will not be able to vote in this
decisive primary. The outcome will be decided by who shows up.
The Community: Who Lives Here and
Who Must Vote
According to the 2020 Baltimore
Jewish Community Study conducted by Brandeis University, the greater Baltimore
Jewish community numbers approximately 95,400 Jewish adults and children across
roughly 46,700 households. Approximately 21 percent of Jewish adults in
Baltimore identify as Orthodox. That means roughly 20,000 to 30,000 Orthodox
Jews call the Baltimore metro area home. The heart of that community is concentrated
in the Northwest corridor: Park Heights, Cheswolde, Pikesville, and Owings
Mills. This concentration of Jewish voters, and specifically Orthodox Jewish
voters, gives the community enormous political leverage. Jews as a group have
historically recorded the highest voter turnout of any ethnic group in America.
But in local primary elections here in Baltimore, that potential is rarely
realized.
Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, executive
director of Agudath Israel’s Mid-Atlantic region, recognizing the urgency,
engaged the Vaad HaRabbanim of Baltimore in 2026 to launch a “shul captain
system,” with rabbanim and shul presidents appointing captains throughout their
congregations to engage member households in voter registration and primary
election reminders. The initiative is a recognition of a hard political truth: Politicians
track who votes and who doesn’t. Communities that sit out elections lose
access, influence, and ultimately protection.
The message from community leaders
is unambiguous: if you have not registered to vote, you must do so immediately. The online and mail-in voter
registration deadline for the June 23 primary has passed, but people can still
register in person during early voting, which runs from June 11 through June
18, or on Election Day itself, June 23. There is no excuse not to participate.
The Anti-Zionist Agenda
Before examining each race, it is
essential to understand a coordinating political force operating behind several
of the candidates most hostile to the Jewish community’s interests.
Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle
(LBS) is a
Baltimore-based political think tank that has become one of the most
influential progressive organizing forces in city politics. Its director of
public policy, Dayvon Love, has been among the most vocal anti-Zionist voices
in Baltimore’s political ecosystem.
In 2024, Love proclaimed that “Zionism
is White Supremacy” and cited authors who blamed the Holocaust on “European
colonialism,” writing that “What Jewish people experienced during WW II is
white people doing to other white people what they had been doing for centuries
to nonwhite people.” He has written that “a politics rooted in the European
settler colonial project of the state of Israel, otherwise known as Zionism,”
is aligned with what he calls the “centrist, corporate wing” of the Democratic
Party.
In the context of the 2026 District
41 State Senate race, Love wrote that the contest is “a political clash of
civilizations between a politics of social justice and Black
self-determination, and Zionist political forces.”
LBS and Love are aligned with and
supportive of Malcolm Ruff, who is challenging incumbent State Senator Dalya
Attar. Prior statements from Malcolm Ruff himself and the group that
collaborates with him tell voters everything they need to know about what is at
stake in that race. But the organizing tentacles of this ideological network
reach into multiple contests on the June 23 ballot.
*
* *
Here is a summary race by race of who
is running in the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary and where they stand on
Israel.
Maryland Governor
Wes Moore (incumbent running for reelection).
In the immediate aftermath of October 7, 2023, Moore stated, “The terrorist
attacks we are seeing in Israel, including against innocent women and children,
are truly awful. There’s no place for this, and the violence must end. Maryland
stands with Israel during this dark time, and my heart goes out to the victims
and their families.”
The greater Jewish community
welcomed those remarks. After that, Moore delivered remarks at the Jewish
Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s Stand with Israel rally and
has consistently condemned Hamas. He called an October 7 vigil for Gaza at the
University of Maryland “inappropriate,” stating that terrorists target
civilians and that is what Hamas did on that date. He has been on record as opposing
the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
More recently, however, Moore’s
posture has shifted slightly and alarmingly. In May 2026, he accused Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, without any justification, of committing war
crimes and suggested that Netanyahu’s actions “make American Jews less safe.”
When asked directly whether he considers himself a Zionist, Moore responded: “I
think that the State of Israel has a right to exist, but I also think that so
do the Palestinian people.” In this interview, Moore essentially blamed Israel
and Netanyahu, specifically, for any increase in antisemitism.
Moore faces only token opposition
in the Democratic primary from Eric Felber, a little-known challenger
with no significant standing in the race. Moore is expected to win
re-nomination comfortably. For the Jewish community, the governor’s race is
less a question of outcome and more an opportunity to demonstrate the size and
discipline of the Orthodox vote.
U.S. House: Maryland’s 7th
Congressional District
This district covers most of
Baltimore City, including much of Northwest Baltimore. This race is a focal
point for the Jewish community. The incumbent, Kweisi Mfume, faces a
serious challenge from Mark Conway, a Baltimore City Council member who has
made his opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel a centerpiece of his
campaign.
Kweisi Mfume (incumbent): Mfume has been among the more
pro-Israel members of Maryland’s congressional delegation. He has voted in
favor of legislation allocating $3.3 billion toward Israel’s military alongside
extending $9 billion in loan guarantees for Israel. He supported H.R. 246
denouncing the BDS movement and has stated that only direct negotiations
between Israelis and Palestinians can resolve the conflict.
On October 7 and Gaza, Mfume
stated: “I have continued to call for the opening of humanitarian corridors to
facilitate hostage negotiations, along with allowing for food and medical
supplies into Gaza to care for the children, the innocent, the wounded, and the
dying.” He declined to co-sponsor a ceasefire bill because it did not, in his
words, “call out by name the Hamas terrorist organization for the death and
destruction they initiated on October 7.”
After the 2025 ceasefire, Mfume
wrote: “Congratulations to all involved in succeeding to broker the ceasefire
agreement and the return of the remaining hostages. As a senior member of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, we will work with all parties involved to
build a lasting peace, both in Israel and in Gaza.”
Mark Conway (Challenger): Conway, who represents City Council
District 4, has made opposition to Israel aid his signature issue in this race.
He publicly called for an end to U.S. arms sales to Israel and urged other
Maryland Democrats to join him. In April of 2026, he directly attacked Mfume’s
strong voting record on Israel and stated: “A leader who was shaped by the
Civil Rights Movement now votes to send money for bombs that continue to fall
on the sick and the hungry in Gaza.”
Conway has framed Mfume’s
pro-Israel votes as a product of donor influence rather than principle, a
standard anti-AIPAC talking point used by the progressive left. His positions
align closely with the wing of the Democratic Party that has characterized
support for Israel as morally disqualifying.
Also running in the 7th District
Democratic primary are Hadley Anthony, Tashi Davis, and Theo
Gillespie, all of whom have minimal name recognition and are unlikely to
affect the top-line result.
U.S. House – Maryland’s 2nd
Congressional District
This district covers Baltimore
County, including Pikesville and surrounding areas.
John “Johnny O” Olszewski Jr. (incumbent):
Olszewski, the
former Baltimore County Executive who won this seat in 2024, is running for reelection
against Enrico Bailey and Clint Spellman Jr. On Israel, Olszewski
has staked out a centrist position: he unequivocally condemned the October 7
Hamas attacks and affirmed Israel’s right to self-defense, while also calling
for minimizing civilian casualties and supporting a two-state solution. He has
stated that “all wars must be conducted in accordance with international law”
and that “ample humanitarian aid must find its way to affected populations.”
Olszewski’s challengers, Bailey and
Spellman, are not major political figures and are not expected to mount serious
campaigns. This race is likely a formality for the incumbent.
Maryland State Senate – District 41
This district covers portions of
west, southwest, and northwest Baltimore City, including Park Heights and
Cheswolde.
This is the single most important
race for the Orthodox Jewish community in Northwest Baltimore, and it deserves
the community’s full and urgent attention.
Dalya Attar (incumbent): Senator Dalya Attar was raised in
Baltimore as a Sefardic Jew and attended Bais Yaakov School for Girls. She was
appointed to the State Senate seat in January 2025 and now seeks a full term. Her
record of advocacy for the Jewish community is unmatched in Annapolis. She
introduced legislation to remove from a state hate crimes commission a member of
the anti-Israel group, CAIR, who had made social media posts comparing Israel
to Nazi Germany. She successfully moved Maryland’s 2024 primary date away from
Passover to ensure that Orthodox Jewish voters could participate without
violating their religious observance, a bill that became law. She is a member
of the Maryland Legislative Jewish Caucus.
Malcolm Ruff (challenger): Ruff is a trial attorney who was
appointed to the House of Delegates in 2023 to fill a vacancy in the 41st
District. He is now running against Attar for the Senate seat, backed by an
ideological network that includes LBS and Dayvon Love.
Ruff himself has not made extensive
public statements about Israel. But the company he keeps speaks volumes. LBS’s
Dayvon Love, who has called Zionism white supremacy, compared support for
Israel to settler colonialism, and described the District 41 race as a “clash
of civilizations” between “social justice” and “Zionist political forces” is
explicitly supporting Ruff’s campaign. Love has framed the race as a vehicle
for defeating what he calls Zionist influence in Baltimore Democratic politics.
Ruff has received endorsements from
Governor Moore and civil rights attorney Billy Murphy Jr. His backers in the
progressive movement have been transparent about their goal: to replace the
first Orthodox Jewish state senator in Maryland history with a candidate
aligned with a movement that views Zionism as white supremacy.
Maryland House of Delegates –
District 41
Voters in the 41st District
will elect three delegates on June 23, with five candidates competing for those
seats.
Del. Samuel “Sandy” Rosenberg (incumbent)
is one of the
longest-serving members of the General Assembly and a consistent advocate for
the Jewish community in Annapolis.
Del. Sean Stinnett was appointed in March 2025 to
fill the seat vacated when Attar was elevated to the Senate. He is campaigning
with Dalya Attar and Sandy Rosenberg. Stinnett, a Muslim, founded the Maryland
Legislative Muslim Caucus in February 2026 with CAIR. (Council on American
Islamic Relations).
Reuven Amos, an Orthodox Jewish attorney, has
filed as a Democratic candidate for the District 41 delegate race, making him
one of the most closely watched challengers in the Northwest Baltimore primary
landscape. His candidacy represents an attempt to reclaim an Orthodox seat
after Attar’s elevation to the Senate created a vacancy.
Also in the race is Chezia Cager,
a community advocate with experience in the Baltimore mayor’s office and
federal government, who has focused her campaign on public safety and
constituent responsiveness.
Baltimore County Executive
The Baltimore County Executive race
is among the highest profile local contests in the 2026 cycle for the Northwest
Baltimore Jewish community, and it has produced the most dramatic single moment
of any race on this year’s ballot. On April 13th, at a forum at the
Islamic Society of Baltimore, the candidates’ responses to direct questions
about Israel, Gaza, and the county’s partnerships with Israeli institutions
drew alarm from Jewish community organizations and became the defining
flashpoint of the entire primary. At that forum, the libelous “genocide” label
was applied explicitly by multiple candidates, including Nick Stewart and Pat
Young, to describe Israel’s military operations, and Julian Jones stated
point-blank that he sees “no reason” for the county’s ties with Israeli
security training to continue, while also calling the situation in Gaza
genocidal, describing it as “very close to, if not genocidal.” The contrasts
between candidates could not be sharper. And, be reminded of the stakes because
the county executive controls the budget, the police department, school
curriculum funding, and institutional partnerships.
Israel “Izzy” Patoka stands alone among the major
Democratic candidates as the unambiguous pro-Israel voice in the field, and his
record is rooted not in political calculation but in lived biography. A child
of Holocaust survivors who emigrated from what is now Ukraine, Patoka
frequently speaks out against antisemitism, and his Jewish roots have shaped
his political career. He has described his parents directly, “Both of my
parents have passed. They were Holocaust survivors, so I wear my Jewish
heritage on my sleeve. I want to make my parents proud.”
During his time in state government,
Patoka helped steer nearly $26 million to Jewish facilities statewide and
participated in formulating state sanctions on companies investing in Iran. At
the ISB forum, Patoka was the only candidate who refused to offer simplistic,
one-sided answers when pressed on Israel, declining to raise his hand for a
blanket boycott of the Maryland Israel Development Center, insisting instead on
a professional and factual analysis of economic impact. He also publicly warned
the crowd to be suspicious of candidates who “say what is convenient in this
room and then go to the next room and say something completely different.” This
served as a warning that, given subsequent revelations about other candidates’
two-audience positioning, proved prescient. Baltimore Jewish Life declared him “the
only candidate with the courage to protect the county’s relationship with
Israel while still being a devoted leader for all Baltimore County residents.”
Julian Jones is the fundraising frontrunner
and, after receiving endorsements from Governor Wes Moore and Senator Angela
Alsobrooks, arguably the political establishment’s preferred candidate, yet he
has staked out the most explicitly anti-Israel position of any major candidate
in the race. At the ISB forum, Jones called the situation in Gaza a genocide, answering
“yes” when asked directly. He described the destruction of Gaza as “heartbreaking”
and the scale of Israel’s response as “very close to, if not genocidal.” He
also declared he would end any law enforcement training partnerships with
Israeli security forces, saying: “I don’t see any reason for us to receive any
training from the Israeli Defense Forces; there are more than enough experts
here in this country.” He opposed the state’s anti-BDS policies. Jones’s actual
stated positions at the ISB forum, singling out Israel, remain on the record,
unretracted, and are a legitimate basis for community concern.
Nick Stewart was among the candidates at the
ISB forum who explicitly used the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s
operations. The gap between Stewart’s written Jewish community outreach, carefully
tailored for a Pikesville and Owings Mills audience, and his oral statements at
a Muslim community forum is precisely what Patoka was warning about when he
urged voters to listen to what candidates say in different rooms. Stewart is
backed by Adeo Advocacy LLC, the same fundraising team that elected Governor
Wes Moore, and is expected to draw from the Martin O’Malley political network, both
of which include Jewish donors and professionals. Whether those donors have
processed the ISB forum comments has not been publicly reported.
Pat Young was among the candidates who
explicitly used the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions at the ISB
forum. As a combat veteran who served in the Middle East – he is an Iraq War
veteran – Young’s willingness to deploy that characterization carries a
specific weight. He has spoken extensively on government transparency and his
military service as qualifications for the executive role but has made no
documented effort to address the Jewish community’s concerns arising from his
ISB forum statements or to clarify his position on Israel in a venue oriented
toward Jewish constituents.
Mansoor Shams is the most ideologically
transparent candidate in the field on Israel, and the one whose record in this
community has been most extensively documented prior to his entry into the
county executive race. Shams, who calls himself the “Muslim Marine,” has spent
years as a bridge-builder between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. In November
2023, when he was living in Pikesville, he wrote an op-ed in the Baltimore
Sun, a few weeks after the October 7 attacks, questioning whether the “We
Stand with Israel” and “Baltimore Stands with Israel” yard signs in his own
neighborhood amounted to an endorsement of Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza.
He also confided on his Facebook page that he had “thought about putting up a
Palestinian flag” but didn’t want it misunderstood.
In May 2024, he wrote another op-ed
in the Baltimore Sun defending campus protesters demonstrating against
Israel’s Gaza operations, arguing that they deserved “the same compassion they’re
showing Gazans.” In his campaign, Shams has framed his candidacy around healing
division and representing the most vulnerable residents, using public
financing. His public record on Israel, rooted in sympathy for Palestinian
grievances and skepticism of Israel’s military conduct, is the most
comprehensively documented of any candidate in the field, predating his
campaign announcement by years.
The bottom line for Jewish
community voters in Baltimore County is that Patoka is the sole clear
pro-Israel candidate among the Democratic frontrunners. The county executive
race represents the sharpest Israel-related choice the Jewish community will
face at the local level in 2026.
Maryland State Senate – District 11
District 11 covers Baltimore
County: Owings Mills, and Pikesville (the heart of Baltimore County’s Jewish
community).
Shelly Hettleman (incumbent): One-term Democratic incumbent
Senator Shelly Hettleman, a Pikesville High School graduate, is running for reelection
after winning her seat in 2022 with 71.5 percent of the vote. Hettleman has
been a consistent presence in the Jewish community and a familiar face in
Pikesville. Detailed candidate profiles for this race were published by the Baltimore
Sun in May 2026.
District 11 encompasses the
geographic center of Baltimore County’s Jewish community. Voter turnout in this
district’s primary can be strongly influenced by the Orthodox and observant
Jewish vote in Pikesville and Owings Mills.
Maryland House of Delegates –
District 11 (11A and 11B)
District 11, the Pikesville-area
County council seat, is divided into subdistricts covering the Pikesville area.
Jon S. Cardin serves District 11B, which includes Pikesville and Mays
Chapel, alongside Dana Stein. Cheryl E. Pasteur represents District 11A.
These incumbents serve a heavily Jewish district. Their records on Jewish
community issues are relevant to any voter casting a ballot in the Pikesville
area.
Baltimore County Council – District
4 (New Map:
Pikesville, Lochearn, Ruxton, Riderwood, Stevenson)
The new District 4 is a diverse
swath of predominantly Black and Jewish suburbs surrounding Northwest
Baltimore, making it arguably the most symbolically significant of the new
county council seats from the Jewish community’s perspective.
The Democratic primary is between Karson
Kamenetz, 24, and Navy veteran and ship foreman Aaron J. Barnett.
Kamenetz is the son of the late County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who was
himself Jewish and a known figure in the community before his sudden and tragic
death in 2018 while running for governor. Karson Kamenetz is a lifelong
Pikesville resident who belongs to Baltimore Hebrew Congregation and attended
Gilman School. He has been explicit about his commitment to the Jewish
community, stating: “The Jewish community is, and has always been, an essential
part of the Baltimore County fabric, and at a baseline, I am committed to being
an advocate, and that includes ensuring our neighborhoods remain safe. It means
protecting places of worship and supporting small businesses, but it also means
standing firmly against antisemitism.”
On specific policy, Kamenetz has
outlined two Jewish community priorities: “We need to boost funding so Jewish
families can continue to access Jewish schooling at a time when antisemitism is
at such a peak, and the need for Jewish education is peaking, as well. Also, we
need to ensure that zoning laws and regulations and processes are in place to
support building places of worship in these growing Jewish communities.”
Barnett, his Democratic primary
opponent, has not made documented public statements on Israel or the Jewish
community.
The Urgency: Vote June 23
The math is straightforward. With
approximately 20,000-30,000 Orthodox Jews in the Baltimore metro area
concentrated in this narrow Northwest corridor, and with a Democratic primary
typically decided by tens of thousands of votes, the Orthodox Jewish community
has the numerical power to determine the outcome of every single race described
in this article.
But that power only exists if
people are registered and vote.
The online voter registration
deadline will have passed by the time this issue of the Where What When comes
out, but you can register at your polling place during early voting (June 1-18)
or on Election Day (June 23). Similarly, if you are already registered but have
moved or changed your name, you can update your registration at early voting or
on Election Day.
A community that shows up together
can elect its own representatives, defeat hostile candidates who espouse
antisemitic and anti-Zionist tropes, and command respect from every elected
official in the region. A community that stays home is invisible and will be
subject to the whims of potentially hostile candidates.
When Dayvon Love writes that this
election is a “clash of civilizations” and that Zionism is the enemy to be
defeated, he is being honest about the stakes. The question is whether our
community of Northwest Baltimore will be equally honest with itself, and
whether it will treat June 23 with the seriousness the moment demands.
The polls open at 7 a.m. Be there.
