2 Jewish veterans score Democratic upsets in House races

Elaine Luria wins in a Virginia coastal area and Max Rose unseats a Republican in New York’s Staten Island

By JTA 7 November 2018, 6:39 am

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Elaine Luria speaks at a Democratic committee meeting in Norfolk, Va., Feb. 3, 2018. The Navy veteran upset a Republican incumbent to win a House seat. (Ron Kampeas/JTA)

WASHINGTON — Elaine Luria, a Jewish Navy veteran running for Congress in a Virginia coastal district, and Max Rose, a Jewish Army veteran challenging for a House seat in New York’s Staten Island, each unseated Republican incumbents on Tuesday.

Luria was projected to win while holding a lead of 4,000 votes over Republican Scott Taylor in a district that includes the Norfolk U.S. Navy base. Luria, a former Navy commander, was the first woman to spend her entire Navy career aboard combat ships.

Rose, who was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan, unseated Dan Donovan in New York’s 11th District. He campaigned as a Democrat who is ready to defy his party leadership.

Rose and Luria were among six Jewish veterans running for the US House of Representatives.

Another Democrat who turned a House district from Republican was Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran whose father is a Holocaust survivor, in Pennsylvania’s 6th comprising the Philadelphia suburbs. Houlahan said her father’s story — he became a US Navy officer — inspired her to run. She does not consider herself Jewish.