WASHINGTON (JTA) — The date of a special election in Florida to fill the seat of a prominent Jewish congressman was changed because it fell on the last day of Passover.
Florida’s Republican governor, Charlie Crist, announced Nov. 25 that the election would be delayed from April 6 to April 13.
The change comes a two days after the group Shalom International sent a letter to Crist calling the original date "an attack on the religious Jewish community."
Two of the Democratic candidates running to replace Wexler in a Feb. 2 primary are Jewish: state Sen. Ted Deutch and former Broward County Mayor Ben Graber.
Wexler is leaving Congress in January to take over as head of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.
Bob Kunst, the president of Shalom International, wrote a letter to Crist on the day he announced the date change to thank him for being a "mensch."
"In supporting religious freedoms for everyone, this is a model for everyone not to infringe on these Constitutional and moral rights for all peoples of faith," he wrote.
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