LAS VEGAS (JTA) — Norm Coleman, a former U.S. senator from Minnesota, is the new head of the Republican Jewish Coalition. replaced its longtime chairman, David Flaum, with
The RJC board voted Coleman in on Friday during its annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas to succeed longtime chairman David Flaum.
Statements by Coleman and Flaum in the RJC release noted Republican successes during the 10 years that Flaum, a real estate developer in upstate New York, had the post, including last year’s sweep of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The RJC campaigned heavily last year in large Jewish communities in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, helping to keep in place incumbent senators who had been perceived as vulnerable to ouster.
Coleman represented Minnesota in the U.S. Senate for one term, from 2003 to 2009, losing to Al Franken, a writer and comedian who also is Jewish, in the 2008 elections by a narrow margin.
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