There will be no change in the size of the Jewish contingent in the House of Representatives in the 91st Congress. All the Jewish members of the House in the old Congress, were re-elected with the exception of Rep. Herbert Tenzer, of New York, who retired. Rep. Tenzer’s seat was won by Allard K. Lowenstein, a young Democrat who sparked the McCarthy antiwar campaign.
Two Jewish members of the Senate, Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, and Abraham Ribicoff, Connecticut Democrat, won re-election by large majorities. Sen. Ernest Gruening, Alaska Democrat, was defeated in the primaries for renomination and failed in a write-in attempt.
All the Jewish Congressmen are Democrats except Rep. Seymour Halpern, New York Republican, the only Republican Congressman elected from New York City. Rep. Emanuel Celler, 80, was re-elected to his 24th term and will continue service as dean of the House. New York Congressmen re-elected include Reps. Celler, Leonard Farbstein, Seymour Halpern, Lester Wolff, Benjamin Rosenthal, Bertram Podell, James Scheuer, Jacob Gilbert and Richard Ottinger. Other Jewish Congressmen re-elected were Rep. Sidney Yates, Illinois; Charles Joelson, New Jersey; Samuel Friedel, Maryland and Joshua Eilberg, Pennsylvania.
Judge Frank Licht, a prominent member of the Providence Jewish community, won election as Governor of Rhode Island, defeating Gov. John H. Chafee, Republican. The Governor-elect, who is 52, was an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Rhode Island and was a member of the State Senate. He has served for many years as vice president of the General Jewish Committee of Providence and as co-chairman of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.