One of the more interesting congressional races this year is in New Jersey’s 5th district, where a blind rabbi named Dennis Shulman, a Democrat, is closing the gap against Republican incumbent Scott Garrett, who is known for being pro-Israel and for his conservative views.
Shulman, an ordained Reform rabbi with a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard, has done a formidable job raising money for his run, Time magazine reports, and Congressional Quarterly recently upgraded Shulman’s chances, changing the district’s rating from “Safe Republican” to “Republican Favored.” The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin offers a profile of the candidate in this week’s Talk of the Town.
Shulman has been endorsed by J Street, the new left-wing pro-Israel lobby, while Garrett remains a favorite of the more hawkish pro-Israel community.
