Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania expands its impact

Doug Mastriano helped reshape Pennsylvania’s political landscape — but not in the way he intended.

Take the case of Sue Berman Kress, for example, who credits the 2022 governor’s race between Republican Mastriano and Democrat Josh Shapiro for her involvement with Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania.

“I felt that Doug Mastriano was such a danger, such a threat, that I wanted to be active and do something,” she said.

At the time, Mastriano, who was and continues to serve as a state senator, had aligned himself with Christian nationalism and was running ads on Gab, a social media platform known as a haven for white nationalism, antisemitism and other extremist content. He eventually left Gab, but before he did, new accounts to the site automatically followed Mastriano’s campaign.

During the governor’s race, Mastriano’s wife, who is not Jewish, sparked controversy with the comment, “In fact I’m going to say we probably love Israel more than a lot of Jews do.”

Berman Kress helped organize Jewish voters to support an ad campaign that targeted Mastriano and partnered with the DJOP. The ads were titled “Vote like religious freedom depends on it.”

“We needed a place to have the donations run through and DJOP was a really great landing spot for that,” she explained.

A short time later, Berman Kress and fellow Pittsburgher Marla Werner were asked to join DJOP’s board.

“I think they’re a really solid organization with good values,” Berman Kress said.

Started in 2008 in Philadelphia by Jill Zipin, her husband Howard Zipin and other concerned Jewish citizens, DJOP quickly became a statewide organization.

The political action committee uses its voice to speak about Jewish principles it would like to see more strongly represented in national government, the DJOP’s website says. It has supported a woman’s right to choose, freedom from gun violence, a clean green environment, affordable health care and education, as well as a strong and secure Israel.

The PAC hosts speaker events and opportunities to meet candidates in small gatherings as fundraisers, and it offers educational programs that are free and open to everyone, mostly on Zoom.

One August Zoom event was titled “Project 2025: Everything You Need to Know.” Another focused on judicial elections.

Berman Kress said that DJOP also has become a resource for Democrats who hold office.

“They’ll call us and say, ‘What is your community thinking about such and such? How are you feeling about this?’ In terms of the vandalism that happened in the fall, they might call us and say, ‘What do you need?’ or ‘How is your community responding?’” she said.

DJOP also has experts available to talk to politicians about Israel.

“We might get a call from someone saying, ‘Tell me about the West Bank. What’s with the settlements in the West Bank?’ and we can educate them as candidates,” Berman Kress said.

For fellow DJOP board member Marla Werner, the threat of Mastriano becoming governor also was a motivating factor.

“It called for a new moment of getting involved, that we could no longer sit on the sidelines and wring our hands,” she said. “We had to actually jump in and get involved.”

Werner first got involved with the DJOP while helping organize the ad campaign against Mastriano.

“It was a great connection,” she said. “We knew immediately that the work they were doing was fantastic and the kind of work we wanted to be doing more long term than just one election cycle.”

Werner pointed to the relationships created by the organization’s members with local politicians and elected leaders as an important part of the DJOP’s work.

After Oct. 7, she said, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio reached out to Werner to see if she had any family members affected by the Hamas terror attack in Israel, and to ask what he could do to help support the community.

“It’s because of my role at DJOP that I have become a trusted source to many of our elected officials,” she said.

The DJOP, which endorses candidates, has felt supported by many of the state’s elected officials, Werner said, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey.

One candidate previously endorsed by DJOP will not be endorsed this cycle: U.S. Rep. Summer Lee.

Lee has been an outspoken critic of Israel. In March, more than 40 local rabbis and cantors signed an open letter to Lee accusing her of “divisive rhetoric” which they said they perceived as “openly antisemitic.” That letter followed an October open letter from the spiritual leaders to Lee, which took issue with Lee’s opposition to a House resolution standing with Israel and condemning Hamas.

Both Werner and Berman Kress acknowledged that the Israel/Hamas war presents complex issues, but said it hasn’t strained the DJOP’s relationship with most politicians, primarily because the organization “leads with Jewish values.”

“There aren’t many Jewish people that I know who would say, ‘I just don’t care what’s happening to the Palestinians,’” Berman Kress said. “So, if we have a congressional candidate, who, like Kamala Harris said, ‘What’s happening to the Palestinians in Gaza is tragic, its overwhelming and heartbreaking,’ there’s no Jewish person who would align with DJOP that doesn’t agree with that. We all think it’s heartbreaking.”

Where there might be a fissure, she explained, is when a politician believes what is happening in Gaza is entirely Israel’s fault.

“We don’t have any candidates like that,” she said, pointing to whom DJOP is endorsing this election cycle.

Werner said the organization sides with any candidate who is consistent with their core values.

As the organization grows, its influence continues to rise.

Werner joined several other DJOP members at the Democratic National Convention last month. Her daughter was the youngest delegate from Pennsylvania.

“It was such a fun week for her,” she said. “The two of us are political junkies.”

Werner also serves on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and was a member of Shapiro’s inauguration team.

For Werner, who wasn’t involved in politics before the Shapiro election, the opportunity to serve and help Jewish democratic politicians has been an eye-opening experience and something she urges everyone to do.

“We are working to build a Pittsburgh support group for DJOP, to get more people locally more involved in the work that we’re doing, especially leading up to this critical election,” she said. “Their participation can be everything from helping to support these candidates by hosting events, attending events, door knocking, phone banking or just being given the talking points necessary to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot in Pennsylvania.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.