Despite the centuries that have passed since David Levy Yulee became the first Jewish member of the U.S. Senate in 1845, 30 states have never elected a Jewish person to the upper chamber of the national legislature. Missouri may be one of them now, but this will change if Secretary of State Jason Kander wins a U.S. Senate seat in November. 

Kander’s Judaism already makes him an anomaly among the hundreds of politicians throughout Show-Me State history: He is only the third Jewish official to be elected statewide in Missouri. 

Kander, who was born in Overland Park, Kan., was raised Jewish. “I first learned about my faith from my grandparents, who are active in Kansas City’s Jewish community,” Kander said. “It didn’t become a consistent part of my daily inner life until I was serving in Afghanistan.” 

Kander says he “learned early on the importance of service” from his parents, who were both juvenile probation officers. He served in Afghanistan as a lieutenant, first enlisting in the Army National Guard after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“My time in the Army played an important role in shaping my life, my values and my perspective,” Kander said. 

In those formative years, Kander remembers relying on his Judaism for strength. “I’m sure I’m not the first veteran who turned to daily prayer for the first time while serving overseas, but those months certainly made my faith a more central part of my life that continues today,” he said.

After returning from his deployment, Kander’s connection to his faith deepened again on a birthright trip to Israel. Kander traveled with his wife Diana, who first arrived in the United States as a refugee escaping anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union at age 8. 

“During birthright, she had the chance to reconnect with members of her family who settled in Israel the same year she came to America,” Kander said. “I unexpectedly found my own very different familial connection a few days later during Shabbat services at a kibbutz when I opened my prayer book to find a surprising inscription thanking by name a donor in ‘Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A. When I scanned down and read my own cousin’s name, I realized just how truly connected we are to one another.”

Kander is just one of the high-profile Jewish candidates for office in Missouri this election cycle. Along with 22 other states, Missouri has never elected a Jewish governor or U.S. Senator. As Kander seeks to break the latter half of the trend, fellow veteran Eric Greitens is running to become Missouri’s first Jewish governor in November. If Greitens is elected, he will join the small club of Jews — far from a minyan — to have held statewide office in Jefferson City. 

While there is not necessarily a meaning behind the small number of Jewish elected officials in state history, the suicide of former State Auditor and gubernatorial candidate Tom Schweich was widely believed to be his response to an anti-Semitic whisper campaign. 

In addition to Kander, the group of Jewish statewide elected officials consists of former Lieutenant Governors Ken Rothman and Harriet Woods. Rothman, who now works at a Clayton law firm, held the office from 1981 to 1985, after serving as Speaker of the Missouri State House. Woods, who died in 2007, succeeded Rothman as Lieutenant Governor, serving from 1985 to 1989; in 1982 and 1986, she was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, losing both times.

Recent polls show Kander and Blunt locked in a close race, as the Secretary of State seeks to become Missouri’s first Jewish senator.