This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox.

In upstate New York, former Rep. Mondaire Jones is ready to launch a new digital ad blasting Rep. Mike Lawyer for defending President Donald Trump’s widely criticized remarks earlier this month blaming American Jews should he lose the presidential election.

Jones and Lawler are locked in a close contest in the Hudson Valley district, which Jones represented from 2020 to 2022.

American Jewish groups condemned Trump’s remarks, delivered in back-to-back speeches to Jewish audiences. The American Jewish Committee called Trump’s statements “outrageous and dangerous.” Others called them antisemitic.

Lawler offered a different interpretation.

Trump “wasn’t blaming Jewish people,” he said in an interview with CNN the following day. “What he was saying, at the end of the day, is if he doesn’t win, it will be in part because Jewish people didn’t vote for him.”

In another interview with Newsmax, Lawler said that “obviously people can quibble with them or say it was wrong, but he was making the point, ultimately, that the Jewish people have a big voice in this election, given the issue of Israel, given the issue of antisemitism.” 

Lawler attended one of the events, called “Fighting Antisemitism in America,” and Trump acknowledged him from the stage. Lawler is a lead sponsor of the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, which mandates the Department of Education use the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which includes most anti-Zionism.

In response to news of the forthcoming ad, Lawler’s campaign issued a statement.

He has already made clear, the statement reads, “that Jews should not — and will not — be to ‘blame’ if one candidate wins or loses the race for president or any other race.” Trump had spoken “inartfully,” it continues, but not antisemitically. The statement also aligned Jones with members of “The Squad,” a group of progressive House members who strongly criticize Israel, and claimed Jones was “shamed” into deleting a tweet condemned as antisemitic by Jewish Democrats. Jones has said the tweet was misinterpreted.

The statement also charged that Jones voted against funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system several times. Jones has countered that he has supported bills that include the Iron Dome funding.

A six-figure ad buy against Lawler

“When Donald Trump said Jewish people were to blame if he lost, Mike Lawler defended Trump,” says the narrator in the 30-second ad, highlighting clips of both Lawler interviews. 

Jones said in an interview that Lawler’s refusal to “stand up to Donald Trump’s antisemitic behavior and remarks” makes Jewish people unsafe.

“It’s disgusting and disqualifying, and it shows he doesn’t actually care about combating antisemitism if he feels there’s no political benefit to him,” Jones said. “He is not a real friend of the Jewish community.”

Democrats are eager to flip the district. A recent poll showed Lawler with a three-point lead, well within the 4.4% margin of error. 

The Jones campaign said the ad, part of a six-figure ad buy, will target the estimated 16% of voters who are Jewish in the district, which includes Rockland County’s sprawling Hasidic communities. Those enclaves supported Lawler in 2022. 

The clip, which voters will start seeing this weekend, features four Jewish people touting Jones’ friendship with the Jewish community.

A Lawler spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel and antisemitism, a priority for voters in the district 

Jones, a pro-Israel progressive, was elected to Congress in 2020 in a crowded race for the seat long held by Jewish Rep. Nita Lowey. He moved to Manhattan last year to avoid an incumbent-vs.-incumbent race against Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. He came in third with 18% in the Democratic primary for the 10th District, which includes the Borough Park and Park Slope neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side and East Village in Manhattan.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, Jones has taken a strong pro-Israel position on the war in Gaza. “It is mission critical that Hamas be defeated,” he said in an interview. He also criticized Biden’s decision to halt the shipment of offensive weapons to Israel in May. 

Earlier this year, Jones faced backlash from his former allies on the left for endorsing George Latimer in his primary challenge against Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a fierce Israel critic. The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, in response, rescinded its endorsement of Jones.  

“I have no regrets about standing up for what I firmly believe in,” Jones then said in a statement. “I will always stand up for my Jewish constituents.”

This story was originally published on the Forward.