Politicians love to campaign at Jewish delis — but is it good for the delis?
Candidates have long played pastrami politics, but their deli visits give some Jewish voters indigestion
President Barack Obama surveys the pastrami sandwiches and other offerings at Manny’s Deli in Chicago in 2008. Photo by Getty Images
By Lauren Markoe October 24, 2024
At Manny’s deli in Chicago, both Democrats and Republicans stop in for bagels and lox and photo ops — and that’s the way owner Danny Raskin wants to keep it.
Delis have long been a popular stop on the campaign trail, whether a candidate is looking to court Jews, or appeal to a wider swath of voters.
Presidential candidates Bobby Kennedy and George McGovern ordered milk in Jewish delis, a faux pas some said cost them votes. Running for president in 1992, Bill Clinton was photographed with a giant bagel at The Bagel in Chicago. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Wednesday schmoozed with patrons at Famous 4th Street Delicatessen in Philadelphia.
And when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump planned a stop last month at Gottlieb’s, a kosher deli in the center of an Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhood, the idea was to connect to its Jewish clientele, and the Hasidic press followed preparations for the visit breathlessly.
At Manny’s, by contrast, most customers are not Jewish, and politicians come by not so much to connect to Jews specifically, but to show themselves in a beloved local institution — albeit one that prides itself on its knishes and kreplach.
But the role of the Jewish deli in American politics took a turn this week that gave some of its Jewish voters indigestion.
Some Jewish Democrats said they would never again eat at Hymie’s Deli, a popular spot in the Philadelphia’s suburbs for nearly 70 years, after an ad for former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was filmed there.
Deli owner Louis Barson granted the Republican Jewish Coalition permission to film the ad — which featured three women bemoaning rising antisemitism and pledging to vote for Trump. As the backlash began, Barson said he was a registered independent, unsure who he would vote for, and that he would also have allowed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to make an ad in Hymie’s.
That didn’t mollify local Democrats who charged that the ad trafficked in stereotypes of Jewish women, and presented Trump as the only candidate who could keep Jews safe in the U.S. and in Israel.
It’s “stunning,” said Rachel Fishbein, a former Hymie’s customer who works in public relations, that Barson didn’t see the Trump ad “as sending a message that this is part of his business’ brand.”
This may be the way deli owners have to think these days, said David Sax, the author of “Save the Deli,” a culinary history of Jewish delis. As with the rest of the country, political schisms among Jews — though they still skew heavily Democratic — are deepening. “In an era where everything’s politicized, of course the delis that are going to involve themselves in politics, in any way, shape or form, are going to get politicized,” he said.
Business owners who are Israeli or support Israel openly have taken a hit. The owner of a Greek diner who displayed Israeli flags outside his Long Island, New York, restaurant faced a boycott, and then stepped-up support from pro-Israel customers. A Brooklyn juice bar owned by an Israeli, and a Philadelphia eatery owned by a celebrated Israeli chef, were also among those businesses targeted.
At Canter’s Deli, a Los Angeles landmark for the past century, Jacqueline Canter, who owns the business with her brother and cousin, said they are adamant that candidates and customers of all political stripes feel at home there. Canter’s has served as the backdrop for dozens of Republican and Democratic candidates looking to make a good impression with Jewish voters, she said.
“If Kamala Harris wants to visit here, she can visit here. Donald Trump wants to visit here, whoever wants to visit here — we don’t take sides,” she said.
But would they allow a political commercial to be filmed at Canter’s?
She’s not sure. No politician has ever asked. She would have to talk it over with her co-owners, she said, and think about the possible consequences.
“You’ll be canceled if you say the wrong word,” she said. “So you have to be careful what you say.”
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