WASHINGTON, DC (Press Release) — This morning (July 23), The Dispatch’s David Drucker published an article highlighting the Republican Jewish Coalition’s creation and remarkable growth over the last 40 years. The piece details the RJC’s evolution from a small advocacy group into the political powerhouse it is today.
Below is a short preview of the article. The piece can be read in its entirety here.
The morning after Speaker Mike Johnson won the gavel and took the reins of the House of Representatives in October 2023, the Louisiana Republican found himself in a new office in the Capitol, attempting furiously to get up to speed.
House legislative business had halted for three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was unceremoniously stripped of the gavel as Republicans, who controlled the chamber with a slim majority, struggled to agree on a successor. Johnson, well-liked by all factions but a backbencher with no leadership or significant fundraising experience, was the compromise choice. Barely 24 hours on the job in his sparsely appointed office, he reviewed documents and fielded a long line of visitors—mostly House Republicans asking for favors—when one of them, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, came bearing advice.
“One of the people that came in was Byron Donalds who is a good, close friend and ally and he came in and said: ‘You need to go to Las Vegas.’ And I laughed, and thought it was a joke, and he said: ‘No, RJC is meeting right now, it would be such a big, impactful thing,'” Johnson recalled in a telephone interview with The Dispatch earlier this year. Despite an avalanche of new responsibilities and suddenly impossible scheduling demands, the speaker quickly concluded Donalds was right…
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