PRIMARY WINNERS — In case you somehow missed the news last week, Joy Koesten, a member of Kehilath Israel Synagogue, defeated incumbent 28th District Rep. Jerry Lunn in the Republican primary for the Kansas House of Representatives on Aug. 2. She does not have a Democratic challenger in the Nov. 8 general election, so she will be off to Topeka in January.
On the Missouri side, Jason Kander won the Democratic Primary for the U.S. Senate and will face Republican incumbent Roy Blunt in November
GREITENS, JEWISH NAVY SEAL, WINS GOP PRIMARY FOR MISSOURI GOVERNOR (JTA) — Eric Greitens, a Jewish former Navy SEAL, won the Republican Party primary for Missouri governor.
Greitens, who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2007 and is the recipient of seven military awards including a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, defeated three opponents in the Aug. 2 primary. He will face Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster in November. Current Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democratic, is ineligible to run again due to term limits.
Greitens is a former Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford. He is the author of four books including a collection of inspirational letters to a fellow Navy SEAL struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Greitens told the Forward in a March 2015 interview that “I’m proud to be Jewish.”
He said then that he saw his entry into politics as an extension of the Jewish mandate of tikkun olam.
He added that “people have been incredibly welcoming to me as a Jewish Republican.”
He told JTA in an interview that he had many positive Jewish role models while growing up in the Maryland Heights suburb of St. Louis, where he attended the city’s B’nai El synagogue, a Reform congregation.
The Republican Jewish Coalition congratulated Greitens on his primary victory. “We look forward to ensuring he becomes the next governor of Missouri. At a time when our country faces uncertainty at home and abroad, Commander Greitens’ service and leadership proves he is the right man for the job. Missourians would be lucky to have a man of his caliber lead their great state,” Matt Brooks, RJC executive director, said in a statement.
In February 2015, another Republican candidate for Missouri governor, Tom Schweich, killed himself shortly after telling journalists that a fellow party member was leading a whisper campaign saying he was Jewish, to hurt his chances in the primary with evangelical Christian voters. Schweich, who had a Jewish grandfather, was affiliated with the Episcopal Church.
In July, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned the marketing of a bumper sticker available to donors of Greitens’ campaign that reads “ISIS Hunting Permit 2016” as “the worst kind of fear-mongering that undermines rather than advances America’s war against ISIS terrorists.”
FOOTBALL IS HERE — Congregation Ohev Sholom invites members of the Jewish community to take part in its annual Play Along NFL Football Raffle. The raffle allows players to participate for 16 weeks. There is a chance to win cash prizes each week and the final grand prize is $500.
Tickets are $20 each. All ticket purchasers will be in the drawing for the big prize. The event will run NFL weeks beginning Sept. 5 through the end of the regular season, Jan. 1, 2017. Tickets are limited this year, so call Barb Stras at 913-634-3676 or the Ohev office at 913-642-6460.
