Former New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind Switches from Democratic to Republican

[TML]

Today former NY Assemblyman Dov Hikind announced on Twitter that he and his wife were switching their party registrations from Democratic to Republican.

https://twitter.com/HikindDov/status/1682016578701783040

Although the guy served as a Democrat in the NY state assembly for three and a half decades, his political positions were clearly on the conservative side, so I'm somewhat surprised that this switch didn't happen earlier.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Democrats turned their backs on Jews, okay sure, but republicans haven’t? The party of Jewish space lasers? He’s just using that as an obvious bad faith fig leaf.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

I'm sorry, who?

[Horus]

He's been a defacto Republican for decades.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

The fewer DINOs and conservadems in the New York State Democratic Party, the better.

[Landslide Lyndon]

The guy was the definition of DINO. He openly admitted for years that the only reason he had a D next to his name was political convenience.

[Minnesota Mike]

Republican registers as Republican. This guy is the ultimate DINO, he has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate since Bush in 2004 and Pataki (94) and Zeldin (22) for Governor. He had at best a transactional relationship with the Democratic Party, using their election line but having a very conservative voting record on social issues in line with his conservative jewish community.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Republican registers as Republican. This guy is the ultimate DINO, he has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate since Bush in 2004 and Pataki (94) and Zeldin (22) for Governor. He had at best a transactional relationship with the Democratic Party, using their election line but having a very conservative voting record on social issues in line with his conservative jewish community.

Wiki says he endorsed every Republican from Bush to McCain to Romney to Trump twice and compared gay marriage to incest. And his former district (which seems to be based in the heavily Hasidic part of Brooklyn) gave Romney his best showing in the state (75%!) and Trump his second-best, so it's not like he ever had to be a Democrat to win anyway.

He also sued AOC for blocking him on Twitter. wtf?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Republican registers as Republican. This guy is the ultimate DINO, he has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate since Bush in 2004 and Pataki (94) and Zeldin (22) for Governor. He had at best a transactional relationship with the Democratic Party, using their election line but having a very conservative voting record on social issues in line with his conservative jewish community.

Wiki says he endorsed every Republican from Bush to McCain to Romney to Trump twice and compared gay marriage to incest. And his former district (which seems to be based in the heavily Hasidic part of Brooklyn) gave Romney his best showing in the state (75%!) and Trump his second-best, so it's not like he ever had to be a Democrat to win anyway.

He also sued AOC for blocking him on Twitter. wtf?

He held her to the same standard Trump was held to. The social media era of politics is weird, but that was a legit case.

That being said, yeah, crank ex-pol takes on the affiliation that actually makes sense for him.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Republican registers as Republican. This guy is the ultimate DINO, he has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate since Bush in 2004 and Pataki (94) and Zeldin (22) for Governor. He had at best a transactional relationship with the Democratic Party, using their election line but having a very conservative voting record on social issues in line with his conservative jewish community.

Wiki says he endorsed every Republican from Bush to McCain to Romney to Trump twice and compared gay marriage to incest. And his former district (which seems to be based in the heavily Hasidic part of Brooklyn) gave Romney his best showing in the state (75%!) and Trump his second-best, so it's not like he ever had to be a Democrat to win anyway.

He also sued AOC for blocking him on Twitter. wtf?

He held her to the same standard Trump was held to. The social media era of politics is weird, but that was a legit case.

When did it become illegal for politicians on Twitter to block people?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Republican registers as Republican. This guy is the ultimate DINO, he has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate since Bush in 2004 and Pataki (94) and Zeldin (22) for Governor. He had at best a transactional relationship with the Democratic Party, using their election line but having a very conservative voting record on social issues in line with his conservative jewish community.

Wiki says he endorsed every Republican from Bush to McCain to Romney to Trump twice and compared gay marriage to incest. And his former district (which seems to be based in the heavily Hasidic part of Brooklyn) gave Romney his best showing in the state (75%!) and Trump his second-best, so it's not like he ever had to be a Democrat to win anyway.

He also sued AOC for blocking him on Twitter. wtf?

He held her to the same standard Trump was held to. The social media era of politics is weird, but that was a legit case.

When did it become illegal for politicians on Twitter to block people?

There's been a few federal court cases arguing this is a First Amendment violation as it specifically excludes individuals from viewing official government figure's correspondence and participating in it, not much different from specifically banning someone from a town hall. In Davison v. Randall (2019) the Fourth Circuit ruled this and ordered such a block reversed. Later in 2019 Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump had the Second Circuit rule that Trump could not block people on Twitter on the same standard. In Campbell v. Reisch (2021) the Eighth Circuit came close to creating a circuit split by ruling in favor of a State Rep who did this...but they ruled on the grounds that the account that issued the block was a campaign account and not one used for government business and therefore not covered by this standard, seemingly acknowledging the standard set by the other circuits.

[Badger]

Insert "Oh no! So, anyway....." or Willy Wonka "Wait.....stop....come back" gifs here.

[GP270watch]

 He decided to join the party whose foot soldiers march around saying "Jews will not replace us". Good luck with that.

[Atlas Force]

This is the guy who wore blackface at a party: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/dov-hikinds-costume-offense

[TML]

He decided to join the party whose foot soldiers march around saying "Jews will not replace us". Good luck with that.

To be fair, the majority of people who practice his version of Judaism (i.e. Orthodox Judaism) usually vote Republican, whereas those who usually vote Democratic are mostly Reform/Secular Jews.

[Sol]

Republican registers as Republican. This guy is the ultimate DINO, he has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate since Bush in 2004 and Pataki (94) and Zeldin (22) for Governor. He had at best a transactional relationship with the Democratic Party, using their election line but having a very conservative voting record on social issues in line with his conservative jewish community.

Wiki says he endorsed every Republican from Bush to McCain to Romney to Trump twice and compared gay marriage to incest. And his former district (which seems to be based in the heavily Hasidic part of Brooklyn) gave Romney his best showing in the state (75%!) and Trump his second-best, so it's not like he ever had to be a Democrat to win anyway.

Hasidic communities tend to vote fairly transactionally, an approach which makes sense for a community which is highly isolated and marginalized. Having a representative in the Democratic caucus -- i.e. the movers and shakers in NY politics -- makes sense for that reason, even if the party isn't an optimal fit for the typical views of the community.

[GP270watch]

He decided to join the party whose foot soldiers march around saying "Jews will not replace us". Good luck with that.

To be fair, the majority of people who practice his version of Judaism (i.e. Orthodox Judaism) usually vote Republican, whereas those who usually vote Democratic are mostly Reform/Secular Jews.

 I grew up next to Orthodox Jewish communities and they vote for whoever they want. The Orthodox in Rockland County NY don't vote the same as th ones in Brooklyn or Washington Heights. If you look at the 2020 Precinct level map from the NY Times, the area around Yeshiva University which is Latino and Jewish went heavily Biden and the area around the Cloisters which has many Orthodox and older German-Jewish people who have been living there for decades went for Biden as well.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

For the record his successor who is a Millennial is a Democrat despite being to the right of the median Republican in the New York Assembly.

What I don't get is why the Democrats tolerate them. It's not like they need their votes to win or their seats for a supermajority.

[Sol]

He decided to join the party whose foot soldiers march around saying "Jews will not replace us". Good luck with that.

To be fair, the majority of people who practice his version of Judaism (i.e. Orthodox Judaism) usually vote Republican, whereas those who usually vote Democratic are mostly Reform/Secular Jews.

 I grew up next to Orthodox Jewish communities and they vote for whoever they want. The Orthodox in Rockland County NY don't vote the same as th ones in Brooklyn or Washington Heights. If you look at the 2020 Precinct level map from the NY Times, the area around Yeshiva University which is Latino and Jewish went heavily Biden and the area around the Cloisters which has many Orthodox and older German-Jewish people who have been living there for decades went for Biden as well.

Very important to emphasize that Hasidim are not a unified group, but instead are split into various dynasties who don't necessarily get along or see eye to eye on things. IIRC local elections in one of the upstate Hasidic communities, I think Kiryas Joel, tend to be quite polarized on intra-community disputes.

And of course Orthodox is a much broader label than just Haredim, who are only around 2/3rds of that label; I suspect Modern Orthodox Jewish voters are probably a lot more competitive, though they've swung a bit to the right in recent years too iirc.

[Vice President Christian Man]

I was wondering when this guy was going to switch over

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Republican registers as Republican. This guy is the ultimate DINO, he has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate since Bush in 2004 and Pataki (94) and Zeldin (22) for Governor. He had at best a transactional relationship with the Democratic Party, using their election line but having a very conservative voting record on social issues in line with his conservative jewish community.

Wiki says he endorsed every Republican from Bush to McCain to Romney to Trump twice and compared gay marriage to incest. And his former district (which seems to be based in the heavily Hasidic part of Brooklyn) gave Romney his best showing in the state (75%!) and Trump his second-best, so it's not like he ever had to be a Democrat to win anyway.

Even worse, he has supported Republican presidential nominees since Reagan in 1984.

"I don’t think you can find a clearer example of Democrats having voted three times in a row now for a Republican for president,” said Dov Hikind, a Democratic assemblyman who endorsed Bush in 1988 and Ronald Reagan in 1984."

SOURCE: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1992/10/25/jews-are-expected-to-abandon-bush/

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Why would any care since this guy isn't even in office anymore?

[Badger]

He decided to join the party whose foot soldiers march around saying "Jews will not replace us". Good luck with that.

To be fair, the majority of people who practice his version of Judaism (i.e. Orthodox Judaism) usually vote Republican, whereas those who usually vote Democratic are mostly Reform/Secular Jews.

 I grew up next to Orthodox Jewish communities and they vote for whoever they want. The Orthodox in Rockland County NY don't vote the same as th ones in Brooklyn or Washington Heights. If you look at the 2020 Precinct level map from the NY Times, the area around Yeshiva University which is Latino and Jewish went heavily Biden and the area around the Cloisters which has many Orthodox and older German-Jewish people who have been living there for decades went for Biden as well.

Yes and no. Orthodox Jews have a history well established of following the lead and advice of their religious leaders regarding who to vote for, but said leaders, while leaning conservative obviously, will switch partisans in various date Federal and local elections depending on circumstances and individual candidates.

[smoltchanov]

For the record his successor who is a Millennial is a Democrat despite being to the right of the median Republican in the New York Assembly.

What I don't get is why the Democrats tolerate them. It's not like they need their votes to win or their seats for a supermajority.

Well, Democratic party used to be a "big tent party", and tolerated much more conservative people, then Hikind, in it's ranks. No more... Is it so good - not sure (depends on point of view).

[Dr. MB]

Dov Hikind wasn’t just a moderate or conservative democrat. He was a friend and follower of rabbi Meir Kahane in the 70s and part of the Jewish Defense League in the 80s. He probably did a little bit of terrorism. Lots of history of intimate connections with the far right.

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/former-terror-suspect-leading-attack-brooklyn-college-bds-panel/