Jessica Scarcella-Spanton
D · New York State Senate, District 23 · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
SD-23 incumbent (Brooklyn/Staten Island); pro-Israel Democrat. Oct 2023: “What is happening in Israel is an absolute travesty… we stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters,” and called an NYC Palestine-solidarity rally “an absolute disgrace.” Regularly meets Agudath Israel. She was challenged in the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary by Omar Mohamad and won 72.6% to 27.0% (6,793 to 2,524).
A 1/2, on a thin record: one cosponsorship, one October 2023 statement, a December 2023 joint statement she signed and an October 2024 vigil she co-organized. She cosponsors S7034-A, the Senate bill that would have state agencies weigh the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its contemporary examples in discrimination complaints. In October 2023 she said “What is happening in Israel is an absolute travesty” and “we stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters,” and called an NYC Palestine-solidarity rally “an absolute disgrace.” That is confrontational pro-Israel support. In December 2023 she signed the “Women’s Rights Leaders Condemn the Atrocities of October 7th” statement, which condemned the sexual violence of the October 7 attack and added, “We mourn the deaths of so many Palestinian and Israeli civilians who have been killed in this war,” saying it did not “signal support for the bombings in Gaza”; Gov. Kathy Hochul, the leaders of both chambers and dozens of legislators from across the spectrum on Israel signed it, so it does little to set any one signer apart. In October 2024 she and Assemblyman Michael Novakhov organized a Sheepshead Bay vigil marking a year since the October 7 attack. But she wrote no Israel measure, and her Orthodox-community work (regular Agudath Israel advocacy days, a COJO Flatbush legislator award) is constituent relations, not leadership on the issue. The outside money behind her in 2026 was New York Future, a FanDuel and DraftKings sports-betting committee, not a pro-Israel independent expenditure.
Open the full card, with votes, money and every source, on elect26 →
elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).