Altman served as executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Party, which has pushed Biden to cut off aid to Israel.
Sue Altman, the presumptive Democratic nominee in New Jersey’s seventh congressional district, has ties to anti-Israel individuals and organizations that could hurt her in a general-election matchup against incumbent Representative Thomas Kean Jr. (R) in the heavily Jewish district.
Altman served as executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Party (NJWFP) and the New Jersey Working Families Alliance (NJWFA) from 2019 to 2023, and the NJWFP listed her as their only candidate running in the state in 2024.
The national WFP has called on President Joe Biden to demand an Israeli cease-fire as the Jewish state prosecutes its war against Hamas in the wake of the terrorist organization’s October 7 attack, encouraging its members to contact their representatives in service of that goal. It has also pushed the U.S. government to withhold aid to Israel, approvingly sharing videos of Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) — who received a congressional censure over her use of the eliminationist slogan “from the river to the sea” — and condemned Israeli retaliation as “the path of escalation.”
Even before October 7 and the Israeli response, the WFP had been staunchly opposed to the Jewish state. In 2021, the WFP condemned Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas in response to indiscriminate rocket fire and, as it has done more recently, urged the U.S. government to condition aid to Israel.
Altman, aside from her leadership role with the WFP, has a history of associating with anti-Israel politicians. She endorsed former Ohio congressional candidate — and 2020 Bernie Sanders surrogate — Nina Turner in the Democratic primary during the state’s special election for its eleventh district. Turner has previously supported groups that describe Israel as an apartheid state and, after Democratic Majority for Israel spent heavily in her 2021 congressional special-election race, she said she had been defeated by “evil money” that “manipulated and maligned this election.”
Since October 7, Turner has called American opposition to a United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution “shameful,” “disgusting,” “cowardly,” and “complicit.” She has exhorted the Biden administration to “stop sending Israel weapons.” She has said that “instead of looking at the situation with moral clarity, our leaders have sided with, and continue to support Israel’s actions unconditionally.”
When Turner ran for Congress in 2021, Altman told her X followers to “GET THIS WOMAN TO CONGRESS!”
Altman — who has received endorsements from the likes of the former holder of the seat Tom Malinowski (D) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), as well as the Congressional Progressive Caucus — has to date refrained from commenting on the war between Israel and Hamas, despite the heavy criticism the WFP has leveled against Israel.
While district-by-district data is not available, New Jersey has the fourth-highest Jewish population in the United States by raw numbers and third-highest by percentage, and according to recent polling, 81 percent of American Jews support Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
In a statement to National Review, Altman said she does support Israel in its response to Hamas’s attack but that she is also concerned about the effect the war has had on Palestinians and hopes for a two-state solution in the region:
The terrorist attack on October 7 and the loss of innocent life we have seen in both Israel and Gaza is heartbreaking. Entire families were torn apart and Hamas still holds over 100 hostages, including some Americans. I continue to support Israeli efforts to defeat Hamas. At the same time, millions of Palestinians have been displaced and are in desperate need for humanitarian aid. Everyone wants to see an end to this war, the return of hostages, and a bilateral ceasefire with the aim of constructing a lasting peace and a two-state solution.
Kean, for his part, assured National Review that he has been and will continue to be a stalwart supporter of Israel as it prosecutes its war against Hamas.
“I strongly support Israel’s absolute right to defend itself from Hamas terrorism. The October 7 attacks from Hamas were nothing short of evil: The murder of young concertgoers, families in their homes, and even the cold-blooded slaughter of children — including infants,” he said. “There is no question that these attacks were Hamas’s core principles of genocide in action: eradicating the Jewish people.”
Kean also said that Altman’s silence on the current war between Israel and Hamas, her support for Nina Turner in 2021, and her former association with the anti-Israel WFP are cause for concern for voters who care about Israel’s security.
“The United States cannot and will not be silent in the face of terrorism,” Kean told NR. “In Congress, we have been able to bring many Republicans and Democrats together to support Israel. Unfortunately, there are people, such as my opponent, who do not want our country to maintain unified support for Israel. Frankly, my opponent is on the wrong side of history and humanity.”