Josh Mandel runs Ohio GOP Senate campaign ‘through churches’

By JILL COLVIN and JULIE CARR SMYTH
Associated Press

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel makes no secret of his Jewish religion. He is the grandson of Holocaust survivors, attended Jewish summer camp and sends his kids to Jewish day school. Nonetheless, Mandel has run a campaign steeped in Christianity. His campaign website features a picture of a cross and an American flag. He has pledged to make decisions in Washington with “the Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other.” And he holds most of his campaign events at evangelical churches. It’s a strategic repositioning that reflects a wider realignment of the U.S. political landscape, with Republican Jews and conservative Christians increasingly aligning over pro-Israel policies.