Texas state Rep. Craig Goldman is running to join an exclusive club: If he wins a May 28 primary runoff, Goldman is on a glide path to becoming the third Jewish Republican in Congress — not to mention the first Jewish Republican ever elected to Congress from the Lone Star State.

Goldman, running in Texas’ 12th Congressional District, which includes parts of Fort Worth and surrounding areas and is currently held by retiring Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), led GOP opponent John O’Shea in the primary, 44% to 26%. He’s favored to prevail in next month’s runoff, necessitated because neither candidate won a majority of the vote. He has also raised nearly six times as much as O’Shea, pulling in $1.9 million to O’Shea’s $300,000.

Unlike a growing faction of his party, Goldman, 55, is leaning hard into support for U.S. allies abroad, including both Israel and Ukraine. 

“What’s going on in Ukraine, what’s going on in Israel have major implications to not only their futures, but the future of our nation,” Goldman said.

He vowed “unilateral, unconditional support for Israel,” adding that the U.S. should give Israel “whatever means they need” to “go after every single individual who’s part of Hamas.” And he said the U.S. has “no right as a nation to tell Israel how they should run their war.”

Asked about countering threats from Iran in the region, the Texas lawmaker told JI that the U.S. needs to “make it very clear that an attack on Israel is an attack on the United States and we’ll do anything and everything to defend our friends.”

Many Americans, he continued, “don’t understand having an enemy across many of your borders — especially the northern border and southern border — who literally want to kill you just because of who you are and where you live.”

He said he encourages everyone to visit Israel to better understand the country and the dangers it faces.

“It also has fabulous people who just want to live their lives and live in peace,” Goldman continued. “They certainly aren’t warmongers there. No one asked for this situation to happen… but what Hamas did is indefensible and so I’m all for the strongest response Israel is giving to them.”

Goldman, whose congressional district would include a manufacturing facility for F-35 fighter jets, said he was proud to have been in Israel at the air base when the country’s first F-35 was delivered and that his signature is on its fuselage. 

Looking ahead to after the war, Goldman expressed hope that the Palestinian people in Gaza will want to “live in peace and raise their families and educate their children and live normal lives” but said he doesn’t have the foreign policy expertise yet to evaluate what that looks like and how it can be achieved, including whether a two-state solution should be part of that outcome.

He gave a similar answer when asked about strategies for countering Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. forces in the region.

In the shorter term, Goldman said that the U.S. should take its cues from Israel on providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, and only do so if Israel asks it to.

Goldman added that he is “100% absolutely” supportive of continued U.S. aid to Ukraine — which he said is a key area of contrast with O’Shea, his opponent — touting a traditionally hawkish line on the U.S.’ interests in supporting its Eastern European ally.

“As a student of history, we have to support Ukraine, and certainly we are doing so,” he said. “We need to continue to do so with whatever weapons and ammunition we can… If Putin takes Ukraine, we all know he’s not going to stop there. Then our troops, our men and women of the military, will be involved.”

To combat antisemitism at home, Goldman pointed to Texas’ Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Commission, which conducts studies on antisemitism in Texas, provides educational resources to schools and organizations and organizes commemorative events, among other resources, as a potential model.

“I think most antisemitism is, I would hope, is a just a lack of education and not having any knowledge why people are antisemitic,” he said, emphasizing the need to bring education on antisemitism into all levels of schooling. “We need to do a better job of educating our young on why antisemitism exists and why it shouldn’t.”

Goldman is currently the only Jewish Republican in the Texas state legislature, which he said is a point of “great pride.”

“We were educated at a young age that you give back to your community and raise money and gave it to other charities,” Goldman said. “In my opinion, one of the unique things about our religion and what’s special about it is we are taught from a young age, at least in the temple I grew up in, to get involved in your community.”

He said those values are the reason he first announced his candidacy for the Statehouse a dozen years ago, “because I wanted to do more, not only for my community, but the state.”

He said he’d also use the national bully pulpit to spread a message of why more Jews should vote Republican, to support Israel and a strong national defense.

The 12th District race is seen by some in the state as partly a proxy battle over the Texas House’s politically explosive decision to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton. O’Shea is a close friend of Paxton, according to the Texas Tribune, while Goldman supported his impeachment. 

Goldman has the backing of traditional local political and business leaders, according to the Tribune, while O’Shea is running as a hard-line social and cultural conservative. O’Shea has said he’d join the House Freedom Caucus, which attempted to block legislation providing aid for U.S. allies from coming to the House floor. O’Shea began his campaign as a primary challenger to the incumbent, Granger.

Goldman said he’s running for Congress because he wants to apply his 12 years of Texas Statehouse experience to work on national problems. He touts his “proven record” as a lawmaker and on local boards and commissions versus O’Shea, who he says “doesn’t really have a record of doing anything for anybody in the community.”

Goldman’s top issues on the Hill would be border security, combating fentanyl, reducing the national debt and national defense.

He said his proudest accomplishment in Texas, and something he seeks to pass nationally, is Molly Jane’s Law, a bill requiring police departments investigating reports of sexual assault to log them in a national criminal database, a program that seeks to help with stopping repeat offenders.