Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has hired two new operatives to join its Jewish outreach team, including one staffer working specifically in the state of Pennsylvania, signaling the crucial role Jewish voters are expected to play in the presidential election on Nov. 5.

Eva Wyner will join the campaign this week as director of Jewish outreach in Pennsylvania, a key swing state that both the Harris and Trump campaigns view as a must-win. Wyner comes from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, where she has served as Hochul’s deputy director of Jewish affairs for New York State since 2021. 

Previously, Wyner helmed Jewish outreach efforts on Tali Farhadian Weinstein’s unsuccessful district attorney race in Manhattan and for Rep. Shontel Brown’s (D-OH) primary against Nina Turner. Wyner grew up in Wynnewood, Pa., where she attended Jewish day schools.

“Jewish voters will be a critical part of Vice President Harris’ winning coalition, and we’re proud to bring on a team of professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to ensure our community knows the stakes and shows up to elect Vice President Harris and Governor [Tim] Walz,” a spokesperson for the Harris campaign told Jewish Insider on Monday. 

Earlier this month, Hilary Brandenburg joined the Harris campaign as deputy director of Jewish outreach at the national level. Brandenburg is on leave from the public relations firm APCO. In 2020, she co-founded Jewish Staffers for Joe, a group of former government and campaign staffers focused on electing the Biden-Harris ticket. Her first Jewish outreach role was in 2012, when she served as an intern to Jarrod Bernstein, then the White House liaison to the Jewish community.

In August, Harris tapped Ilan Goldenberg, a longtime national security staffer who advised her and President Joe Biden on Middle East issues, to lead Jewish outreach for the campaign. The choice surprised some due to Goldenberg’s lack of political experience, and criticism from more hawkish corners given Goldenberg’s liberal foreign policy bona fides.

“​​Ideologically, they are more centrist than Ilan,” Bernstein said of Brandenburg and Wyner. “And two, leaving the politics aside, they’re outreach people. Ilan’s a policy guy.” Brandenburg and Wyner declined to comment.

Former President Donald Trump has held events targeting Jewish voters in recent weeks, often speaking alongside top Republican donor Miriam Adelson. Last week, Trump said “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss” if he loses in November, a comment that was met with condemnation by Democrats, including the Harris campaign, and nonpartisan Jewish organizations.

Trump “openly demeans Jewish Americans, proudly dined with a neo-Nazi, and has made it obvious he would turn on Israel in a moment if it suited his personal interests — and in fact, he has done so in the past,” a Harris campaign spokesperson said on Monday. “Vice President Harris has demonstrated a lifelong unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and fought the scourge of antisemitism.”