Aiming to unseat Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) after narrowly losing to her in 2022, Republican George Logan is leaning into support for Israel, while framing Hayes as inconsistent and unreliable on issues important to the state’s Jewish community.

Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District includes the northwestern part of the state, and is the most competitive district in the otherwise deep-blue state. It also contains a potentially influential Jewish constituency.

Logan, a former state senator, lost to Hayes in 2022 by less than one percentage point. An Emerson College poll conducted earlier this month showed Hayes up three points, 49-46%. The Cook Political Report rates the district as “lean Democrat.”

Hayes led Logan in fundraising as of the end of September, bringing in $3.7 million to Logan’s $2.3 million; Hayes had nearly $2 million on hand whereas Logan had just $422,000 remaining on hand.

The district has also attracted significant spending from outside groups — the National Republican Congressional Committee has spent $703,000 and Americans for Prosperity Action has spent $355,000 in support of Logan’s campaign.

Logan describes himself as a strong supporter of Israel, which he said in an interview with Jewish Insider is “certainly one of our biggest allies in the world.”

He said that Israel has the right to defend itself and eliminate terrorists and that he wants to see the war in Gaza come to an end when Hamas has been removed from power. “We should all want this war to end, but not at the expense of Israel or the United States,” he said.

Logan also described himself as a supporter of a two-state solution, contingent on the fact that one state is not run by terrorists seeking to destroy Israel. He said the U.S. should communicate to the Palestinian people that a two-state solution is “on the table” following the “unconditional surrender of Hamas and removal of its leadership.”

He accused Hayes of “trying to play both sides of the issue,” and of being an unreliable friend of Israel. “Now is not the time to be tepid in our support of Israel,” Logan said. “Either you’re with Israel or you’re not. She is not with Israel, in my opinion.”

Hayes was endorsed by the Jewish Democratic Council of America and J Street, the latter of which described her as a “close ally.” AIPAC has not endorsed in the race. She’s taken positions critical of Israel’s military operations in Gaza at several points over the past year, including signing multiple letters calling to suspend arms transfers to the Jewish state. She also opposed legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court.

She did vote for supplemental aid earlier this year and for measures to cut off funding for Iran.

Logan expressed support for more aggressive measures by Israel to retaliate against Iran for its recent ballistic missile attack than the Biden administration has reportedly been willing to support, telling JI that strikes on Iran’s oil infrastructure or leadership could be “appropriate.” He said the U.S. should not be holding Israel back from efforts to defend itself.

He added that any efforts to destabilize the Iranian leadership would be a positive step, given the headwinds the regime is facing at home.

On the issue of a potential strike targeting Iran’s nuclear program, Logan said that Tehran must not become a nuclear weapons state, but any military action against Iran should be done cautiously.

“I know as an engineer and as a scientist that has to be done in a very careful manner,” he said. “Does that need to be the first strike? Probably not. But I think nothing should be taken off the table … Iran needs to know that everything is on the table and Israel will respond in a way they feel is appropriate.”

Logan said that he supports stronger sanctions and sanctions enforcement to delay Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon.

To combat antisemitism within the United States, Logan said that “we need strong leadership coming from the White House and coming from our members of Congress.”

He said there are members of Congress who he sees as “clearly in support of the terrorists in Gaza,” and accused Hayes of being friendly with them. He also made reference to her meeting with members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in December, weeks after its executive director praised the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Logan and his allies have attacked Hayes for that meeting on the campaign trail.

He accused members of Congress and the White House of failing to forcefully stand up for Israel and the Jewish community, which he said has enabled and inspired antisemitism across the country.

“Students, young folks, they’re seeing and hearing actual representatives in Congress supporting the terrorists in the Middle East,” Logan said. “We need to replace, through the vote, as many of these antisemitic members of Congress as possible.”

Hayes, who sits on the House Committee on Education and Labor, which has been investigating antisemitism on college campuses, voted in favor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act and for a resolution describing anti-Zionism as antisemitic, but against a resolution calling for the presidents of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to resign over their administrations’ handling of antisemitism.

The conflict in Israel became a point of contention at a debate between Hayes and Logan earlier this month, with an anti-Israel protester bursting onstage to interrupt Hayes’ comments.

Hayes said that the U.S. has a “responsibility to support our allies, who are Israel, however, what that support looks like matters, and how they use that support matters.” She accused Logan of failing to acknowledge Palestinian suffering in the war.

Responding to attacks from Logan, Hayes said that she and the U.S. have a responsibility to conduct oversight over how Israel is using U.S. aid, following the death of an American World Central Kitchen worker in an Israeli strike earlier this year. 

Logan told JI he’s running for the seat because he wants to tackle issues like the economy, inflation and affordability, as well as border security, which he said have only worsened since his last campaign two years ago. He said he’s hoping his expanded name recognition and stronger fundraising this cycle can help propel him to a victory.

He’s sticking to a moderate posture, touting his bipartisan work as a state senator and saying he would bring such an attitude to Washington. Although recent polling shows a close presidential race in the district, Logan is putting some distance between himself and former President Donald Trump.

Asked about Trump, Logan told JI that his focus is on his district and campaign and that he’ll “work in a bipartisan manner in Washington, regardless of who wins the presidential race.” He accused Hayes, by contrast, of focusing only on the presidential race rather than on their district.

“I’m voting for the Republican presidential ticket because I do not believe our country should withstand another four years of Bidenomics and open borders and weakness across the globe,” Logan said, without mentioning Trump’s name. “So I believe I’ve been successful in terms of making the folks in the district understand that my focus is on Congress and winning the seat, and my opponent, she wants to talk about anything other than her record.”