Peter Deutsch, a former Democratic congressman from South Florida, was once seen as an outspoken party loyalist who rose to national prominence as a fierce defender of former Vice President Al Gore amid the contentious recount of 2000 centered in his home district.

On Jan. 6, 2001, Deutsch even sought to challenge the certification of the Electoral College vote during a joint session of Congress — an effort rejected by Gore himself. Deutsch, an Orthodox Jew, also later served as a campaign surrogate for Barack Obama in the 2008 election — amid scrutiny from Jewish voters over the former president’s approach to the Middle East.

So, it may have come as something of a surprise when — on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks last month — Deutsch, now 67, announced his full-throated endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Speaking on a press call led by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, Deutsch, who is still a registered Democrat, said it was not a decision he had made lightly. But he cited concerns over Israel’s security as the top issue motivating his defection from a party that he believes is misguided on Middle East policy, particularly concerning Iran.

“Their policies towards Iran make the world a dramatically less safe place,” said Deutsch, who splits his time between Israel and South Florida. The Biden-Harris administration “would make Neville Chamberlain proud in terms of how they’re reacting,” he added, arguing that Trump is the best choice for restoring “world peace” amid ongoing turmoil in the region.

Deutsch, who served in the House between 1993 and 2005, is perhaps the most high-profile Jewish Democrat publicly backing Trump, whose campaign has courted disaffected Jewish voters turned off by the far left and its approach to Israel since Hamas’ invasion sparked a broadening regional war that is among the most divisive issues of the election cycle.

For the past month, Deutsch has been working as a Trump campaign surrogate in Pennsylvania, where he is now seeking to reach Jewish swing voters who could be decisive in a must-win battleground state.

Relying on internal campaign data showing some 20,000 persuadable, undecided Jewish voters in the state, according to Deutsch, he has been knocking on doors, meeting with college students, attending parlor discussions and engaging in a series of public debates to make the case for Trump, whose Middle East policy achievements he has long supported.

In an interview with Jewish Insider this week, Deutsch discussed his ongoing outreach to Jewish voters, his decision to switch sides and — echoing a controversial line frequently repeated by Trump — why he believes that Jewish Democrats like himself should “have their head examined” if they vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, among other issues. 

While Deutsch had said that the only Republican he was endorsing would be Trump, he appeared to have changed his mind after speaking with JI — announcing on Thursday that he was also backing Dave McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania running to unseat Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), a vulnerable pro-Israel Democrat. 

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Jewish Insider: Why are you in Pennsylvania?

Peter Deutsch: I’m in Pennsylvania for the same reason that Elon Musk is in Pennsylvania. It is literally, ground zero. Mathematically, Pennsylvania is the most important state — and from a Jewish perspective, when I came here on Oct. 9, what the campaign was basically telling me is their data was saying there were 20,000 persuadable, undecided Jewish voters in Pennsylvania. They’re really trying to deal with every possible vote.

JI: Do you know where those voters are situated geographically?

PD: Apparently, about 80% of the Jews in Pennsylvania live in what they call the arc around Philadelphia. There are definitely Jews in Pittsburgh, Scranton, a couple of other places. But the number I’ve been told consistently is that 80% of the Jews in Pennsylvania live in the Philadelphia suburban area.

This is really data-driven. What’s really interesting is, effectively, the campaigns all have the same data. So if the Trump campaign is telling me there are 20,000 persuadable Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, then the Harris campaign knows the same exact thing. There’s a reason why the vice president’s husband spent Yom Kippur in Philadelphia. In fact, last Monday, my former employee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL], was here for a Jewish event.

JI: How would you describe your own outreach?

PD: It’s funny, when I first came there was really a hope that it would be a historic sort of year where there would be multiple sorts of candidates forums, and that I would be a surrogate on those forums. Honestly, with great effort, the first couple of days were literally spent just trying to get synagogues or community organizations to hold forums. That was not successful, for a variety of reasons — even to the point where, when Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz was here, I texted her. I’ll read the text: ‘Saw you were in Philly. I’m in Philly until Nov. 6. Any chance you want to debate about which candidate is better for Israel? Anytime, anyplace, I will still love you.’ And she responded, ‘No, thank you. I do want to talk to you about a local race that we’re both on the same side on.’

JI: You have also been doing debates over Middle East policy with Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. 

PD: I really don’t believe I’m exaggerating on this at all — and I just got off an hour debate with Halie Soifer — I don’t think there is even a close call. I’m basically where Donald Trump is — any thoughtful Jew that votes for Kamala Harris needs to have their head examined. I really think the facts lead someone to that direction. 

JI: What’s the case you’ve been making to voters in Pennsylvania, and have you brought anyone to your side? 

PD: I have had the experience of talking to people one-on-one at people’s houses, which I’ve done a couple of times — and I feel I’ve changed minds. The short argument is, you have one candidate who is literally giving money to people who are killing your family, and you have another candidate who kept your family safe for four years, really kept the world safe and didn’t have any wars again. That’s the reality. I really believe, if I were able to spend 45 minutes with every Jew in Pennsylvania, President Trump would get 100% of the votes. But it’s physically impossible to do.

JI: Can you describe your own personal evolution on Trump, given your background as something of a Democratic brawler?

PD: I mean, I voted for Bernie Sanders. I absolutely voted for Hillary Clinton. I voted for Barack Obama. Not only was I a Democrat, but I was a leader in the Democratic Party. Gov. Josh Shapiro worked for me for two years. I actually fact-checked this for an article — in the Gore-Bush race, I wrote more money in checks to Al Gore than anyone in the United States of America. I think my Democratic credentials are pretty solid. 

I will tell you, one of the things I did in this process was I literally talked to probably a half a dozen people who I respect, who are friends, who are Democrats, including members of Congress, who I’m friendly with. I literally wanted to sort of hear the dialectic — here’s the reason why I should not be doing this. Obviously I didn’t take it lightly. Really the best argument I think people could come up with was that they believe that if Trump is elected, democracy in America is going to end. And my response is, OK, you believe that — what’s the chance of it? I mean, how’s he going to do? If someone says there’s a 75% chance democracy is going to end if Donald Trump is elected, honestly, I wish I could bet against that, because I don’t think it’s even close. 

JI: When did you decide to support Trump? Was it after Oct. 7?

PD: No, it actually really wasn’t. I’ll tell you, it’s interesting, if Joe Biden was still the nominee, I’m not sure I would have gotten involved. I really wish I was wrong, because there’s still a reasonable chance Kamala Harris gets elected, but unfortunately, I really believe she is orders of magnitude worse than Joe Biden in terms of Israel and the Middle East. Every time she has the opportunity to talk about what’s going on since Oct. 7, she says it’s not a binary issue. I can’t imagine Joe Biden saying that.

JI: Did you confer with the Trump campaign about making an endorsement?

PD: When I decided to do it, I actually reached out to the campaign manager, Susie Wiles, because she’s a Florida person. I don’t really know her, but we have mutual friends. I actually talked to her for about a half hour on the phone, and she literally said, ‘Write an op-ed about why you’re doing this and send it to me.’ So I sent her an op-ed basically outlining why I was doing it, and it hasn’t changed. I’ve been pretty consistent in what I’m saying. For me, the most important thing is achieving and maintaining world peace. For four years under Trump, we had no wars. We had peace, we had prosperity. Four years of Harris-Biden, we’ve had wars, death and destruction, and I think a lot of it has to do with the 180-degree different positions.

JI: How did you choose to become more involved with the Trump campaign?

PD: What got me to think about it, and it’s only a couple of weeks ago, is that Harris might win. I don’t want to be in Pennsylvania. I really don’t want to be in Pennsylvania. But at the same time, I know that that there are so many people who are doing so much more than I am, and I think it’s broader than Israel — because I think Israel’s fight is the world’s fight, but Israel’s fight is so personal that, in a sense, I didn’t have a choice but to be in Pennsylvania and to support the campaign. My son-in-law served in Gaza in a combat unit. He was called up on Oct. 7. He’s lost three guys in his unit. A good friend of mine lost a nephew. This morning, four soldiers died. In terms of what other people are living with, being in Pennsylvania for a month is the least I can do. 

JI: You’ll have been in Pennsylvania for about a month by the time the election concludes. Why did you choose to stay for so long?

PD: It’s an interesting story. On the Saturday night after Rosh Hashanah and after Shabbos was over, I got a text from the campaign. They wanted me to come in for an event on Oct. 7. I literally booked a flight right then and there and flew in that night. I arrived Sunday morning, went to the campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach and did a press conference on Monday where I made the announcement that I was supporting him. I was scheduled to fly back to Israel for Yom Kippur, but on Thursday morning I talked to the campaign, and they asked me if I could go to Pennsylvania. I changed my flight to Nov. 6, and I flew to Philadelphia on Thursday. I literally bought underwear, because I only expected to be in America for like four days. My wife and I were scheduled to go on an African safari from Israel on the 27th, and I decided that I was canceling because this was more important. The good news is, they actually allowed me to send it off until next year.

JI: You were in attendance at Trump’s controversial rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. Did any of the comments from speakers give you pause?

PD: Not at all. There was a comic who made a bad comment and said inappropriate things about multiple minorities. It was just stupid, but it was a comic. I mean, there were eight hours of speeches which really were an incredibly powerful closing statement. Calling the Madison Square Garden event a replica of the Nazi event in 1939 — oh my God, what a crazy, absolutely, totally unfactual thing to say. I was there for eight hours. It was a diverse group. There were Black participants, minority Hispanics, Asians, Indian-Americans, and the message consistently had nothing to do with racism.

JI: Did it bother you that Tucker Carlson was given a speaking slot at the event, particularly after he had praised a Holocaust denialist on his show?

PD: I’ve debated Halie twice now, and her argument is, ‘Trump’s a Nazi, Trump’s an antisemite, look at all the antisemites he leads.’ I mean, I had to Google who this guy Nick Fuentes was. … The fact that Donald Trump had dinner with an antisemite, does that make him an antisemite? No. We should speak with people who have issues to try to change them — not accept their positions, but try to influence them.

JI: Have you heard from Democratic friends or former colleagues about your endorsement of Trump?

PD: I’ve definitely gotten some feedback. In every response, I say, ‘Hey, listen, I’m happy to talk with you,’ or I’ll send them something as well. And with someone who it’s appropriate, I always say, ‘I love you,’ and I actually mean it.