As Ben Shuldiner begins his tenure as superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, he’s got his hands full: The district is dealing with, among other things, a sharp decline in enrollment, a roughly $100 million budget deficit and serious gun violence issues, including the deaths of two students who were killed in a shooting outside a district high school on Friday.

Adding to his plate, SPS has also made headlines in recent years with a series of high-profile antisemitic incidents, and Shuldiner, who is Jewish, knows he will likely be called to account for them. “What I’d say to Jewish readers, or anyone who wants to be an ally: if you see something bad, tell us. And we must act. If something is brought to me and we don’t deal with it, that’s on me. You should come after me — just give me a couple days to find a place to live first,” he told The Cholent, a local Seattle blog, in November. 

Shuldiner, 48, who took the helm at SPS on Feb. 1, comes from a family of New York educators. “From the earliest days of my life, my secular humanist Jewish faith has been both a personal anchor and a guide for my public service. The values, rituals and historical consciousness I carry have deeply shaped the way I approach my work in education. I do not separate who I am from how I lead,” he wrote in an essay for The School Superintendents Association in November. 

“Perhaps the most visceral and powerful concept in our faith is tikkun olam, repairing the world,” he continued. “In the context of public education, it means working to make our schools places of justice and equity and teaching students that their learning is connected to making the world better.”

Shuldiner, who previously served as superintendent for Lansing School District in Michigan, told Jewish News Syndicate in December about moving to deeply progressive Seattle, “Politically, it’s a lot better for me. I can say words like ‘equity’ and not look over my shoulder too often.” 

When questioned about antisemitism, he often takes a broader view of combating hate. Asked about his approach to anti-Jewish hate, Shuldiner told The Cholent, “I’ve already received emails highlighting all sorts of concerns. I’ve heard the same about sexism and racism. What you’re describing seems part of a larger issue: people being attacked or maligned not getting the district’s full protection. … If antisemitism has been shoved under the rug, that’s horrible and needs fixing. But I’m hearing similar concerns across multiple identities.”

“And let’s be clear: when Black kids are suspended at five times the rate of white kids, that’s a systemic issue too, just like antisemitism. SPS needs to address all of this in a pointed, specific way and not downplay it as ‘not that bad’ or ‘you’re privileged.’ Bigotry is unacceptable in any form,” he continued.

He told JNS on the same topic, “If somebody is feeling unsafe, if somebody is feeling attacked, then you have to look at that and decide if that is true or not. At the end of the day, all I can tell you is I would want every child in the district to feel safe and secure and be able to go to class unencumbered and go to school unencumbered. That would be for a Jewish child, a Muslim child, an East African child, a kid that lives down the street.”

Jewish families at SPS have faced an increasingly hostile environment since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel, including student walkouts last October protesting the war in Gaza where students burned Israeli flags and held signs reading “Power grows from the barrel of a gun” and “Long Live Operation Al Aqsa Flood,” referencing Hamas’ name for the Oct. 7 attacks.

In a statement to Jewish Insider on Shuldiner’s first days as superintendent, a spokesperson said he had “met with student journalists, some of whom asked about his views on student walkouts and protest activity. In response, he emphasized students’ constitutional right to free expression, while also underscoring the importance of keeping students in school and engaged in learning. He noted that the district’s responsibility is to strike an appropriate balance that honors students’ rights while maintaining safe, supportive learning environments.”

One Jewish family is suing the district over claims that it failed to respond to antisemitic harassment their daughter experienced that started shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks and eventually led her to leave Nathan Hale High School, including an incident in May 2024 in which 20 students allegedly tried to assault her before a teacher locked her in a classroom for protection.

In another incident, the chair of the social studies department at an SPS high school was placed on paid administrative leave for a year over a video in which he questioned the validity of accusations of sexual violence by Hamas on Oct. 7 and said, in reference to women being killed at the Nova music festival, “I think resistance against Israel is justified.” The district has now moved to terminate him.

Asked about the latter incident, Shuldiner told JNS that “everybody gets due process. That’s kind of the deal. I would hope that if I was ever accused of something, I would be afforded due process as well.”

Still, Jewish leaders are hopeful that any shakeup of SPS will bring better outcomes. 

Aviad Benzikry, a Jewish SPS parent and board member of The Kids Table, a PAC in Washington state supporting what it describes as “pro-Jewish candidates,” said he’s “cautiously optimistic after seeing superintendent after superintendent cycle through SPS.” Shuldiner will be the district’s third superintendent in the past year.

But, Benzikry told Jewish Insider, “action [or] inaction will tell. We have seen student and faculty (mis)behavior swept under the rug across Seattle when it comes to antisemitism in particular. That said, my family has been fortunate and we are grateful for the teachers our children have had who have consistently supported their proud Jewish identity.”

State Sen. Lisa Wellman, a Jewish Democrat who chairs the state Senate’s Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, said she’s requested a meeting with Shuldiner as he assumes his role and is “looking forward to meeting him and understanding how he intends to handle issues of antisemitism, as well as ‘other-ing’ generally at a time when young people need to feel included.”

“Attention needs to be paid to creating an atmosphere where all feel seen, heard and valued,” Wellman, whose district includes the Jewish community of Mercer Island, told JI.

Shuldiner was confident he’ll be able to bridge the gap with Jewish families. “You’ll see as I start my job that there’s going to be a kind of clarion call to bring the community back into the schools to start tutoring and mentoring and creating those relationships. And I think once you do that, much of the disconnect that might be felt will dissipate. Now, I don’t believe that it all goes away. I mean, people have hated the Jews forever, but we’re in this together,” he told The Cholent. 

And he doesn’t plan to disconnect from his Jewish roots: “Education, action, questioning — it’s all Judaism to me, as much as a bagel from the Upper West Side.”

This story was updated on Feb. 5 with comment from Superintendent Shuldiner’s spokesperson.

In addition to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s race, we’ve been spotlighting two other mayoral contests where socialist, anti-Israel candidates were running competitively against more traditionally liberal standard-bearers: in Minneapolis and Seattle. 

If Mamdani’s bare 50% majority in the three-way race signaled that a far-left candidate could prevail in a deep-blue city — even while dividing the Democratic Party — the underperformance of the two other far-left challengers on big-city ballots underscores the limited appetite even deep-blue constituencies have for radical politics. 

In Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey won reelection to a third term over Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated state Sen. Omar Fateh. The race was close: While Frey held a substantial 10-point lead in the first round of balloting, he narrowly secured a victory by six points (50-44%) in the second round of the city’s ranked-choice election system. 

Fateh formed an alliance with two other left-wing candidates in the race, but ultimately enough people who didn’t back Frey in the first round chose him as a second or third preference.

Fateh, a progressive affiliated with the DSA, has accused Israel of committing genocide, among other anti-Israel views, and campaigned with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who remains one of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress. 

Members of Fateh’s staff had also expressed hostile views towards Israel; his communications manager, Ayana Smith-Kooiman, said in a series of now-deleted social media posts that Israel “does not have a ‘right’ to exist” and “must be dismantled,” and said she did not care about Hamas a month after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks — statements that drew rebuke from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). 

The outcome is also looking favorable for the more-moderate incumbent in Seattle — though far from certain. Mayor Bruce Harrell, who trailed his socialist challenger Katie Wilson during the summer primary, is now leading her in the general election by eight points, 54-46%, with more than three-quarters of votes tallied. 

Wilson, who has expressed hostile views towards Israel, including calling the Jewish state’s war on Hamas a “genocide,” led over Harrell in the primary. Wilson has expressed support in the past for divesting from investments in Seattle that support Israeli actions, which is in line with the BDS movement. 

Additionally, some Seattle Jewish community leaders have expressed deep concern over Wilson’s candidacy and her relationships with anti-Israel activists, including Kshama Sawant, a former far-left Seattle city councilmember who has faced accusations of stoking antisemitism.

However, the race is still far from being decided. Many ballots are left to be counted, including a significant share from left-leaning parts of the city. 

If both of the other socialist, anti-Israel candidates go down to defeat, combined with Mamdani’s bare 50% majority in heavily-Democratic New York City, it’s pretty clear that as an electoral strategy, left-wing activism and anti-Israel politicking is still a losing formula. 

On the other hand, the fact that the far-left candidates were able to win between 45-50% of the citywide vote — with one win, one loss and one race still too close to call — it’s a sign that this brand of radical politics isn’t going away. 

Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis won reelection on Wednesday over his far-left, DSA-aligned challenger, state Sen. Omar Fateh, marking a win for the more pragmatic wing of the Democratic Party. 

A similar result may be emerging in Seattle, where preliminary results showed the Democratic incumbent, Mayor Bruce Harrell, leading over his socialist challenger, though many ballots remain to be counted. 

Frey, who is the second Jewish mayor to preside over Minneapolis, secured his third term, winning by six percentage points, 50% to 44%, in the final round of the city’s ranked choice voting on Wednesday.

Fateh, a progressive affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, has accused Israel of committing “genocide,” among other anti-Israel views, and campaigned with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who remains one of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress. 

Members of Fateh’s staff had also expressed hostile views towards Israel; His communications manager, Ayana Smith-Kooiman, said in a series of now-deleted social media posts that Israel “does not have a ‘right’ to exist” and “must be dismantled,” and said she did not care about Hamas a month after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks — statements that drew rebuke from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). 

Frey’s victory in Minneapolis signals a wariness of a socialist candidate in the heavily Democratic city, in contrast with Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City’s mayoral election on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, in Seattle, the first wave of ballots counted Tuesday night found Harrell holding a seven-point lead over self-described socialist Katie Wilson, 53% to 46%.  

Wilson, who has expressed hostile views towards Israel, including calling the Jewish state’s war on Hamas a “genocide,” led over Harrell in the primary. Wilson has expressed support in the past for divesting from investments in Seattle that support Israeli actions, which is in line with the BDS movement. 

Additionally, some Seattle Jewish community leaders have expressed deep concern over Wilson’s candidacy and her relationships with anti-Israel activists, including Kshama Sawant, a former far-left Seattle city councilmember who has faced accusations of stoking antisemitism.

However, the race is still far from being decided. Many ballots are left to be counted, including a significant share from left-leaning parts of the city. The next tranche of ballots is set to be reported around 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

With eyes on several high-profile races across the country featuring candidates antagonistic to Jewish interests, activists in one of the most progressive parts of the country are raising the alarm on local seats that act as a “rung on a ladder” to higher office, saying the problems the Jewish community face “start further upstream.”

The Kids Table, a new PAC in Washington state supporting “pro-Jewish candidates” and led by “Millennials and moms, public affairs experts and gymnastics dads,” unveiled a slate of endorsements this month in races for the board of directors of Seattle Public Schools, a school district that has seen several major antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and subsequent rise of antisemitism across the country, including in K-12 classrooms, amid the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.

“We need help in the school districts now,” Sam Jefferies, co-chair of The Kids Table, told Jewish Insider. “We also know that school boards can be a rung on a ladder as [candidates] seek higher office, and we want to make sure that we are building relationships with them early, providing them critical context and education around our issues, and then carry that forward, whether it’s on the school board or elsewhere.”

The district’s board of directors, a nonpartisan elected body of seven citizens who serve four-year terms and represent regions in the district, manages a more than $1 billion budget and has responsibilities including establishing policies for governing the district, adopting instructional materials and overseeing the hiring of a new superintendent, a process currently underway.

“Seattle Public School is the largest school district in the state, and so from my standpoint, SPS, in many ways, sets the tone or has influence over education, education policy, implementation that shows up in many other school districts around the state,” Jefferies said. “For all the attention paid to campus and other spaces, the problems start further upstream. Students are facing hostile environments, teachers are not held accountable and school boards can claim ignorance.”

One Jewish family is suing the district over claims that it failed to respond to antisemitic harassment their daughter experienced that started shortly after Oct. 7 and eventually led her to leave Nathan Hale High School, including an incident in May 2024 where 20 students allegedly tried to assault her before a teacher locked her in a classroom for protection.

This month, SPS walkouts by students protesting the war in Gaza shortly before the ceasefire was enacted included the burning of Israeli flags and signs reading “Power grows from the barrel of a gun” and “Long Live Operational Al Aqsa Flood,” referencing Hamas’ name for the Oct. 7 attacks. 

In another incident, the chair of the social studies department at an SPS high school was placed on paid administrative leave for a year over a video in which he questioned the validity of accusations of sexual violence by Hamas on Oct. 7 and said, in reference to women being killed at the Nova Music Festival, “I think resistance against Israel is justified.” He was eventually terminated at the end of the last academic year.

Aviad Benzikry, an SPS parent and board member of The Kids Table, told JI, “Every Jewish parent I talk to is worried about antisemitism in schools. We feel placated and patronized when we bring it up. Of course we see it explicitly — swastikas and pro-Hamas walkouts — but the quiet antisemitism we don’t see is even scarier.”

One of The Kids Table’s endorsees, Sarah Clark, who is running for the first time after being appointed to her seat on the SPS board, said that she was “appalled to learn of the allegations of antisemitic threats and bullying at Nathan Hale. … School officials, administrators, and security staff are obligated by school board policy and state law, to investigate and act decisively to protect students from harm. That did not happen in this case, which is unacceptable.”

The other two candidates on the slate of endorsees are Vivian Song and Carol Rava. Rava said her father is “an Italian Jew who, with his parents and younger sister, fled fascist Italy during WWII,” and therefore antisemitism “is not an existential concept to me, it is personal and very real.”

The Kids Table also endorsed candidates in several other Washington state races, including the high-profile Seattle mayor’s race, where Mayor Bruce Harrell, a Democrat, is trailing in his reelection behind self-proclaimed socialist Katie Wilson, whom Jewish leaders in the area have voiced concern over. 

In its voter guide, published earlier this month, the advocacy group endorsed Harrell with an asterisk next to his name, which read, “Mayor Harrell has failed to demonstrate moral leadership at a time of crisis for the community, including when ‘kill your local colonizer’ was spray painted on statues at the mayor’s alma mater [the University of Washington], with zero comment from his office. Still, Wilson’s candidacy, alliances with anti-Jewish figures and organizations, and lack of engagement would be much, much worse.”

As progressives have gained traction in local races across the country, Katie Wilson, a self-described socialist now mounting a formidable bid for mayor of Seattle, has increasingly drawn comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City whose primary upset in June stunned the national political establishment.

Like Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblyman, Wilson, the co-founder and executive director of Seattle’s Transit Riders Union, took political observers by surprise when she handily led the August “jungle” primary with just over 50% of the vote — defeating the moderate incumbent mayor, Bruce Harrell, by a nearly 10-point margin.

Wilson, in her early 40s, is preparing to face Harrell once again in the Nov. 4 election, where analysts say she is now well-positioned to oust the first-term mayor. Harrell has struggled not only to land on a vision that resonates with voters but to effectively articulate an argument against his upstart challenger, who has focused on a populist message of affordability that Mamdani has also championed throughout his own campaign.

But while her record of commentary on Israel and the war in Gaza is far more limited than Mamdani, who has long been an outspoken critic of the Jewish state, many Jewish leaders in Seattle are expressing concern over Wilson’s statements about the conflict amid what they describe as a lack of outreach from her campaign with just five weeks until the election.

In a handful of recent remarks, Wilson has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza — a characterization that Jewish leaders and community activists have found troubling as voter sympathy for the Jewish state, especially in the progressive Seattle area, has sharply declined.

“I am strongly opposed to the genocide in Gaza,” Wilson said in a comment posted to social media in August. “As mayor of Seattle, my ability to end the violence is limited, but I will do everything I can to end the suffering of Palestinians and guarantee the safety of Muslims, Jews, and people of all faiths and backgrounds in Seattle.”

Meanwhile, Wilson has suggested that she is “open to divestment” if Seattle “has investments that are indirectly supporting Israel’s actions,” according to an email response to a person who asked about her stances on Israel that was posted to social media in July. 

Elsewhere in the note, Wilson said that she was “familiar with the ‘end the deadly exchange’ efforts of a few years ago and think that’s something that could be done through executive action,” referring to a movement seeking to prohibit American police officers from training with Israeli law enforcement officials. The American Jewish Committee has accused the campaign of helping to fuel an antisemitic trope suggesting Israel is responsible for American police brutality.

Regina Sassoon Friedland, regional director of the American Jewish Committee’s Seattle office, echoed a range of Jewish community leaders in taking issue with Wilson’s rhetoric on Israel.

“While AJC does not endorse or oppose candidates, it should be noted that claims of genocide against Israel lack factual or legal foundation,” Friedland told Jewish Insider on Tuesday. “Not only are such accusations baseless, but they distort realities on the ground when no mention is made of Hamas, whose announced purpose is annihilating Israel.”

In addition to her comments, some Jewish community leaders say they are discouraged by Wilson’s relationships with anti-Israel activists including Kshama Sawant, a former far-left Seattle city councilmember who has faced accusations of stoking antisemitism. Wilson also claimed an endorsement from CAIR Action, a political advocacy group affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose executive director has drawn condemnation for praising Hamas.

A recently established political action committee called The Kids Table, which seeks to promote “pro-Jewish candidates for state and local office” in Washington state and is led by a group of Jewish millennial activists, claimed that Wilson has “allied herself with vitriolic anti-Jewish candidates” and “talked about focusing city resources on foreign affairs issues, rather than on local ones, including the urgent problem of Jewish safety and security in Seattle.”

“Time and time again we hear deep concern about Katie Wilson’s candidacy,” the group told JI of its conversations with the Jewish community, adding she did not respond to a “candidate questionnaire about antisemitism and extremism” that had been sent to her campaign and was filled out by Harrell.

Even as Wilson has only glancingly weighed in on Israel throughout the race, where strategists say it has not been a prominent issue for many voters, the broader organized Jewish community has otherwise observed a distinct absence of engagement from her campaign. 

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, for one, has not heard from her, several members told JI.

Scott Prange, an at-large member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Seattle, said he was “not personally aware that Wilson has made any outreach to the Jewish community in Seattle.”

“And at a time when, especially in Seattle, antisemitism runs rampant amongst the left in the wake of post-Oct. 7 rhetoric and propaganda,” he told JI on Tuesday, “she has only fanned the flames by echoing hollow narratives about Israeli genocide in Gaza and calling for divestment of any city funds invested in Israel.”

Jack Gottesman, president of Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue in Seattle that includes around 300 families, said he “would welcome the opportunity to meet with Katie Wilson, but to date I have not seen meaningful outreach from her or her campaign to the Jewish community.”

“Jews have been part of Seattle’s fabric for well over 100 years, and it is important that candidates engage respectfully with all communities,” he told JI this week. “Her description of the situation in Gaza as a genocide was a mischaracterization. These are complex issues that demand depth, not slogans. I hope she recognizes the weight of her words.”

Wilson’s campaign did not respond to numerous interview requests from JI over several weeks.

In contrast with Wilson, Harrell, who was elected in 2021, has maintained what Jewish leaders largely called a strong voice in support of Israel and against rising antisemitic violence. Nevet Basker, a co-chair of Washingtonians for a Brighter Future, a separate pro-Israel PAC that has endorsed Harrell, said that the local Jewish community “appreciates” his “clear opposition to antisemitism.”

“We recognize the immense challenges the mayor has faced” and “applaud his commitment to ensure that all Seattle residents and visitors are safe and welcome,” Basker told JI in a statement. 

Rob Spitzer, the president of B’nai B’rith International and a vice chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, said Harrell “has reached out” and “is generally supported by the community,” while recalling “meetings with him and his police and security team about protecting the Jewish community and our institutions.”

The Kids Table, for its part, countered that Harrell “has failed to meet this moment of crisis for the Jewish community,” noting that “pro-Palestinian protestors blocked the interstate for six hours and weren’t cleared or charged, and ‘kill your local colonizer’ was spraypainted on statues at the mayor’s alma mater, with zero comment from his office.”

Still, the group told JI in a statement, “Wilson’s candidacy, alliances with anti-Jewish figures and organizations, and lack of engagement have many Seattle Jews very worried about the next four years.”

Harrell’s campaign also did not respond to requests from JI for an interview.

While he has sought to connect Wilson to the movement to defund the police, which she says is not her goal, Harrell has avoided commenting on her approach to Israel, underscoring the shifting political dynamics around views that until recently would likely have been seen as too extreme for the Democratic Party but have now become acceptable to many voters.

Despite concerns from Jewish community leaders, Israel “hasn’t been front and center” in the race as a “topic of discussion or debate,” Sandeep Kaushik, a political consultant in Seattle who is not involved in either campaign, told JI. 

Kaushik attributed Wilson’s unexpected rise in part to what he called the “Mamdani effect” and said she is the “front-runner,” even as he expects “the general election war is about to start” as pro-Harrell outside spending flows into the race and attacks ramp up in the final weeks.

“I think the mayor is now fighting for his political life,” Kaushik said.