US ready for a Jewish president, says Rahm Emanuel, hinting at 2028 run

“My faith is not your problem,” says former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ahead of possible presidential bid.

By World Israel News Staff

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said over the weekend that the United States is ready to elect its first Jewish president, as the former congressman and White House Chief of Staff increasingly signals that he is considering a run for the White House in 2028.

Asked Sunday whether an openly Jewish candidate could win the presidency, Emanuel answered in the affirmative before arguing that Americans face a much larger crisis of faith — one involving their confidence in the country itself.

“My faith is not your problem,” Emanuel said. “The fact that Americans have lost faith in America, that’s our problem.”

Emanuel said he has encountered a generation of Americans who believe the country has stopped working for them and suggested that restoring that sense of national confidence could become a central theme of a presidential campaign.

“I’ve seen a generation of people with an emptiness who’ve lost faith in America because they think America lost faith with them,” he said. “That’s our problem. It’s not my faith.”

The 66-year-old Democrat has not yet announced a 2028 campaign, but his recent travel, public appearances and increasingly explicit discussion of what he would offer as a presidential candidate have fueled speculation that he is preparing for a bid.

Emanuel has one of the longest political resumes among Democrats mentioned as possible contenders.

He served as an adviser in the Clinton administration, represented Illinois in Congress, became White House Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama, served two terms as mayor of Chicago and later became US ambassador to Japan under President Joe Biden.

He has recently appeared in states that could play an important role in the next Democratic presidential contest, including South Carolina, while publicly discussing the qualities he believes would distinguish him from other potential candidates.

Asked last month what he would bring to a presidential race, Emanuel summed up his case in three words: “Candor, authenticity and strength.”

His Jewish identity is increasingly becoming part of that emerging political message.

“If my faith is a problem for you, don’t vote for me,” Emanuel said Sunday. “I’m not changing my faith.”

Emanuel argued that Judaism has shaped his approach to public service, pointing to political battles over health care, education and powerful corporate interests.

“My faith led me to struggle and fight the insurance companies that were denying kids healthcare,” he said.

He also credited his religious values with influencing his approach to Chicago’s public schools and his willingness to confront pharmaceutical companies, insurers and government bureaucracies.

“I believe in the goodness and the grace of the American people,” Emanuel said, while making clear that political considerations would not lead him to alter his religious identity.

No Jewish candidate has ever been elected president or vice president of the United States.

The closest a Jewish candidate has come to the vice presidency was Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew who became the Democratic vice presidential nominee alongside Al Gore in 2000.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is also Jewish, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020 and won numerous state primaries and caucuses, but never secured the nomination.

Emanuel’s potential candidacy would also arrive as Democrats grapple with increasingly bitter internal divisions over Israel.

The former Chicago mayor has deep personal ties to the Jewish state.

His father was born in Jerusalem, and Emanuel did volunteer work in Israel in the early 1990s.

But he has also become increasingly critical of Israeli government policy while maintaining that Democrats can criticize Israel without abandoning the US-Israel relationship.

During a visit to Israel earlier this year, Emanuel argued that Washington’s relationship with Jerusalem needed to change and warned against Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria.

He has also backed a two-state outcome while arguing that American military assistance to Israel should eventually be replaced by a conventional arms-purchasing relationship between wealthy allies.