“Pro-Jewish” PAC That Opposed Jewish Candidate Critical of Israel Spends $20K On School Board Slate

The Kids Table (TKT) –– a new Seattle-focused PAC advocating for “pro-Jewish” candidates and against antisemitism, “illiberalism,” and “radical voices,” –– is pouring unusually large sums of money into the Seattle school board election, races that typically do not see outside spending.

If their candidates win, TKT will have achieved their stated goal to introduce “risk for candidates who condone (explicitly or implicitly) or endorse [antisemitism or radicalism]” — candidates such as their foremost target, a Jewish woman whose family is openly critical of Israel. And it looks like they will eventually spend money on City and State races, introducing that same risk for any candidate who has ever issued a “libelous virtue [signal] on foreign affairs.”

According to the PDC, TKT spent $19,500 on the design, printing, and postage of 25,000 mailers supporting school board candidates Sarah Clark, Vivian Song, and Carol Rava this month. The mailer does not specifically mention the candidates commitment to standing up to antisemitism, but rather paints them as the experienced ones in the race. 

TKT also spent $10,000 on a mailer for Song ahead of the primary, picking her over Janis White, a Jewish woman whose family has a long history of advocating for Palestinian liberation. At the time, White’s political consultant said the group’s spending appeared to be intended to punish her for her family’s support of Palestine and criticism of Israel. After all, she’s a Jewish woman committed to combating anti-semitism in schools and she’s far from a “radical voice” according to her stated platform.

TKT has not confirmed that, stating on their website that White did not respond to the group during their endorsement process. However, she has faced that criticism from some Jewish people, including a community voting guide that called her a “Jewish lady who sold out her community for anti-Israel activism.”

Song already had a lot of support, locking down major endorsements, out-fundraising her opponent, and benefiting from the name recognition of her previous stint on the board. But the $10,000 mailer, worth about as much as White’s total fundraising capabilities, certainly contributed to her blowout 74% victory in the primary. 

TKT has only raised about $60,000, but the PAC is part of a new trend in Washington of new PACs forming to block candidates they accuse of antisemitism. 

As The Burner reported this summer, another PAC formed in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Washingtonians For A Brighter Future (WBF), spent $16,000 on attack mailers against Tacoma City Council candidate Zev Cook, a Jewish woman who often sports a keffiyeh and watermelon earrings to signal her support for Palestine. WBF went on to spend another $13,000 to help her opponent Joe Bushnell. That amount of cash can be very influential in a Tacoma City Council race and helped score Bushnell more than 53% in the primary election. 

WBF co-chair Nevet Basker told the Tacoma Tribune that the PAC opposes Cook because her “rhetoric against Zionism" “creates a permission structure for antisemitism.” Cook argued that her advocacy against the Israeli government and its genocide is not at odds with the interest of the Jewish community, but actually rooted in the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, which means “repairing the world” in Hebrew. 

As Cook told The Burner this summer: “[WBF’s] attacks against a Jewish candidate just go to show that the Zionist lobby has no real interest in supporting the Jewish community, only defending pro-genocide narratives.”