At a time when many prominent Democrats are drawing criticism for overlooking antisemitism in their ranks, Colleen Connaughton, a former Reuters television journalist who is running to represent heavily Jewish Nassau County in the New York State Assembly, told JNS that she would stand up to Jew-hatred in her party.
“I would not be afraid to say to them, ‘Your antisemitism is racist,’” she told JNS. “We have a responsibility to protect all of our communities.”
“I would protect any community if they were doing this to the Indian community or the South Asian community,” the Irish Catholic, who grew up in Queens, told JNS. “It’s not fair. It’s not American in my opinion.”
Connaughton is running against incumbent Edward Ra, a Republican, in the state Assembly’s 19th district, which includes parts of Bayside and West Hempstead with large Jewish communities.
Ra, minority leader of the state Assembly, won the district in 2024 with 64.3% of the vote, and since being elected in 2010, he has earned between 55% and 69% of the vote each cycle.
Connaughton describes herself as a moderate Democrat, who supports police, opposes abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and opposes open borders. She sees capitalism as an effective way to raise living standards but told JNS that economic inequality needs to be addressed.
Her nearly 20 years as an international journalist, including visiting Israel in June 2025, have shaped her views on the Jewish state and antisemitism.
When she visited Israel with a group connected to a Columbia University global leadership program, she toured the Nova festival massacre site, met hostage families in Tel Aviv and visited a kibbutz near the Gaza border. The group also went to the Israeli border with Lebanon and met Palestinians in Bethlehem.
She wanted to understand what was happening in Israel and to hear perspectives from people on different sides of the conflict, she told JNS.
“I always say you have to go and get two sides of the story,” she said. She added that she supports Israel’s right to live in peace and security and sees the Jewish state as a U.S. ally.
An encounter at the Nova site left a particularly deep impression on her, and Connaughton was moved by accounts of young festival-goers who sought shelter from Hamas terrorists.
“That’s one of the images that really, as a parent of someone at those ages, was very moving for me and very sad,” she told JNS.
Her support for Israel does not mean that she is indifferent to Palestinian suffering, she told JNS.
“I do mourn the loss of life and devastation in Gaza, especially the children,” she said.
Connaughton criticized what she sees as a lack of support for Israel among some Democrats. Opposing Israeli policies should not mean questioning Israel’s legitimacy or its status as an American ally, she said.
“We can criticize what Israel did, but we can stand by the people of Israel,” she told JNS. “We can criticize Netanyahu, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still our ally.”
Locally, Connaughton said that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was wrong in his Oct. 7 statement to equate the Hamas-led attacks with what has happened in Gaza, and she told JNS that the mayor’s statement “came across as racist”, and that “he wouldn't do that with any other group.”
Growing up in Queens, she had no direct ties to the Jewish community but grew up alongside people from different religious and cultural backgrounds.
Her views on Israel and antisemitism are part of her broader frustration with what she sees as an entrenched political status quo.
She decided to run for office, because politicians have become too focused on donors and on staying in power rather than delivering results to their constituents, she told JNS.
She would not accept corporate money and supports term limits to bring fresh perspectives into government, she said.
Connaughton also believes that electing another Democrat from Long Island could give the region “a stronger voice in Albany,” where, she said, the Democratic supermajority limits the influence of Republican lawmakers such as Ra. (JNS sought comment from Ra.)
Her policy priorities include reducing screen and artificial intelligence use in primary and secondary school classrooms, reforming healthcare costs through bipartisan cooperation and encouraging lawmakers to work across party lines.
Based on years of reporting from conflict zones worldwide, Connaughton thinks that political polarization undermines the United States on the international stage.
“I see the dangers, because I saw them up close,” she told JNS. “We have to work as a team here in this country to solve our problems, because the polarization in the United States is what’s weakening us internationally.”
Lawmakers don’t need to agree on everything to work together and deliver results to their constituents, she said. They do need to stop tolerating prejudice in their ranks, though.
“We cannot have our politicians spouting off racist rhetoric. It’s not acceptable,” Connaughton told JNS. “They’re fueling antisemitism, in my opinion.”