Long Island Iranian Jewish voters move right over Iran war

Hackman’s antigun, pro-abortion dad will vote GOP down the ticket

Michelle Hackman, a Wall Street Journal Washington bureau reporter who grew up in Great Neck, N.Y., returned to her hometown ahead of the Jewish high holidays to see how her family and the broader Iranian Jewish community feel about the war in Iran after it entered a stalemate following months of bombing.

Hackman wrote in a first-person report published Oct. 29 that most Americans — including many Iranian Americans and Jewish Americans — oppose the war in Iran. But a thriving community of Persian Jews on Long Island are some of the war’s most ardent defenders, she reported.

Her family fled Iran during the revolution of 1979, when the Shah, who had protected religious minorities, was overthrown. Her parents changed the family name from Hakimian to Hackman in the 1980s, before she was born. Growing up, Hackman wrote, her community was fairly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans but was always among Israel’s strongest supporters, viewing the country as its only safe harbor outside the U.S. once Iran was no longer considered safe for Jews.

She described calling her father last February, the morning the U.S. killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He sounded close to tears: after nearly 50 years of exile, he hoped the events of that day meant he could soon go back and see what became of his childhood home.

The war has since entered a stalemate following months of bombing, Hackman wrote, and she found a community on edge about concerns over mounting antisemitism and fears that the Iranian regime may hold on to power.

The district’s politics give the shift local stakes. Though New York’s 3rd District leans Democratic, its Democrats — including Rep. Tom Suozzi — have long been some of Israel’s most reliable allies in Congress, Hackman wrote. In the last few years, particularly after the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, her family has moved steadily and reliably to the right.

Hackman wrote that her family has lost faith in Democrats as the party’s candidates grow more critical of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and that some have labeled Israel’s actions a genocide. After decades of wishing for a regime change in Iran, they were delighted when President Trump, with Israel’s cooperation, took action.

Hackman’s father framed his vote around the president’s posture rather than party allegiance. “I’m really not a Republican person. I hate a lot of Republican ideas: I’m antigun, I think I’m pro-abortion,” he told her last month over salads from the family’s favorite deli. “But the thing I like about Trump is, he’s being tough.” This year, Hackman wrote, her father is voting Republican straight down the ticket.