EXCLUSIVE: CAIR Action backs Mike Carey challenger as “Muslims for Don Leonard” flier touts his positions on Israel

Don Leonard, the Democrat challenging Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, has won CAIR Action’s endorsement and received outside spending from a super PAC with ties to the organization’s leadership.

A flier supplied to the Washington Reporter, headlined “Muslims for Don Leonard,” promotes his candidacy by emphasizing opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza, rejection of money from pro-Israel groups and support for the right to participate in boycott protests.

“Finally someone who agrees with our community!” the flier declares.

CAIR Action publicly endorsed Leonard for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, praising his dedication to building a more inclusive community. Leonard is a former Ohio State University faculty member seeking to unseat Carey in November.

His support also includes spending by the Unity & Justice Fund. According to a campaign-finance analysis supplied to the Reporter, the super PAC paid $4,558.17 for five text-message communications supporting Leonard in the final week before Ohio’s primary.

The fund has documented connections to CAIR leadership. The Washington Free Beacon previously reported that CAIR official Basim Elkarra served as its treasurer and that CAIR Action contributed $10,000 to the committee.

The supplied analysis of Leonard’s first- and second-quarter filings also identifies 50 individual contributors from Dublin, Hilliard, Powell and Pickerington who each reached at least $1,000 in cycle-to-date contributions through June 30. Their combined contributions totaled $141,955, according to the analysis.

The flier makes an explicit appeal to Muslim voters, presenting Leonard’s positions on Israel as a reason to support him.

“He’s against the genocide in Gaza and apartheid in Palestine,” it says.

It also says Leonard is “not taking money from AIPAC or their associates” and supports “the First Amendment right to free speech including BDS and anti-war and Gaza protests.” BDS refers to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement targeting Israel.

Leonard has publicly stated some of the positions highlighted in the flier. In a March interview with the Hilliard Beacon Audio Companion, he supported halting U.S. offensive weapons exports to Israel during ongoing military operations in Gaza and ruled out accepting money from AIPAC.

Separately, a Columbus rabbi described a troubling exchange with an unnamed congressional candidate from the same area of Ohio during his Yom Kippur sermon.

According to a supplied, lightly edited transcript, Rabbi Hillel Skolnik of Congregation Tifereth Israel said clergy met with the candidate despite concerns about a flier they considered “troubling, incendiary, and hurtful.” It has not been established that he was referring to the flier supplied to the Reporter.

Asked whether Israel should exist, the candidate answered, according to Skolnik’s account: “Yes, I believe that the State of Israel should exist, but the question is how and where.”

“I nearly fell off my chair,” Skolnik said, before forcefully rejecting that qualification.

Skolnik did not name the candidate. The Reporter has not independently established that he was describing Leonard.