“Makes me want him voted in,” Greenspun said later, recalling her own two visits to Israel. But she also knows a Hogan victory in November could cement a scenario she’d loathe as a “true Democrat” — a Republican-controlled Senate. After listening to Hogan, Greenspun said she was “leaning” toward supporting the former governor, though she promised to learn about his Democratic opponent, whose name she struggled to recall.

Greenspun’s conundrum reflects the uncertainty pervading segments of Maryland’s Jewish community as Hogan and Democratic nominee Angela D. Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive, run in a high-stakes campaign to succeed retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D).

A preponderance of Jewish voters nationally — nearly 70 percent, a recent survey shows — align with the Democratic Party. Yet, with the ongoing Israel-Gaza war, burgeoning antisemitism, and divisions within the Democratic Party over aid to Israel, Jewish leaders and political strategists question whether Democrats can maintain that same level of dominance in Maryland and beyond.

“If you look back historically — 40, 50 years — if you took polls of Jews around the United States, what motivated them, up to now Israel and antisemitism would be of little concern,” said Ronald Halber, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. “There was broad bipartisan support for Israel, and antisemitism was not viewed as a threat to their personal security. We’re living now in a new era.”

In Maryland, where Joe Biden easily defeated former president Donald Trump, Republicans see an opportunity to peel off Jewish Democrats and independents, especially with a moderate like Hogan, who courted Jewish leaders as governor and who casts himself as an unquestioning ally of Israel. An estimated 240,000 Jews — nearly 4 percent of the state’s population — live in Maryland, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.

“We’re going to win most of the Jewish vote all over the state,” Hogan said in an interview with The Post. “No one’s standing up more for Israel than I am.”

Alsobrooks’s allies say they’re confident Jewish voters will reject the Republican, especially with Trump on the ballot and control of the Senate on the line. Alsobrooks herself has voiced support for Israel, condemning the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack and calling for the release of the hostages. Unlike Hogan, she also has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “must do more” to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Gaza and endorsed Biden’s threat to withhold offensive weaponry if Israel invades Rafah.

State Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan, a Democrat who represents heavily Jewish Montgomery County, said Hogan’s embrace of Israel is intended to divert attention from his record. “Just because he’s saying nice things about Israel doesn’t make him a candidate Jewish voters will find acceptable,” she said. “It’s cynical and tactical.”

At Greenspun’s retirement home in Pikesville, an area with a high concentration of Jews, many of whom have voted for Hogan, he made a point of putting on a dog tag as he greeted residents. The engraving read “Bring Them Home,” he told them, a reference to the hostages.

Hogan drew applause as he recounted pro-Israel decisions he made as governor, including banning state contracts with businesses boycotting Israel. “Unlike my opponent,” Hogan said without naming Alsobrooks, “I’ll proudly support aid to Israel.”

If Hogan is well-positioned with voters who support Republicans — politically conservative Orthodox Jews, for example — it’s less certain he can lure moderate and left-leaning Jews for whom Israel is one of many concerns.

“I like his support of Israel. It’s one of the boxes he has to check off,” said Frank Rodbell, 87, a Jewish Democrat in the audience in Pikesville. “But it’s only one box.”

Bernard Misek, a Jewish retiree and an independent, said Hogan’s pro-Israel ardor did not impress him. Israel should defend itself, Misek said, but its attacks in Gaza seem “indiscriminate.”

“I’m not an ‘Israel can do no wrong’ type,” he said. “I think he’s pandering. He’s a politician.”

Past relationships could help secure Hogan’s future

By all accounts, Hogan, as governor, paid close attention to Maryland’s Jewish enclaves, visiting schools and synagogues and staying in touch with rabbis and other community leaders.

Those relationships could benefit Hogan if, say, polls in the fall show Republicans about to take the Senate no matter Maryland’s result. Jewish Democrats “don’t want to be responsible for turning the Senate into a Republican majority,” Halber said. “But if it doesn’t matter what happens in Maryland, you will find a lot of Jews who will consider voting Republican.”

Hogan also could benefit from anger felt in some quarters toward left-leaning Democratic leaders, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), for criticizing Israel’s military campaign.

Van Hollen’s criticism of Israel — he accused it of committing a “war crime” by blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza — prompted 80 Maryland rabbis to claim in a letter that he “stoked deeper divisions and further isolated Israel and our Jewish community.”

Bobby Zirkin, a former Democratic state lawmaker whose district included Pikesville, is co-chair of “Democrats for Hogan,” a group created by the candidate’s campaign. Zirkin cites Van Hollen — he derisively refers to him as “Chris Van Hamas” — as a reason to support Hogan. “We need a counterweight in the Senate to Chris Van Hollen and that’s going to drive people to Larry,” Zirkin said.

Hogan himself reminds Jewish audiences that Van Hollen is an Alsobrooks ally, describing him as Washington’s “most hostile, anti-Israel senator.” Hogan, in his interview with The Post, went so far as to refer to Van Hollen as Alsobrooks’ campaign “chairman,” though the senator holds no such title. Hogan’s spokesperson later said he was speaking “figuratively.”

Van Hollen, who refers to himself as pro-Israel even as he opposes Netanyahu’s policies, said in a statement that Hogan “is confused about who is on the ballot — it’s Angela Alsobrooks. She’s her own person and a proven leader with her own views.” Asked about Zirkin’s slur of Van Hollen’s name, a spokesperson for the senator said in an email, “We don’t think something so low merits a response.”

Whether Van Hollen’s positions on Israel will hurt Alsobrooks in November is a matter of speculation, especially given the conflicting views in the Jewish community about Israel’s conduct. After the rabbis’ letter criticizing Van Hollen, more than 400 Jewish Marylanders, including 10 rabbis, signed their own letter supporting the senator’s quest to stop “the killing and starvation of Palestinians.”

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, who was among those who signed the letter chiding Van Hollen, said he perceives among his congregants a “greater openness to reconsider their affiliation with the Democratic Party.”

“This particular election is not taking place in a vacuum,” he said.

But Rabbi Marc Israel, of Tikvat Israel, a Rockville congregation, said the antipathy toward Van Hollen among Jews “is not universal” and he doubted the senator’s alliance with Alsobrooks would damage her. Jewish voters, the rabbi said, have “never been a single-issue constituency.”

“People will be just as concerned with what happens to abortion law and what happens with Supreme Court justices and many other issues where they won’t be as comfortable with Hogan,” he said.

Although not as well known as Hogan, Alsobrooks has the advantage of being endorsed by Cardin, a venerated pro-Israel leader in the Jewish community for decades.

“She’s well qualified to be our United States senator,” Cardin told Jewish leaders at a recent roundtable with Alsobrooks in Pikesville.

Alsobrooks recounted her own 2019 trip to Israel and said the country has the right to defend itself. She also said she supports a cease-fire in Gaza, as well as the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Afterward, when a reporter asked how she’d win a district where Hogan was twice victorious, Alsobrooks said the election “is much bigger than Larry Hogan. It’s about a party led by Donald Trump.”

Open arms and made-up minds at a Jewish deli

At noon on a Tuesday, Hogan arrived at a Jewish deli in Pikesville that Zirkin helped pack with his network of supporters. One handed Hogan an “I stand with Israel” T-shirt.

“I’ll wear that!” the candidate said.

Jeff Maass, 50, a pharmaceutical executive, gave Hogan a yellow ribbon pin he said had been sent by Israeli relatives to support the hostages. Hogan pinned the ribbon to his lapel and grinned for more photos.

Until recently, Maass said, he was a Democrat who focused on issues like crime and mental health. He voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

He switched to the GOP, he said, because he is now preoccupied with one issue — his family’s safety in a period when synagogues are being “defaced and desecrated.”

“Nothing else matters if my existence is under threat,” Maass said. “The Republican Party has demonstrated a stronger position on the support of Israel and defending my right to exist.”

The crowd fawned over Hogan as he visited the pickle bar and scarfed down a Reuben. Steve Block, a retired social worker, sat nearby eating scrambled eggs.

Block, a Democrat who is Jewish, said he twice voted for Hogan but won’t support him now.

“I’m not giving the Republican Party another senator,” he said. Whatever differences that exist between Hogan and Alsobrooks on Israel are not significant enough to matter, he said. “I really believe everyone is pro-Israel.”