Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen before a portrait of Theodor Herzl, known as the “Visionary of the Jewish State” and the founder of modern Zionism in Jerusalem on May 2, 2018. (Abir Sultan/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
(JTA) — More than 230,000 American Jews voted in the 2025 election for the World Zionist Congress, setting a new turnout record and nearly doubling participation compared to the last election five years ago, according to preliminary results released Thursday by the American Zionist Movement.
The tally excludes nearly 20,000 votes that the body overseeing the election determined had been cast fraudulently and disqualified.
The results suggest heightened interest among American Jews in shaping Zionist priorities, as 152 delegates from the United States — nearly one-third of the 525-member Congress — prepare to travel to Jerusalem this October to help decide how over $1 billion in annual funding will be allocated to Jewish and Israeli institutions.
The right-wing and Orthodox bloc repeated its strength from the last election, appearing to once again secure a majority of votes despite a surge in support for several leading liberal slates.
The top vote-getter was the Vote Reform slate, representing the Reform movement, U.S. Jewry’s largest denomination, with about 48,000 votes. The liberal-leaning slate won some 16,000 more votes than the last election, when it also placed first, but its vote share dropped from 26% to 21%. The slate said the result shows that the Reform movement is the leading voice of American Jewry.
“This is more than just a win for our slate — it is a resounding mandate for the values we champion,” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, said in a statement.
Am Yisrael Chai came in second place with about 32,00 votes, or about 14% of the total. Positioned as a centrist and Orthodox voice, the slate proved successful in courting Jewish college students and young professionals with its focus on pro-Israel advocacy, Jewish pride and promoting “love of Torah.”
Eretz Hakodesh, an Orthodox slate whose debut in the last election helped tip the balance of power at the World Zionist Congress in favor of the right-wing bloc for the first time, placed third with about 29,000 voters. Mercaz USA, representing Conservative Judaism, was fourth with 28,000 votes, and Orthodox Israel Coalition-Mizrachi, the political arm of Modern Orthodoxy, secured about 27,000 votes.
In all, 22 slates competed in the U.S. election, up from 14 in 2020 — a sign of growing political, religious and generational diversity among American Jews. The election, administered by the American Zionist Movement, took place from March 10 to May 4, with 224,237 valid votes cast online and an additional 6,020 by mail.
“American Jews have spoken — through their record-breaking turnout in the 2025 World Zionist Congress election, they have powerfully demonstrated that Zionism in the United States is not only alive and well but stronger than ever,” said AZM executive director Herbert Block in a statement. “Thanks to this historic participation in the election, U.S. Jewry is poised to make an indelible mark when the World Zionist Congress gathers in October.”
The record turnout was marred by the discovery of what election officials described as “serious voting irregularities.” According to the AZM, an investigation uncovered schemes involving prepaid credit cards and anonymized emails used to fraudulently submit ballots on behalf of five slates. A sixth slate was found to have benefited from invalid paper registrations.
As a result, 18,948 ballots were disqualified and excluded from the vote totals. Officials have not named the slates involved and say further penalties may follow pending the results of continuing investigations and legal challenges.
The AZM said it would release the final delegate allocations after additional reviews and once pending cases before the AZM Tribunal and the Zionist Supreme Court, the World Zionist Congress’s judicial authority in Jerusalem, are resolved.
The World Zionist Congress, established by Theodor Herzl in 1897, meets every five years and serves as the governing body of the World Zionist Organization. It influences leadership appointments and funding decisions across major Israeli and Jewish institutions, including the Jewish Agency, which is involved in immigration and the Jewish National Fund, which has power over land use across large swaths of the country.
The 39th Congress will convene in Jerusalem from Oct. 28 to 30.
