Leah Mendelsohn lived in her grandmother’s house at age 5 due to her parents’ divorce. There, she discovered a photograph on her grandmother’s dresser, depicting several adults holding young children in their arms.
Driven by her youthful curiosity, Mendelsohn remembers asking her grandmother, “who are these people?” Her grandmother replied that they are her family. Confused about not having met them, Mendelsohn’s grandmother explained, “they’re dead, a bad man killed them,” which Mendelsohn said was her introduction to the Holocaust that killed the majority of her ancestors.
Mendelsohn, a precocious young girl, said she was confused as to why her grandmother never did anything to stop the mass murder of her relatives. But, as she grew older, she learned that those efforts would have been nearly impossible.
She has now worked as a political volunteer for over 20 years, where she is driven to be the one who does something.
“I feel like I have to do whatever I can and hope it works,” she said.
Mendelsohn is a Democrat who volunteered as a fundraiser for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, and is now helping garner support for Biden’s ticket for this year’s election. But, she said she dedicates the most time and effort towards Rep. Adam Schiff, whose campaign she’s been volunteering for since the beginning of her political involvement 25 years ago. Schiff, a Democrat from Burbank, is running for the highly-contested U.S. Senate seat previously held by the late Dianne Feinstein. The top four challengers — Schiff, Rep. Katie Porter from Irvine, Rep. Barbara Lee from Oakland and former baseball star Steve Garvey — are battling to be in the top two which would advance their campaign to the general election in November.
Mendelsohn cares strongly about women’s reproductive rights, preserving American democracy, the environment and Israel — an issue that her family’s past has strongly influenced.
Mendelsohn considers herself a strong supporter of Israel. She feels strongly about supporting Democratic candidates who she considers pro-Israel, like Biden and Schiff.
“I think Adam and I are somewhat in agreement about Israel,” she said. “The Holocaust experience of my grandmother affects a lot of things, the way I view things.”
She believes in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is unhappy with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but she added, “there is a place for us to go. I do want Israel to stay as a Jewish state.”
Right now, Mendelsohn wishes more young voters would understand her belief that Biden is better for both Israelis and Palestinians. She explained that she believes voting for third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is essentially throwing away a vote for Biden and giving a vote to Trump.
She added she also cares about supporting democracy and is fearful of former President Donald Trump’s threats of dictatorship. She fears that Trump wants to be a dictator, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, and is appalled by the “cult-like” personality that follows him.
“We won’t be able to help Israel if we don’t have a democracy,” she said. “We have to have a democracy for everything else that matters.”
She recalled watching Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999 and described it as a distressing experience for a Democrat, witnessing what she perceived as a Republican attempt to take down the president in Congress. Motivated by this, she sought to support the election of more Democrats to Congress and reached out to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which directed her to Schiff’s campaign. At that time, Schiff was running for Congress in the Pasadena and Burbank area.
Despite living in Santa Monica and not being in Schiff’s district, Mendelsohn was less concerned about the geographical details and more focused on the political battle. She found it particularly compelling because Schiff was running against James Rogan, the lead impeachment manager in the case against Bill Clinton. Mendelsohn noted the irony in Schiff eventually becoming the lead impeachment manager in the 2019 proceedings against Trump, despite her initial lack of familiarity with him.
“I met him, I liked him, I did an event for him at home,” she said. “Everybody liked him.”
Since then, she has continued to organize fundraising events for Schiff, sometimes raising more than $160,000.
Before becoming a political fundraiser, Mendelsohn attended UCLA and Loyola Law School, where she took night classes at night due to a young marriage. She practiced law for about 5 years, but shifted to politics due to her belief that the legal system serves few people effectively.
Typically, Mendelsohn spends up to 5 hours of unpaid time over a couple of weeks preparing for an event. She is involved in raising funds, hosting and co-hosting events and organizing the campaign event details.
She now has Jewish-Chinese grandchildren who she said have experienced double levels of prejudice — antisemitism and Asian hate. Mendelsohn continues to fight to ensure that her grandchildren and future generations live peacefully.
She feels confident about the upcoming Super Tuesday election and sees a bright future for Schiff.
“I’d like him to eventually run for president,” she said. “That’s how much I adore him.”