Jewish Civic Service Advocate Bids for State Senate

[Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles about Jewish candidates for federal and state offices in advance of the May 19 primary.]

Jewish Democrat Kevin Abel, an Internet technology consultant and admitted policy wonk, is one of three Democrats seeking the party’s nomination in Georgia Senate District 14.

His May 19 primary opponents are Kay Howell, a business consultant, and Nathalie Kanani, an attorney.

The victor will face the winner of a Republican primary field comprised of Michael Dvorscak, a commercial real estate broker; Tamara Johnson-Shealy, a beauty and barber industry consultant, and McKenzie McQueen, an analyst in sales, finance, and supply chain. Any necessary runoff will be held June 16.

The seat currently is held by Democratic state Sen. Josh McClaurin, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor.

McLaurin won re-election in 2024 by 10 percentage points, but while District 14 leans Democratic, much of it lies in the 7th congressional district, which President Donald Trump carried with 60 percent of the vote in 2024.

State Senate District 14 stretches north from the Atlanta city limits in a long slice of Fulton County that takes in portions of Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, and Johns Creek.

Abel is a native of South Africa who came to the United States as a teenager, during an exodus of South African Jews, many of whom left the country after the racial upheaval of the 1980s and 1990s.

In Atlanta, his family has been members of Temple Sinai for more than 30 years.

“A central teaching of Judaism that I embrace and have taught my children is Tikkun Olam, repair the world. We all have a role to play in making this world, this country, this state a better place,” Abel told the AJT. “My ‘lane’ is civic service, specifically public office. In this regard, while I didn’t win the congressional race in 2018, I did serve on the GDOT (Georgia Department of Transportation) board for years. Now I have the opportunity to again run to serve.”

In 2018, Abel bid to be the Democratic nominee from Georgia’s 6th congressional district, receiving 46.3 percent of the vote in a narrow loss to Lucy McBath, who went on to win the general election.

Abel believes that Democratic and Republican moderates must work together to improve the legislative process. “Things have only gotten worse since 2018 in terms of the fractional nature of our politics. People have swung further to the left and further to the right, and this idea of a center just gets tougher and tougher to believe in. But, you know, I still believe that. I still believe in this country, still love this country,” Abel said.

“I have many priorities. I have had my own health care crisis and thank G-d I had health insurance and am well. With the impact of the BBB [President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”] removing hundreds of thousands of Georgians from the insurance rolls, I am a firm believer that it is past time that Georgia expands Medicaid and closes the health insurance gap,” Abel said.

During his time on the Department of Transportation board, “I played a key role in expanding MARTA (new routes on the upcoming Georgia 400 express lanes). On the Senate Transportation Committee, I will advocate for the state to invest substantially in metro Atlanta transit so that by the time our Atlanta population grows by another two million people, we can have a world class regional transit system,” he said.

In recent years, he’s also renewed his interest in the immigrant experience, serving on the board of New American Pathways, an organization that helps resettle newly admitted refugees.

President Joe Biden appointed Abel in May 2023 to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council Board of Trustees, which supports the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and he continues to serve on that body.

“With respect to the Jewish community, I will advocate for the state to increase funding for security for Jewish institutions to mitigate the massive increase in security costs due to the rise of antisemitism and the threat of violence,” he said.

He admits to a deep interest in how to improve government.

As covered by the AJT, Abel told a September 2025 campaign gathering at his Sandy Springs home, “I’m a policy wonk. I have always been fascinated by policy and how can we be better? How can we solve problems that really shouldn’t be so intractable, like health care and immigration and climate and debt, you know, fiscal issues, and I’m talking, now in the federal context, but all of it applies at a state level as well, in some regard.”

According to the most recently available campaign finance reports, Abel had raised $176,500 and spent $14,400, compared with $51,700 raised by Howell and $105,100 by Kanani.

Georgia legislators receive a base salary of $25,312 and a $247 per day per diem during the 40-day legislative session.