Orthodox lists have secured their strongest showing on record in the United States election for the 39th World Zionist Congress, capturing almost 46 percent of the 230,257 valid ballots cast and overtaking the long-dominant liberal streams.
Preliminary figures released by the American Zionist Movement show that four explicitly Orthodox tickets—Am Yisrael Chai, Eretz HaKodesh, the Orthodox Israel Coalition–Mizrachi, and Aish Ha’Am—together amassed 105,548 votes, or 45.9 percent of the US total.
Three smaller Torah-oriented lists added a further 3,538 votes, pushing the overall Orthodox share just above 47 percent. Five years ago the combined Orthodox vote stood at 34 percent.
Am Yisrael Chai, running for the first time and backed informally by the Olami campus-outreach network, placed second overall with 31,765 votes (13.8 percent). Eretz HaKodesh, representing the ultra-Orthodox, finished third with 29,159 votes (12.7 percent), followed by the Modern-Orthodox Orthodox Israel Coalition–Mizrachi on 26,975 (11.7 percent). Aish Ha’Am, an outreach-focused slate, recorded 6,649 votes (2.9 percent).
Liberal movements still led the individual table but lost ground proportionally. The Reform slate, Vote Reform, remained the single largest list at 47,887 votes; however, its share slid to 20.8 percent, down from 25.5 percent in 2020. Mercaz USA, representing the Conservative/Masorti movement, gained supporters in absolute terms, rising to 27,893 votes, yet its 12.1 percent share was marginally below its 2020 level. The progressive Hatikvah slate increased to 11,537 votes, but at 5 percent of the total remains a minority voice.
A stark shift compared to the 2020 WZC elections
In 2020 liberal and centrist slates together controlled just over 44 percent of the US vote; this year their combined share fell to 38 percent, underscoring a steady Orthodox ascent and the erosion of the old synagogue-based coalition that once dominated Congress politics.
The World Zionist Congress, founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897, meets every five years to set policy for the Zionist movement and to appoint the lay leadership of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund and Keren Hayesod.
Those bodies collectively distribute more than $1 billion annually to Jewish education, aliyah programs, settlement infrastructure, and Diaspora initiatives. Of the Congress’s 525 delegates, 152 are elected in the United States; delegate mandates are allocated to slates in strict proportion to their vote.
If the preliminary numbers stand, Orthodox lists are expected to hold at least 70 of the 152 US seats and could claim more than 80 once final rounding is applied. That would give the Orthodox camp its first bargaining majority within the American caucus and, in alliance with right-religious Israeli parties, significant leverage over education and settlement budgets.
World Zionist Organization chairman Yaakov Hagoel welcomed the turnout—an 86 percent increase on 2020—and called the results “a historic moment in which American Jewry has voiced a strong stand for proud Zionism and tradition.” He urged all factions “to bridge divides within our people and act together for Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and the heritage of Israel.”
The American Zionist Movement confirmed that 18,948 ballots—about eight percent of those cast—were invalidated for technical irregularities; investigations are continuing and could affect a handful of mandates, though they are unlikely to alter the overall Orthodox plurality. Final certification is expected later this summer after the AZM tribunal and the Zionist Supreme Court rule on outstanding appeals.
Delegates will meet in Jerusalem from 28 to 30 October. With Orthodox representatives now approaching half of the US seats, liberal leaders concede they will enter coalition talks from a position of unprecedented weakness. Orthodox organisers, meanwhile, say they intend to seek larger allocations for yeshivot, campus outreach and religious neighbourhoods—signalling a financial and ideological tilt that may reshape Zionist priorities for the next five years.
