Elan Somekh Carr (born November 25, 1968) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

lawyer, diplomat, politician, and chief executive. He is the CEO of the

Israeli American Council The Israeli-American Council (IAC; ) is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve and strengthen the Israeli and Jewish identities of future generations, strengthen the American Jewish community, and strengthen the relation ...

. Previously, he served as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism under President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

from 2019 to 2021., 1284. "The head of the Office shall be the Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism (in this section referred to as the 'Special Envoy')." Before that appointment, Carr was a Deputy District Attorney in the

Los Angeles County District Attorney The District Attorney of Los Angeles County is in charge of the office that prosecutor, prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes that occur within Los Angeles County, California, United States. The current district attorney (DA) is Nathan Hochma ...

's office. In 2014, he was the Republican candidate for the US House of Representatives, losing the general election to

Ted Lieu Ted Win-Ping Lieu ( ; born March 29, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician. He is a member of the Democratic Party and has represented California's 36th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2023. He re ...

. Carr is also an officer in the

Judge Advocate General's Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG or JAG Corps) is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judge advocates ...

in the U.S. Army Reserve and an

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

veteran.

Political candidacies

In 2014, Carr ran as a Republican to succeed retiring

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

Henry Waxman Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939) is an American politician and lobbyist who was a U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district included much of the western part of the ...

, representing

California's 33rd congressional district California's 33rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. The district is currently represented by . From January 3, 2023, following the 2020 redistricting cycle, the district centered on San Bernar ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. In the heavily Democratic district, his message centered on bipartisan solutions to the country's problems and he spoke about the support he was receiving from Democrats. In the June

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...

, he placed first, receiving approximately 21% of the votes cast, defeating all Democratic candidates, who split the Democratic vote in the district. In the November general election, Carr faced Democratic

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

. Lieu defeated Carr, securing 59.2% of the vote to Carr's 40.8%. In 2016, Carr was a candidate to represent the 5th Supervisorial District on the

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...

. Republican donor

Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, and political donor. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which founded the Marina Bay Sa ...

contributed $100,000 to an

independent expenditure An independent expenditure, in elections in the United States, is a political campaign communication that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a clearly identified political candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation or ...

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

in support of Carr's candidacy. Carr failed to advance in the June primary.

Personal

Carr is Jewish. His maternal grandfather, a relative of Baghdad rabbinical leader

Abdallah Somekh Abdallah (Ovadia) Somekh (1813 – September 13, 1889) was an Iraqi Jewish hakham, rosh yeshiva and posek. Early life Abdallah Somekh was born in 1813 in Baghdad to Abraham Somekh, himself a descendant of Nissim Gaon; he was the eldest of eigh ...

, was arrested during widespread antisemitic persecution of Iraq's Jewish community during the time of the founding of the

state of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1948. He was convicted in a

show trials A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a warning to ...

and sentenced to five years in prison. During Carr's

service, he helped lead an anti-terrorism team in missions throughout Iraq, prosecute terrorists who had attacked U.S soldiers in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, and train Iraqi judges and lawyers on constitutional law and criminal defense. He also led Jewish services in the former presidential palace of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

in Baghdad, including by lighting a

Hanukkah menorah A Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Eight of the nine branches hold lights (candles or oil lamps) that symbolize the eight nights of the holiday; on each night, ...

in the first

Hanukkah Hanukkah (, ; ''Ḥănukkā'' ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd ce ...

after the liberation of Baghdad in 2003.https://aish.com/chanukah_in_baghdad/ Carr's mother fled from Iraq to Israel, while his stepfather fled from Nazi-occupied Bulgaria to Palestine. Both later immigrated to the United States. His biological father is second generation Irish and Italian descent. Carr earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in philosophy and political science at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and his J.D. degree at the

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Pritzker School of Law The Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (formerly known as Northwestern University School of Law from 1891 to 2015) is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. The law school is located on the univer ...

. He previously served as international president of the

Alpha Epsilon Pi Alpha Epsilon Pi (), commonly known as AEPi, is a college Fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded at New York University in 1913. The fraternity has more than 150 active chapters across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Israel ...

fraternity. He and his wife Dahlia, a physician, met when they were introduced by a mutual friend hosting a Jewish

singles event A singles' event is an activity or program made available specifically to the romantically unattached, often with the underlying or explicit purpose of fostering dating or relationships among attendees. A singles event with a cocktail party-typ ...

References

External links

*Officia
biography
at

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Elan 1968 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers United States Army officers American people of Israeli descent American people of Iraqi-Jewish descent Politicians from Manhattan Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Stuyvesant High School alumni California Republicans Jewish American people in California politics 21st-century American politicians California lawyers Jewish American military personnel Combating antisemitism envoys

Political candidacies

Personal

See also

References

External links