Daniel Grossberg

Daniel Grossberg is a Kentucky state representative and a speaker on combating antisemitism, Jewish resilience and moral courage under pressure. As the only practicing Jew to serve in the Kentucky House in about 70 years, Grossberg brings the perspective of someone who has both faced anti-Jewish prejudice and helped build bipartisan coalitions to confront it. Grossberg is in an interfaith marriage, a background that informs his perspective on Jewish identity and belonging.

Raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, Grossberg grew up taking Jewish belonging for granted until antisemitism in public life transformed his inherited identity into a defining public purpose. Grossberg founded and chairs the Kentucky-Israel Caucus, helped draft and advance campus antisemitism legislation and worked with the governor's office to establish a statewide antisemitism task force. The Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked him among Kentucky's most effective legislators.

During his first successful campaign, a mailer warned voters, "DON'T LET THEM BUY OUR DISTRICT!" and portrayed his candidacy as a "dangerous power grab" for his "own personal interests." The mailer drew condemnation from the American Jewish Committee's Holly Huffnagle, who identified its antisemitic tropes about Jewish money and power. After Grossberg's Holocaust remembrance address, a Courier Journal columnist responded that "Jews do not have a monopoly on persecution and atrocities" and "Hitler was just one of many dictators." Her column drew criticism in Newsweek and coverage by Fox News.

Grossberg's effort to condemn Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks was met by a walkout by 15 members of his own party, and he was later expelled from his party's caucus. Through those experiences, Grossberg became more committed to his Jewish identity, to combating antisemitism and to building alliances without surrendering his principles.

Grossberg's speaking experience includes Holocaust remembrance addresses in the Kentucky House and an Israeli Independence Day address to Israel's consul general. Combining personal storytelling with legislative experience, Grossberg challenges audiences to confront institutional silence, build alliances across political and religious divides and uphold their convictions when doing so carries a cost.