Elan Carr
Elan Sherod Carr is an American attorney, appointed on February 5, 2019 by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to serve as the Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism.
Before that appointment, Carr was a deputy district attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. His work focused on prosecution of crimes committed by street gang members, and later, of crimes against special victims, including domestic violence, child molestation, and sexual assault, such as those allegedly committed by the bicoastal "Tinder serial killer" Danuel Drayton.
Carr is also a JAG Corps officer in the U.S. Army Reserve and an Iraq War veteran.Political candidacies
In 2014, Carr ran as a Republican to succeed retiring Congressman Henry Waxman, representing California's 33rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. 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, 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 Ted Lieu. 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. Republican donor Sheldon Adelson contributed $100,000 to an independent expenditure political action committee in support of Carr's candidacy. Carr failed to advance in the June primary.Personal
Carr is of mixed Iraqi Jewish and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. His grandfather, a descendant of Baghdad religious leader Abdallah Somekh, was prosecuted during Iraqi show trials against Jewish community leaders during the time of the founding of the state of Israel.
During Carr's Iraq War service, he led U.S soldiers in lighting a Hanukkah menorah in Saddam Hussein's presidential palace.
Carr's mother, father who is second generation Irish and Italian descent, and stepfather are immigrants to the United States, with his mother having fled from Iraq to Israel, and his stepfather having fled from Nazi-occupied Bulgaria to pre-independence Israel, before both then immigrated to the United States.
Carr earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy and political science at the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. degree at Northwestern University. He previously served as international president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
He and his wife Dahlia, a physician, met when they were introduced by a mutual friend hosting a Jewish singles event.
