[5] JDCA was announced in August 2017, following President Donald Trump's failure to condemn white nationalist and neo-Nazi demonstrators for violence which took place during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and it was formally launched in November 2017.

[7] founding Chair Ron Klein has written that American Jews can not afford to be "complacent" in the wake of Donald Trump's election, and must be "on the front-lines of fighting for justice and equality".

[8] In its launch statement, JDCA said that it would "actively promote to Democratic officeholders and candidates national and local legislative policies consistent with the Jewish community's values, as well as a strong US-Israel relationship".

It criticized the "deafening silence" from some members of Congress and Trump's cabinet and accused those who refuse to speak out of abdicating "their constitutional and moral obligation to our country and its citizens".

[11] JDCA's launch event was attended by many high-profile members of Congress, including Nancy Pelosi, Ben Cardin, Tim Kaine, Chris Murphy, Sherrod Brown, Steny Hoyer, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

), a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, stated the Democratic Party's objection to imposing "religious tests for who can come to America" but did not explicitly mention Trump's travel ban.

In the January 2021 Georgia run-off elections, JDCA endorsed and campaigned for Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, helping Democrats to win the Senate majority.

[21] In the 2024 United States House of Representatives elections, JDCA made their first primary endorsements, supporting challengers to Democratic incumbents of The Squad, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, following their criticism of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present).

[23] In June 2021, JDCA held its first Week of Action, during which it ran 81 meetings with members of Congress, including Gary Peters, Tim Ryan, and Ted Deutch.