by Vita Fellig, JNS Staff
Duvi Honig, of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, told JNS that he has "profound concerns regarding the intellectual rigor and judgment of the younger generation."
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Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo concedes the
Democratic mayoral primary to Zohran Mamdani on June 24, 2025. Photo by
Vita Fellig. |
Andrew Cuomo, the controversial former New York governor who drew extensive support from the Orthodox Jewish community, conceded to Zohran Mamdani, an anti-Israel New York state representative, in the Democratic mayoral primary.
“Tonight was not our night,” Cuomo told about 200 supporters at an event at a carpenter’s union building in Manhattan on Tuesday night. “Tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night, and he put together a great campaign.”
“He touched young people and inspired them and moved them and got them to come out and vote,” Cuomo said in remarks that ran about four minutes. “He really ran a highly impactful campaign.”
At press time, the Associated Press had Mamdani up with 428,411 votes (43.5%) to Cuomo’s 358,313 (36.4%), with 91% of the vote counted. Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller who is Jewish and who has encouraged his voters to cross list Mamdani, had 111,842 votes (11.4%).
None of the other Democratic mayoral hopefuls had more than 5% of the vote at press time.
“I called him, and I congratulated him,” Cuomo said of Mamdani. “I applaud him sincerely for his effort.”
Cuomo said that he aims “to look at all the numbers as they come in and this ranked choice voting and what the numbers actually say and do.”
The former governor has said that if he lost the primary, he would run for mayor on an independent party ticket. It also wasn’t clear what impact, if any, the “ranked” voting would have on the final vote tallies. A candidate needs 50% of the vote to win outright. Absent that, second-choice votes are tallied and lower-performing candidates are removed in subsequent rounds until a winner is declared.
Voters can rank up to five candidates. Asked for whom he was voting, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent to retain his seat, told reporters, “one, two, three, four and five, Eric Adams.”
Speaking to supporters, Cuomo said that “there is no doubt that there are important issues that are facing this city. That’s why this election is so imperative.”
“That’s why so many people came out to vote, because these are real issues and they’re not getting better,” he said. “They’re getting worse and that’s why New Yorkers are as concerned as they are.”
“Again, I want to applaud the assemblyman for a really smart and good and impactful campaign. Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won, and we’re going to take a look,” Cuomo said. “We’ll make some decisions, but I love each and every one of you and I thank you.”
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual harrassment allegations, drew harsh criticism from many Orthodox Jews in the city over his policies during the pandemic, including restrictions on synagogues and Jewish schools. Still, Orthodox communities rallied around him to try to block Mamdani.
Henry Olsen, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, stated earlier in the night that “Cuomo doing best in Orthodox Jewish areas in Brooklyn and the Upper East Side in Manhattan. Winning black areas but not with huge margins.”
He added a few minutes later that “scrolling through random precincts makes me alter my assessment of the black areas. Quite a few where Cuomo is winning big, and Adams is often the second choice not Mamdani.”
Duvi Honig, founder and CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, told JNS that the “recent surge of support for Zohran Mamdani among voters under 40 raises profound concerns regarding the intellectual rigor and judgment of the younger generation.”
“By backing a candidate who endorses positions associated with terrorism and Holocaust denial, in pursuit of illusory economic benefits, these voters reveal a troubling lack of historical awareness and a disconnection from reality,” Honig said.
Honig added that older Democrats, who sought revenge against Cuomo, “may inadvertently bolster Mamdani’s platform, which threatens public safety and undermines the core mission of the NYPD.”
“This situation not only poses a risk to the city’s security but could ultimately backfire on the very constituents who support him,” Honig said.
Mamdani has accused Israel of “indiscriminate,” “limitless” and “criminal killing of civilians” and has said he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he comes to New York City, where the United Nations headquarters is located.
After Mamdani claimed, when defending the phrase “globalize the intifada,” that the Holocaust museum used the word “intifada” to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the politician received a rare reprimand from the the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which typically avoids commenting on politics.
The museum said, without naming Mamdani, that “exploiting the museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize ‘globalize the intifada’ is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors.”
Honig thinks that Adams “could now garner greater support from New Yorkers eager to embrace an America-first agenda.”
“This alignment with the new administration’s priorities could foster bipartisan cooperation in addressing the city’s pressing issues,” he said. “As educated New Yorkers rally around Adams, his potential electoral success could lead to policies that benefit New York City immensely, positioning him as a stabilizing force amid a chaotic political landscape.”
John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary magazine, stated that “the city with the largest Jewish population in the world will likely have as its mayor a man whose worldview and convictions stand in opposition to the fundamentals of Judaism itself.”
“I’m not kidding when I say that people like Mamdani are why there has to be a Jewish state,” Podhoretz wrote.
The National Republican Congressional Committee stated that “Democrats just nominated antisemitic, socialist, radical Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City and the new face of N.Y. Dems.”
“Mamdani pledged to defund the police, abolish prisons and institute socialist government grocery stores while massively raising taxes on working New Yorkers,” the NRCC said.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) suggested that many New Yorkers would flee to Florida, and Garry Kasparov, the half-Jewish world chess champion and activist, stated that “socialism is like polio. It comes back when people forget about the horrible damage it did last time.”
“Tonight, Democrats again failed to stand with Jewish Americans, this time in New York City,” the Republican Jewish Coalition stated. “Raging antisemite, anti-America, anti-Israel, Democrat socialist Zohran Mamdani will be a total disaster for Jewish residents.”
“This is yet another data point proving that Democrats continue to nominate and acquiesce to extreme, radical candidates who are antithetical to the priorities of the Jewish community,” the RJC said. “So long as Democrats refuse to change course, they will continue to hemorrhage Jewish support.”
Esther Panitch, a Democrat who is the only Jewish state representative in Georgia, stated, “I cannot overstate how scary this New York City vote is for pro-Israel American Jews,” which she said means “most Jews.”
“Antisemitism does have a place in New York,” she said.
Vita Fellig, JNS Staff
Source: https://www.jns.org/not-our-night-cuomo-concedes-to-mamdani-alarming-new-york-jews/
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