By: Fern Sidman

In a stunning political reversal that has sent tremors through New York’s Jewish community and beyond, former Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded Tuesday night to New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary race for mayor of New York City. Cuomo’s concession marked a significant turning point in the city’s political landscape — not only because of his personal downfall, but because of the ascent of Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist whose openly anti-Israel rhetoric has alarmed many in the Jewish and pro-Israel communities.

The Associated Press reported Mamdani leading with 43.5% of the vote — over 428,000 ballots — to Cuomo’s 36.4%, with 91% of votes counted. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a Jewish progressive who had encouraged his supporters to rank Mamdani second, trailed in third with just over 11% of the vote. Ranked choice tabulations were still underway, but the margin made Mamdani’s lead all but insurmountable.

Speaking at a subdued campaign event at a carpenter’s union hall in Manhattan, Cuomo acknowledged defeat. “Tonight was not our night,” he told roughly 200 supporters. “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.”

While Cuomo’s tone was gracious, behind the scenes, concern was mounting — particularly within the Orthodox Jewish community, many of whom had strongly backed the former governor despite lingering resentment over his pandemic-era policies. As Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported, neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Upper East Side turned out heavily for Cuomo, hoping to block Mamdani’s rise.

But it wasn’t enough.

In an interview with JNS, Duvi Honig, founder and CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, offered a scathing assessment of Mamdani’s support among younger voters. “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,” Honig said. “By backing a candidate who endorses positions associated with terrorism and Holocaust denial, these voters reveal a troubling lack of historical awareness and a disconnection from reality.”

Indeed, Mamdani’s record and rhetoric have caused consternation. A vocal critic of Israel, Mamdani has repeatedly accused the Jewish state of “indiscriminate” and “criminal” killing of civilians and has said he would seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he set foot in New York. Most explosively, Mamdani defended the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” invoking the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising — a comparison widely condemned as historically dishonest and inflammatory.

Even the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, typically reticent to weigh in on contemporary politics, issued a rare public statement denouncing Mamdani’s remarks without naming him directly. “Exploiting the museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize ‘globalize the intifada’ is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors,” the museum said.

The JNS report noted that Mamdani’s positions have alienated many Jewish voters, particularly in areas historically aligned with progressive causes. But his candidacy has nonetheless found fervent backing from leftist activists and younger, more radicalized segments of the electorate — many of whom view Mamdani as a symbol of generational and ideological change.

Mamdani’s campaign was defined by youthful energy, slick digital media, and unapologetically radical proposals: free public transit, universal child care, state-run grocery stores, and vast tax hikes on the wealthy. He also supports defunding the police, abolishing prisons, and dismantling traditional urban governance models. As JNS reported, his growing support from Democratic Socialists of America-aligned groups contributed to a formidable grassroots mobilization effort that overwhelmed Cuomo’s once-unstoppable political machine.

The results have many worried. “Mamdani’s platform threatens public safety and undermines the core mission of the NYPD,” Honig told JNS. “This situation not only poses a risk to the city’s security but could ultimately backfire on the very constituents who support him.”

John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine, captured the sentiment in stark terms. “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,” Podhoretz wrote. “I’m not kidding when I say that people like Mamdani are why there has to be a Jewish state.”

The implications of Mamdani’s rise extend beyond New York. His victory deepens a schism within the Democratic Party, with moderates like Cuomo struggling to fend off the insurgent, far-left wing energized by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders — both of whom endorsed Mamdani. According to JNS, establishment Democrats fear that Mamdani’s nomination could alienate centrist and Jewish voters in critical districts across the country.

The Republican National Committee wasted no time capitalizing on the moment. “Democrats just nominated antisemitic, socialist, radical Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City and the new face of N.Y. Dems,” the NRCC said in a statement. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) joked that more New Yorkers would soon be fleeing to Florida. And former world chess champion Garry Kasparov added a grim historical reminder: “Socialism is like polio. It comes back when people forget about the horrible damage it did last time.”

Even Democrats expressed alarm. Esther Panitch, a Jewish state legislator from Georgia, tweeted: “I cannot overstate how scary this New York City vote is for pro-Israel American Jews. Antisemitism does have a place in New York.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams, who skipped the primary to run as an independent following his own legal troubles, remained vague about his intentions. Asked how he ranked his mayoral preferences on the ballot, Adams replied, “One, two, three, four and five — Eric Adams.”

As the JNS report emphasized, Adams may now emerge as the centrist lifeline for voters disenchanted with Mamdani’s far-left views. Honig predicted Adams “could now garner greater support from New Yorkers eager to embrace an America-first agenda,” aligning his message with the priorities of President Trump’s administration.

For Cuomo, the future remains uncertain. Though he hinted he may still run as an independent in the general election, he declined to confirm his next move. “We’ll make some decisions,” he told his supporters Tuesday night. “But I love each and every one of you and I thank you.”

Cuomo’s political brand, once defined by experience and pragmatism, now stands as a contrast to Mamdani’s insurgent radicalism. But as the JNS report noted, his checkered history — including the sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation in 2021 — ultimately made him a vulnerable candidate in an environment demanding moral purity as much as political vision.

Still, many in the Jewish community see Cuomo as a known quantity — flawed, but fundamentally committed to public safety, economic growth, and Israel’s right to exist. Mamdani, by contrast, represents for many a departure from those values.

The Republican Jewish Coalition echoed that view, calling Mamdani a “raging antisemite, anti-America, anti-Israel Democrat socialist” who “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 concluded. “So long as Democrats refuse to change course, they will continue to hemorrhage Jewish support.”

As the city awaits final ranked-choice tabulations, the broader implications are already reverberating. For Jewish New Yorkers, the prospect of a Mamdani administration feels existential. For Democrats, it raises troubling questions about the direction of the party in its most iconic city. And for the nation, it underscores a growing polarization that shows no signs of receding.

What is clear, as the JNS report noted, is that this primary was more than a local election — it was a cultural and political referendum. And New York, long a microcosm of American pluralism, now finds itself at the center of a bitter debate over its soul.