By Don Driggers

With anger and disappointment towards Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo, the Orthodox Jewish vote is up for grabs in the upcoming mayoral race.

Tablet magazine wrote after the 2020 election: In the city, Orthodox Jews are often registered Democrats, since general elections are not usually competitive and nearly all of the city’s meaningful politics take place within the Democratic Party itself—thus the conservative and Trump-supporting Dov Hikind represented South Brooklyn in the state Assembly as a Democrat for over 30 years. In certain Haredi areas, a highly cohesive block vote in Democratic primaries gives the local Orthodox an unusual degree of political sway, protecting the subsidies and social welfare programs that sustain those communities’ way of life. But Tuesday’s (results) hint that the Orthodox connection to the party is now largely tactical.

In other words, the Orthodox heavy turnout for Trump proves this voting bloc is not loyal to the Democratic party, and if the Democratic candidates will have to court the Orthodox voters, particularly in Brooklyn. The Orthodox, will not just vote monolithically Democrat. Issues matter more than party.

“People first of all can’t stand de Blasio. They think he is terrible. People here think de Blasio doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Zalmen Hertz, a brash 24-year-old Rabbi from Bensonhurst told The Post, saying it was one of the few things about the race which everyone he spoke to could agree on.

“The race is wide open,” Rabbi Chaim Zwiebel, Executive Vice President of the nonprofit Agudath Israel of America told The Post. Zwiebel said that city comptroller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ name recognition gave them an early edge, but that it was still anyone’s game.

“People are starting to pay attention,” Zwiebel said. “Just because they have name recognition doesn’t mean they will emerge as the candidate of choice in our community.”

NY Post pointed out, Jewish leaders like Councilman Chaim Deutsch said in the end, it would ultimately come down to the issues, including a plan to fight anti-Semitism in New York, maintaining strong ties with Israel, affordable housing and security for schools and synagogues.

Politicians should not take the Orthodox voting block for granted. Yeruchim Silber, a rabbi and director of New York government relations for Agudath Israel of America, wrote by email to Tablet magazine in November: “The whole COVID issue is one where people’s lives and routines have changed in a discernible way due in large part to government regulations in regard to closing of schools, houses of worship, along with other restrictions. People have felt frustrated and speaking at the ballot was a way for them to be heard.”