Andrew Cuomo, who is running for mayor of New York City, announced on Wednesday that he received the endorsement of the Satmar community of Williamsburg, led by Grand Rebbe Zalman Teitelbaum. The former New York governor said it was the sixth major Orthodox Jewish group to back him, ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary.
Local insiders, who are very familiar with Orthodox political views and voting patterns in Brooklyn, N.Y., told JNS that a recent wave of Jewish endorsements of Cuomo reflects political necessity more than genuine support.
Ezra Friedlander, who runs an eponymous public relations firm, told JNS that the former governor’s campaign success hinges on securing Orthodox support. “Cuomo is trying to consolidate the Orthodox and Haredi votes. That’s his lifeline,” he said. “Without that, his candidacy is doomed.”
“Is there enthusiasm for him? The answer is no,” Friedlander told JNS. “It’s more of him perceived as being the only candidate that could beat Zohran Mamdani.” (A New York state representative, Mamdani has a history of anti-Israel remarks, including saying that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he visits the city.)
“He’s sort of the devil you know, as opposed to the devil you don’t know,” Friedlander told JNS, of Cuomo and Mamdani, respectively.
A recent poll shows Mamdani leading Cuomo narrowly within the margin of error. Friedlander thinks a Mamdani win could benefit Jews.
“I take the contrarian view,” he told JNS. “I actually believe a Mamdani administration would try to be more sensitive than most people expect, precisely because he is Muslim.”
“He might be more amenable to engaging with the Orthodox Jewish community and addressing their concerns,” he said. “And as someone who comes from a religious background himself, he may have a deeper understanding of the value of parochial religious education, possibly more than people anticipate.”
Freidlander told JNS that Jews ought to vote, whomever their candidate is. If they don’t, they are “literally not part of the equation,” he told JNS. “You can kvetch and complain, but it’s worthless. Voting is your only answer to politicians not ignoring our community.”
An insider, who is very familiar with the Brooklyn Orthodox community and spoke with JNS only on background, said that Orthodox voters support Cuomo in the primary to defeat “haters” like Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander.
Lander, the New York City comptroller who is Jewish, “just said that he’s willing to put kids in yeshiva at risk of being murdered violently, or at risk of exposing them to potential violence by pulling security from yeshivas,” the source told JNS.
Most Orthodox New Yorkers are arriving at Cuomo because they are evaluating who is the “least worst candidate,” the source said, “which means there’s very little enthusiasm for him.”
“Orthodox Jews still feel that, as governor, he caused a lot of harm and that a lot of his policies were very detrimental,” the source said. “Worst of all was the way he specifically targeted the Orthodox community during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The then-governor blamed Chassidic Jewish gatherings, including for prayer, for spreading the virus and drew widespread criticism from Chassidic communities for shuttering synagogues and religious schools.
Cuomo’s campaign strategy has been to connect with communal leaders, rather than individuals, within the Jewish community, according to the source.
“There’s very little engagement with the street or with the public,” he said. “He’s not even speaking to the community via video. It’s just closed-door meetings, and once in a while, a video surfaces from one of those meetings.”
“He’s failing to connect with the actual voters in these communities,” the source.
Cuomo’s campaign told JNS that the Satmar group, which endorsed the former governor on Wednesday, represents the largest Orthodox voting coalition in the city and that it includes the Chassidic communities of Pupa, Viznitz, Vien, Tzelim, Nitra, Krasna, Skver and Klausenburg.
“I’m deeply honored to have the endorsement of the Satmars, a powerful nod that speaks to the deep bond and affection I’ve developed over the years with this community,” Cuomo stated. “When I become mayor, I promise to continue my record of fighting antisemitism and serving as that shield to protect our Jewish brothers and sisters.”
‘Ph.d. in Andrew’
Eric Adams, the New York City mayor who is running to keep his seat as an independent, told a reporter at a City Hall press conference on Tuesday morning that he isn’t worried about the growing number of Orthodox endorsements of Cuomo.
“Let me tell you the art of what Andrew does,” the mayor said. “I have a master’s in public administration, but I have a Ph.D. in Andrew.”
“He’ll go to Borough Park, and he’ll get one or two people in Borough Park, and then we write that he has the whole Borough Park community,” Adams said. “He’ll get one or two black preachers and have them endorse him, and say he has the whole black clergy. That’s just how he operates.”
“He’ll come out on weekends, do a black church, stand in the pulpit, and then he’ll disappear for the next six days,” Adams said.
Cuomo does not have the same long-lasting relationship with the Jewish community that he does, Adams said.
“He has about three, four people that endorse him in Crown Heights, but I was in Crown Heights the other day at Devorah Halberstam’s event for her son,” he said. “I stood with Devorah when Ari was shot and killed on the Brooklyn Bridge. We’re talking about a relationship of over 30 years.”
Adams said that the mayoral race will be the most interesting one in city history.
“Let the primary run its course, and we are going to see what’s going to happen in the general,” he said. “I don’t agree with Mamdani’s policies. We’re diametrically opposed to each other. I don’t agree with his stance on many things, but I respect the fact that he’s true to who he is.”
“I don’t know who the other folks are,” Adams said.