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      Plenty of Jews Love Zohran Mamdani

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      In 2023, a branch of the Palestinian restaurant Ayat opened in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park, not far from where I live. The eatery trumpets its politics; the seafood section on the menu is headed “From the River to the Sea,” which I found clever but some of its Jewish neighbors considered threatening. An uproar grew, especially online, so Ayat made a peace offering.In early 2024, it hosted a free Shabbat dinner, writing on social media, “Let’s create a space where differences unite us, where conversations flow freely, and where bonds are forged.” Over 1,300 people showed up. To serve them all, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported, Ayat used 15 lambs, 700 pounds of chicken and 100 branzino fish. There were also sandwiches from a glatt kosher caterer, a six-foot-long challah and a klezmer band.The event captured something miraculous about New York City, which is, for all its tensions and aggravations and occasional bursts of violence, a place where Jews and Muslims live in remarkable harmony. In Lawrence Wright’s recent novel set in the West Bank, “The Human Scale,” a Palestinian American man tries to explain it to his Palestinian cousin: “It’s not like here. Arabs and Jews are more like each other than they are like a lot of other Americans. You’ll see them in the same grocery stores and restaurants because of the halal food.”Eating side-by-side does not, of course, obviate fierce and sometimes ugly disagreements. But while outsiders like to paint New York as a roiling hellhole, there’s an everyday multicultural amity in this city that’s low-key magical.I saw some of that magic reflected in Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, and especially in the Muslim candidate’s alliance with New York’s Jewish comptroller, Brad Lander. They cross-endorsed, urging their followers to list the other second in the city’s ranked-choice voting system. The two campaigned together and made a joint appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” and Lander was beside Mamdani when he delivered his victory speech.Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian politics have sparked enormous alarm among some New York Jews, but he’s also won considerable Jewish support. In a poll of likely Jewish voters done by the Honan Strategy Group in May, Andrew Cuomo came in first, with 31 percent of the vote, but Mamdani was second, with 20 percent. On Tuesday, he won most of Park Slope, a neighborhood full of progressive Jews, and held his own on the similarly Jewish Upper West Side.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 75 Shares32 Views

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      How Mamdani Won, Block by Block

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      <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–>At a raucous rally in Manhattan last week, amid a sea of yellow bandannas, “Freeze the Rent” signs and “A City We Can Afford” banners, Mr. Mamdani took the stage to a groundswell of applause. He […] More

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      Is Mamdani Really a Gift to Trump and the G.O.P.?

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      Republicans have gleefully seized on Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as a fresh boogeyman. The reality could be more complicated.The votes were still being tallied last night when Representative Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican, sought to blame a potential political rival for Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s all-but-official upset victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.“Make no mistake, it is BECAUSE OF Kathy Hochul and the NY Democrat Party’s inept weakness and sheer incompetence that this has happened,” Stefanik wrote on X, referring to Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York.Never mind that Hochul didn’t so much as endorse Mamdani. Stefanik, who is contemplating a run for governor next year after President Trump pulled her nomination to be his United Nations ambassador, saw an obvious target.So has much of her party.In the hours since Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, opened up a healthy lead over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the first round of the city’s ranked-choice voting, Republicans have gleefully seized on a fresh new boogeyman for 2025. They’ve denigrated Mamdani’s age, his criticism of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians, and his progressive politics. Some on the right have directly vilified his Muslim faith.“We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous,” the president wrote on his social media site a few hours into his flight from Amsterdam to Washington today, adding that Mamdani “looks TERRIBLE.”Representative Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican from the Hudson Valley, said New York Democrats would “pay the price for this insanity.” The National Republican Congressional Committee called Mamdani “proudly antisemitic” — a charge he has forcefully rejected — and demanded that moderate Democrats like Representatives Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen of New York say whether or not they support him.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      5 Takeaways From the New York City Mayoral Primary

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      Here are some of the factors that drove Zohran Mamdani to the cusp of a seismic upset, and how they will affect the general election in November.Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman who campaigned relentlessly against New York’s spiraling affordability crisis, was on the verge of a seismic upset in the Democratic primary for mayor on Tuesday, powered by a diverse coalition from brownstone Brooklyn to the immigrant enclaves of Queens.The result was not final. But Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, declared victory, and Andrew M. Cuomo, his rival and the former governor, conceded defeat.Mr. Mamdani’s success in one of the first major Democratic primaries since President Trump returned to the White House reverberated across the country and offered a potential road map for Democrats searching for a path back to power. The Democratic primary winner would typically be considered the front-runner in November’s general election. Yet this fall’s contest promises to be unusually volatile. It will include Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent. Mr. Cuomo also still has the option of running on a third-party ballot line, though he has not committed to continuing his campaign.Here are five takeaways from the primary:Mamdani’s exuberant optimism attracted disaffected New Yorkers.Mr. Mamdani, with supporters and Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa, far right, won over voters with his energetic and charismatic style.Shuran Huang for The New York TimesMr. Mamdani, a third-term lawmaker from Queens, entered the race last fall with a thin résumé, virtually no citywide profile and views well to the left of many Democrats. He ended Tuesday as a breakout national figure.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cuomo, Chastened, Will Reassess Plans to Run as an Independent

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      The shape of the mayor’s race in November and the future of Andrew M. Cuomo are now in flux after Zohran Mamdani’s performance on Tuesday.For months, Andrew M. Cuomo insisted he would be on this fall’s general election ballot for mayor of New York City, no matter what — even saying so as recently as Tuesday morning.But after conceding the Democratic primary for mayor on Tuesday night to Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist assemblyman from Queens, Mr. Cuomo’s path forward is no longer as clear.Mr. Cuomo told The New York Times in a phone call shortly after his concession speech that he was still considering whether to run in the general election on an independent line.“I said he won the primary election,” Mr. Cuomo said, referring to Mr. Mamdani. “I said I wanted to look at the numbers and the ranked-choice voting to decide about what to do in the future, because I’m also on an independent line. And that’s the decision, that’s what I was saying. I want to analyze and talk to some colleagues.”In March, after months of equivocation, Mr. Cuomo, 67, announced he would run in the Democratic primary for mayor. From the start, he cast himself as the lone adult with the requisite competence and experience to manage a city that was spiraling out of control. He pointed to his 10-plus years as governor, when he helped legalize same-sex marriage and build the new Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station.But Mr. Cuomo ran what was widely considered a joyless and lackluster campaign, largely limiting his appearances to Black churches, synagogues and union halls, and rarely engaging in the kind of retail politics and ground game necessary to win a heavily contested election.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hanif Wins Re-election in Council Contest Defined by Israel and Gaza

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      Shahana Hanif defeated Maya Kornberg, a first-time candidate, in an acrimonious race for a City Council seat in Brooklyn.Shahana Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to the City Council in New York City, has held onto her seat in Tuesday’s Democratic primary contest, which had turned into a tense race where the politics of the Middle East became a focal point.Ms. Hanif, who represents Brooklyn neighborhoods including Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington, defeated her challenger, Maya Kornberg, a senior research fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, according to The Associated Press.Ms. Kornberg, 33, said she decided to challenge Ms. Hanif, 34, who was elected in 2021, because of the councilwoman’s focus on the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, and she regularly characterized her as being insufficiently concerned with the needs of the district.“The Council member’s disproportionate focus on that issue and taking public divisive stances on that issue, instead of focusing on the local issues facing our district — on fixing potholes and planting trees — is precisely the progressive attitude we need to change,” Ms. Kornberg said in a recent television interview.The race was animated this winter by the vandalism of an Israeli restaurant in Park Slope. Ms. Hanif condemned it, but some constituents felt she had not been vocal enough in calling out the vandalism as antisemitic. In an interview before the primary, Ms. Hanif said her opponents had tried and failed to belittle her efforts to bring more housing to Brooklyn, among other priorities.She cited as an example her efforts to rezone the site of the Arrow Linen & Uniform Supply Company in Windsor Terrace for housing. Many community members opposed the redevelopment, which passed the City Council earlier this year. Before it did, Ms. Hanif worked to scale it down and to ensure that more affordable units were included.“My campaign has been a multiracial and intergenerational coalition of people who want to build bridges,” said Ms. Hanif, who was supported by and campaigned aggressively with the progressive mayoral candidates Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and Comptroller Brad Lander.“If you look at the other side, you’re not going to see anything close to that sort of coalition.”In the end, Ms. Hanif, who grew up in the district in Kensington, prevailed in part because of her grass-roots outreach in immigrant communities. The efforts helped her withstand about $400,000 in super PAC spending from, among others, Uber and companies associated with Madison Square Garden, deployed to boost Ms. Kornberg’s campaign and attack Ms. Hanif. More

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      2025 NYC Mayoral Race: Photos From the Campaign Trail

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      New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary field is crowded, diverse and tenacious, like the city itself. It includes candidates who would be the first woman, the first Muslim and the oldest person elected to lead City Hall. As the race has heated up, the contenders have traversed the five boroughs in an effort to gain support from millions of voters who hold competing interests and visions of New York.Running for citywide office, like much of American politics, is a contact sport. Candidates seeking to raise money and boost their name recognition have had to take their message directly to voters — meeting them everywhere from the seats of the G train to the steps outside an N.B.A. playoff game at Madison Square Garden. And that was just before the first debate.Candidates often campaigned in places where they had personal connections, or sought out New York City icons like the Cyclone roller coaster and the Staten Island Ferry.Yet the dark political mood has cast a shadow over the contest. All the Democrats running have made big promises to bring the city they love back. Rising costs of living, threats from President Trump and enduring concerns over public safety have captured New Yorkers’ attention and are driving their votes. This atmosphere has prompted some of the candidates who currently hold public office to leverage their positions to make waves and force tough policy conversations.The race coincides with continuing tensions within the Democratic Party, which is still forging a path forward after bruising losses in last year’s presidential election. And as the candidates seek to galvanize voters and make a name for themselves, they have also sought to paint themselves as fighters for their city, and against Mr. Trump. Here are some moments captured by New York Times photojournalists of the leading candidates on the campaign trail.Adrienne AdamsAdrienne Adams marching in the Haitian Day Parade; marking the anniversary of her father’s death from Covid-19; and campaigning with Attorney General Letitia James and union leaders.Victor J. Blue for The New York Times, Janice Chung for The New York Times, Dave Sanders for The New York Times and Todd Heisler/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cuomo and Mamdani Push to Raise Turnout in ‘Jump Ball’ Mayor’s Race

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      A new poll shows the New York City mayor’s race tightening in its final days. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani are scrambling for every last vote.In the final hours before Primary Day, the Democratic race for mayor of New York City appeared to be razor-tight, leaving the two leading candidates — Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani — in scramble mode to boost turnout on Tuesday.A new poll released on Monday by Emerson College suggested the race was too close to call, with Mr. Cuomo drawing the most first-place votes but falling short of the 50 percent threshold required to be declared the winner under the city’s relatively new ranked-choice voting system.The poll shows Mr. Mamdani pulling ahead in the eighth round, topping Mr. Cuomo by 3.6 percentage points — matching the poll’s margin of error. It is the first major survey that shows Mr. Mamdani winning, seemingly reflecting his momentum, especially among younger voters.“It is essential that we turn out in record numbers in order to turn the page on Andrew Cuomo, his billionaire donors, and the politics of big money and small ideas,” Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and democratic socialist, said on Monday.Mr. Cuomo, the former governor who resigned in 2021 following a series of sexual harassment allegations that he denies, has led in polls for months, including one also released on Monday by Fix the City, a super PAC tied to Mr. Cuomo’s interests. His campaign called the Emerson poll an “outlier.”“We will continue to fight for every vote like he will fight for every New Yorker as mayor,” Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More