‘Pit in my stomach’: Jewish Cuomo supporters ‘torn apart’ by Mamdani victory

Jewish supporters of Andrew Cuomo express fear and distress as Cuomo concedes to far-left anti-Israel activist Zohran Mamdani at Cuomo’s election night event in midtown Manhattan.

“I was very hopeful until the very end,” says Ariel Kohane, a Modern Orthodox Jew from Manhattan. “It’s like a big empty pit in my stomach.”

Kohane, a Republican, says he was supporting the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa until a few days ago.

He switched to Cuomo when he saw that Sliwa did not have a path to victory and ran the New York City marathon this weekend carrying a Cuomo placard and wearing a kippah showing US President Donald Trump.

“I said, ‘Well, I have to go to Cuomo because he’s the best shot, the only way to stop Mamdani.’ At least Cuomo is not antisemitic. At least he’s going to allow Jews to live our lives,” Kohane says.

“Even wearing a yarmulke in the street now is probably going to get a lot more dangerous. It’s not something that I ever thought would happen anywhere in the United States of America, let alone New York,” he says.

Moshe Spern, who runs a group to support Jewish teachers in the city and volunteered for the Cuomo campaign, says he fears for education under a Mamdani administration.

“I’m worried about the indoctrination of kids hating Israel, thinking that Israel is a pariah, thinking that Israel commits genocide, something that Zohran has gone around saying for two years,” he says.

“I’m concerned about the education and how the next generation of kids are going to think and vote. I’m worried about the future of this city, and what I’m worried about the future of this country,” Spern says.

“As Jewish people, we have to remember that, while things didn’t turn out the way we wanted it, there’s always a greater plan for all of us and we just have to stick together,” he says.

“I’m absolutely torn apart,” says Barbara Schwartz, a resident of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “I support the Jews, and I am absolutely frantic. I am frantic about being here in New York City with him as my mayor.”

“I’m frightened about anti-semitism on my street corner. I’m frightened there’s going to be some march or something, and they’re going to strike us. I’ve never had that in my city,” she says.