Orthodox Jewish groups back Cuomo for NYC mayor after Adams drops out of race

NEW YORK — Jewish political groups, mostly representing Orthodox communities, endorsed former New York governor Andrew Cuomo for New York City mayor on Tuesday, two days after incumbent Eric Adams dropped out of the race.

Community groups and local leaders issued a joint announcement backing Cuomo, saying, “We believe it is essential to speak with one voice at this critical time.”

“We are deeply concerned about the direction that mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani would take our city,” the statement said, citing Mamdani’s statements about police, his past support for the phrase “globalize the intifada,” and his “socialist policies that we believe would create chaos” and put their communities at risk.

Signees included the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, the Association of Crown Heights Shuls, the Staten Island Jewish Coalition, the Queens Jewish Alliance, and Crown Heights United, and several local community leaders.

On Monday, two other Jewish groups, Crown Heights United PAC and the Sephardic Community Federation, also endorsed Cuomo.

Adams, a longtime supporter of Israel and Jewish communities, dropped out of the race on Sunday amid poor polling numbers.

The announcement narrowed the vote to three candidates — Mamdani, Cuomo, and the Republican Curtis Sliwa, who is polling in third place and has vowed to remain in the race.

Despite ending his campaign, Adams’s name will remain on the ballot because the deadline to formally withdraw from the race has passed. His announcement means that he will no longer campaign or ask his supporters to vote for him. He will serve out the remainder of his single four-year term as mayor, which ends at the close of the year.

The general election is on November 4.

Cuomo, like Adams, is an Israel supporter, but infuriated Orthodox Jewish communities when he instituted COVID restrictions on gatherings while serving as governor during the pandemic. Orthodox groups felt that the restrictions targeted their communities. Cuomo sought to make amends during the primary campaign and earned Orthodox endorsements for that race ahead of the June vote.

The statement released on Tuesday nodded to those past tensions, saying, “While we may have had our differences with [Cuomo] during his tenure as governor, we need a leader who understands how to manage” the city government.

Adams has strong ties to Orthodox Jewish communities and his dropping out opened the way for the Cuomo endorsements.

Tuesday’s statement thanked Adams for “his many years of friendship to our community” and applauded his decision to quit the race and “put the wellbeing of New York City above personal political considerations.”

Far-left Jewish groups, such as Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, are supporting Mamdani.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and antisemitism were major campaign issues ahead of the mayoral primary in June, but have receded since then. Candidates are more focused on everyday issues like affordability and housing.

Cuomo lost the June primary to Mamdani in a stunning upset and is now running as an independent in the general election. As the Democratic Party candidate, Mamdani is the heavy favorite.

New York City is home to the largest Jewish population of any city worldwide. Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group in the city, although the rate of antisemitic incidents has slowed in recent months, according to police data.