‘Pit in my stomach’: As Cuomo concedes, Jewish supporters ‘torn apart’ by Mamdani win

NEW YORK — The news broadcast displayed to the crowd at Andrew Cuomo’s campaign event in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night called the race for Zohran Mamdani soon after the polls closed.

“Mamdani wins race for mayor,” the display said, next to a screen for the campaign that read, “Cuomo: Ready on day one.”

The response in the crowd was muted. Most had been hoping for, but not expecting, Cuomo to pull off a victory against Mamdani, the heavy favorite in the race, and many were skeptical about the early calls for Mamdani.

“What the fuck do you mean he wins the race?” one attendee said.

“I think it might be over,” another responded.

Others sat watching the news in silence at tables laden with candles, wine glasses and signs that said, “NY loves Cuomo.”

As more votes came in, the crowd accepted that their candidate had lost. A few people cried, some embraced. A man with a red face and white hair launched an expletive-heavy tirade against Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate who had insisted on staying in the race despite his low polling numbers, sucking sorely needed votes away from Cuomo.

The centrist, pro-Israel Cuomo’s loss to Mamdani hit Jewish supporters particularly hard, though. They expressed fear, disappointment and frustration that a far-left anti-Israel activist will now helm the city, home to the Diaspora’s largest Jewish community.

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

Kohane, a Republican, said he supported Sliwa until a few days ago, only switching to Cuomo when he saw that Sliwa did not have a path to victory. Kohane ran the New York City marathon over the weekend while carrying a Cuomo placard — a notable concession for the die-hard Republican — 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,’” Kohane said. “At least Cuomo is not antisemitic. At least he’s going to allow Jews to live our lives.”

“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 said.

Moshe Spern, who runs a group that supports Jewish teachers in the city and volunteered for the Cuomo campaign, said he fears the effects of 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 said.

“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 I’m worried about the future of this country,” Spern said. “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.”

Barbara Schwartz, a resident of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, wore a sticker with an animated caricature of Cuomo surrounded by the symbols of different religions. She said she felt fear for the first time in decades.

“I’m absolutely torn apart,” Schwartz said. “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 antisemitism 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 said.

One woman, born in New York to Israeli parents, said she felt like “my city has been stolen.” She said Israelis in the city were in shock and that many will likely consider leaving.

Around an hour after the race was called, Cuomo took the stage, flanked by his daughters. Despite its disappointment, the crowd gave him an energetic welcome, shouting, “We love you Andrew” and chanting, “Cuomo.”

“I love you too,” Cuomo said. His congratulations to Mamdani drew a round of boos from the audience.

“We cherish our diversity and we have no tolerance for discrimination of any kind, by race, religion, sexual orientation or creed, and we will not tolerate any behavior that fans the flames of antisemitism,” he said, eliciting a round of cheers.

Cuomo in concession speech says, “ We will not tolerate any behavior that fans the flames of antisemitism” pic.twitter.com/iw3qm14pC1

— Luke Tress (@luketress) November 5, 2025

Israel Peskowitz, a political activist from Kew Gardens in Queens, expressed frustration at the Cuomo campaign. He said he believed Adrienne Adams, the New York City Council speaker, should have received the backing of the party, and that Cuomo should have dropped out after losing the primary to Mamdani. He called Cuomo’s campaign a “slow-motion car crash.”

“He says that he is not anti-Jewish, he’s anti-Zionist. Will he allow another Crown Heights riot, another Kristallnacht part 2?” Peskowitz said of Mamdani, referring to the 1991 Brooklyn riots targeting Jews. “We have to be ready and we have to see if it’s a mayor who holds true to his ideals because a lot of his followers do hate us, be it for Zionism or Judaism or a billion other reasons.”

“Israeli issues, I’m very worried about,” he said. “He can aggravate it. He can allow one side to run rampant and the other side to be beaten down as they protest. Now, that’s an extreme. We shall see what he allows.”