Andrew Cuomo and the Jews: 4 things to know about the candidate for NYC mayor
Before he resigned as governor in 2021, Cuomo partnered and clashed with New York’s Jewish communities on a bevy of issues — from COVID to supporting Israel to fighting antisemitism
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a 2020 press conference. Photo by Getty Images
(JTA) — Nearly 10 minutes into his 17-minute campaign launch video, the latest candidate to enter New York City’s crowded Democratic mayoral primary points out that NYC is home to the most Jews of anywhere in the country.
And if Andrew Cuomo enters Gracie Mansion in 2026, the city’s million Jews will have a lot of history with the new mayor.
Before he resigned as governor in 2021, Cuomo partnered and clashed with New York’s Jewish communities on a bevy of issues — from COVID to supporting Israel to fighting antisemitism.
With fewer than four months to go until NYC’s Democratic mayoral primary in late June, Cuomo has a commanding lead in polls — likely a combination of sky-high name recognition and a relative dearth of centrists in the race. It remains to be seen whether voters will give him another chance after he stepped down while facing a string of sexual harassment allegations.
As he mounts another campaign, here’s a quick look back at four issues that defined Cuomo’s relationship with New York Jews.
He clashed with haredi Orthodox communities over COVID-19 restrictions.
Prior to the sexual misconduct allegations, some of the most vivid memories many voters probably have of Cuomo come from his public-facing briefings at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He certainly hopes so — touting his COVID response repeatedly in his campaign video, even though some of his actions sparked controversy.
And for the city’s haredi voters, whom he has courted in the past, his record may not be so spotless.
Particularly during fall 2020, as COVID rates rose in the city after a summer lull, Cuomo’s actions to reduce the spread targeted some Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, limiting religious gatherings and closing schools. The moves sparked civil disobedience and some raucous protests — including mask burning — and a lawsuit.
In late November 2020, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority struck down his capacity limits in synagogues.
(Cuomo’s public health policy also intersected with the city’s haredi community in 2019, when a measles outbreak in Hasidic areas led Cuomo to sign a bill banning religious exemptions for vaccines. At the time, he said in a statement, “While I understand and respect freedom of religion, our first job is to protect the public health and by signing this measure into law, we will help prevent further transmissions and stop this outbreak right in its tracks.”)
He vocally opposed antisemitism — and is doing so again.
Cuomo was governor as antisemitism spiked in the later years of the 2010s, with a series of street attacks on haredi Jews in Brooklyn and then two deadly attacks in 2019 in Monsey, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson.
Cuomo took a series of public steps to stem antisemitism. He ordered the formation of a hate crimes unit in the state police, provided additional security funding for Jewish institutions, put more police in Jewish neighborhoods and spearheaded a law defining antisemitism as domestic terrorism. After the Monsey stabbing, a rabbi who survived the attack delivered an invocation before Cuomo’s State of the State address.
Now, Cuomo has placed fighting antisemitism — which he framed in the context of anti-Israel protests — at the center of his mayoral bid. In his video, he mentioned ending antisemitic harassment alongside other signature issues like addressing homelessness, increasing the police force and making the subways safer. He said the law should be “aggressively enforced” and called for new legislation that he didn’t specify.
“The tragic situation in the Middle East generates strong opinions, understandably. It is a terrible story of human loss and suffering, but nothing justifies racism and antisemitism,” he said, adding that the city’s Jews “are our neighbors and friends, they are our family, literally. They helped build this city. It is their home and they must feel safe.”
He took action against the movement to boycott Israel.
In 2016, Cuomo signed an order banning New York government agencies from investing in companies that engage in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, known as BDS. The order drew attention because of the state’s size and Jewish population. It got praise from centrist and right-wing pro-Israel groups and opposition from progressive groups, which contends that such laws, passed in a range of states, suppress free speech.
Two years earlier, Cuomo took his first trip to Israel as governor near the end of the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
And following his resignation, one of his first moves to reenter the political arena was announcing the formation of a group called “Progressives for Israel.” It later changed its name to “Never Again, Now!” and aired an ad in July criticizing anti-Israel protesters.
He courted the Jewish vote in prior elections — and (allegedly) complained about it.
Cuomo’s many campaigns have had a smattering of memorable Jewish moments. He polled well among Jews in his first race in 2010, and his 2014 Israel trip came about three months before he won a second term.
In 2018, he faced Cynthia Nixon in a Democratic primary race that got national attention. That March, right after Nixon declared her candidacy, Cuomo faced backlash for joking that Jews can’t dance.
Later, Nixon took some lighthearted flak for going to Zabar’s and, according to critics, defiling the iconic Upper West Side spot by ordering lox, cream cheese and capers — on a cinnamon raisin bagel.
A more serious Jewish-focused dispute came closer to the September primary. Nixon, who raised Jewish children and attended synagogue, took umbrage as a pro-Cuomo mailer called her soft on antisemitism. The mailer accused her of supporting BDS and wanting to cut funding to yeshivas.
“With anti-Semitism and bigotry on the rise, we can’t take a chance with inexperienced Cynthia Nixon, who won’t stand strong for our Jewish communities,” it said.
Nixon called on Cuomo to apologize, denying that she supported BDS and calling the mailer “disgusting and cynical.” Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, who led Nixon’s synagogue, and Kleinbaum’s wife, teachers union leader Randi Weingarten, called the mailer “beyond the pale.”
Cuomo won that race by a wide margin.
But one of the most evocative Jewish stories from a Cuomo campaign came back in 2006, when he was running for state attorney general. As he was campaigning in a haredi neighborhood, he was alleged to have griped about “these people and their f—ing tree houses,” according to a New York Times Magazine profile.
A spokesperson denied the comment, saying, “His two sisters married Jewish men, and he has the highest respect for Jewish traditions.”
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