The New York Democratic primaries were a big coming-out for the party\u2019s leftmost flank \u2014 and a wake-up call for Jews in the city and beyond.<\/p>\n
(JTA<\/a>) As a series of congressional candidates backed by progressive anti-Zionist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani notched victories, including over two pro-Israel incumbents, the future for the party\u2019s relationship with Israel has never seemed more in question<\/a>. With one of those winners, Brad Lander, being Jewish, left-wing Jews are also celebrating a new champion and a boost in electoral power.<\/p>\n At the same time, a new, smaller crop of pro-Israel victors could seek to carry the mantle for the liberal Jewish vote, while Jewish establishment leaders are navigating the changing political landscape.<\/p>\n Here are a few big Jewish takeaways from Tuesday night:<\/p>\n 1: Are Jewish centers of power shifting?<\/p>\n Establishment Jewish figures and their allies were reading the tea leaves of the results Wednesday as voters seemed to shift further away from pro-Israel positions. Some downplayed any broader significance.<\/p>\n \u201cLast night\u2019s primaries indicate that DSA, Mamdani-backed candidates can win in different areas of New York City,\u201d Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that those same candidates could win anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n Soifer\u2019s pro-Israel group had offered a rare primary endorsement to Rep. Dan Goldman, who was routed by former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. She added, \u201cWe know that Jewish voters feel very conflicted about the issue of Israel and the role that it\u2019s now playing in Democratic politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She demurred on whether her organization could find a pathway to work with Lander, saying he \u201cchose to use Israel as a wedge issue in this election, dividing Jewish voters.\u201d In contrast to Goldman\u2019s clearer support for Israel, Lander has called for ending aid to Israeli defense systems including the Iron Dome, a stance Soifer specifically noted would be a roadblock to collaboration. Lander describes himself as a liberal Zionist.<\/p>\n Other Jewish leaders were sounding notes of alarm Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply concerned by public leaders who vilify Jews and others who support Israel, including many who also strive for peace, support Palestinian rights, and mourn the suffering of innocent civilians,\u201d Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of Reform Judaism\u2019s Religious Action Center, said in a statement. \u201cWe reject the false choice between Jewish safety and Palestinian dignity. We will work with leaders across political and ideological lines when they share our values, and we will speak out forcefully when their words or actions undermine Jewish safety, demonize supporters of Israel, or deny Israel\u2019s right to exist and thrive in security.\u201d<\/p>\n House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whose own endorsed candidates mostly lost on Tuesday, congratulated Lander<\/a> in an interview with NY1 and gave a \u201csalute\u201d to Goldman. The Brooklyn lawmaker also congratulated pro-Israel centrist Democrat Cait Conley (whom he did endorse) for her win in a suburban district held by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler that Jeffries hopes to flip.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Democratic pro-Israel Rep. Ritchie Torres, who\u2019d chased off a would-be pro-Palestinian primary challenger before the race got underway, declined to comment to JTA on what the race\u2019s results mean for Jewish leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re in a moment of a lot of uprooting of conventional beliefs and conventional norms,\u201d Goldman told the media<\/a> following his loss. Contrasting Democrats with \u201c1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,\u201d he added, \u201cThe more internal division and divisiveness, internal fighting that we have, means that they\u2019re going to continue to push forward with their agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Jewish pundits were more explicit about what they saw as the political threat. David Frum, a center-right columnist for The Atlantic, said<\/a> before results came in that the primaries were a \u201ctest of power of Mayor Mamdani\u2019s anti-Jewish messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n Does this leave Jewish progressives in a moment of confusion \u2014 or ascension? New York Jewish Agenda, a left-leaning Jewish advocacy group whose previous director was appointed as Mamdani\u2019s antisemitism czar, told JTA the answer might lie somewhere in the middle.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to need to stretch in new and interesting ways in order to be effective,\u201d Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson, the group\u2019s director, said of NYJA\u2019s coalition-building work. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be unexpected bright spots and new areas of alignment in really unlikely places.\u201d Lander and Lasher are former NYJA board members.<\/p>\n Hughes-Robinson acknowledged that, in the wake of wins in other congressional districts, such as that of former encampment organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, Jews \u201cmay not receive the same warm invitation\u201d from some of their progressive counterparts going forward. Still, she insisted, Jews should \u201ctry to be in the room and get work done.\u201d<\/p>\n The results, she said, also showed that \u201cthere\u2019s a diversity of Jewish voices, and I actually think that\u2019s a really good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n IfNotNow, though, was ebullient \u2014 and eager to anoint a new standard-bearer for the Jewish community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBrad\u2019s win is a blueprint for the future for both the Jewish community and the Democratic Party,\u201d the pro-Palestinian Jewish group, which heavily boosted Lander, wrote on social media<\/a>. \u201cHe ran a bold, unapologetically Jewish campaign that rejected pro-war lobbies like AIPAC and the endless flow of U.S. weapons to Israel. And his vision won resoundingly.\u201d<\/p>\n 2: King Mamdani<\/p>\n Now is the time of Mamdani.<\/p>\n The anti-Zionist mayor made a big push for political influence in Tuesday\u2019s primaries, and his bets paid off. All three congressional candidates Mamdani stumped for, who hit the campaign trail with fierce criticism of Israel as one of their major commonalities, prevailed in their contests and are virtually assured seats in the House in November given the Democratic makeup of their districts. The victories further cemented Mamdani\u2019s status in the minds of many political analysts as a new center of power for progressive Democrats.<\/p>\n Mamdani-backed victories include state lawmaker Claire Valdez, the democratic socialist who bested Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for the open seat in New York\u2019s 7th Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race for Valdez early, with her pulling 56% of the vote to Reynoso\u2019s 35% as of press time. The district\u2019s retiring representative, Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez, had backed Reynoso.<\/p>\n \u201cI will continue to call for Palestinian liberation,\u201d Valdez said<\/a> during her victory speech, to cheers. \u201cWe will stand up to the genocide. We will refuse to abide by apartheid. And we will use our money to improve lives here instead of destroying them abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n Chevalier, the former Columbia University encampment organizer who had attended a pro-Palestinian rally at which support for Hamas was expressed on Oct. 8, 2023, also shocked the political establishment by squeaking out a win over incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the 13th district. \u201cFree Palestine\u201d chants broke out at her victory celebration, which was also attended<\/a> by Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. (Chevalier, like Valdez, was backed by the DSA.)\u00a0<\/p>\n And in a matchup between two Jews that the Jewish political establishment watched closely, Lander, a frequent Mamdani surrogate, trounced Goldman, the incumbent.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe mayor showed that he knows how to pick winners,\u201d Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is Jewish, told JTA on Tuesday night. \u201cI think that\u2019s a big takeaway, and his popularity is transferable. And that\u2019s more power to his coalition; those who doubted his reach should rethink their assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n As the mayor helps push Democrats further to the left on Israel, he has also contributed to a coarsening of political rhetoric for Jews.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani, at his rally last week backing his preferred candidates, triggered backlash<\/a> from Jewish corners for comparing pro-Israel lobbyists AIPAC to \u201cmonsters.\u201d Jewish leaders (including, in the primary\u2019s final hours, the Union for Reform Judaism and Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt) criticized his language.\u00a0<\/p>\n But none of it seemed to hurt his candidates or his reach.<\/p>\n 3: Who will carry the torch for pro-Israel Jews in Congress?<\/p>\n One notable race in which Mamdani hadn\u2019t intervened was his own congressional district: the 12th, which is also the most Jewish in the country. There, Jewish State Assembly member Micah Lasher won the race<\/a> to succeed his former boss, progressive Rep. Jerry Nadler, himself a fixture of liberal Jewry. The mayor did not reveal whom he had voted for.<\/p>\n Lasher, who said<\/a> during the race that he was \u201cexhausted\u201d with how the electorate seemed to be \u201cobsessed with Israel,\u201d will aim to thread the needle for liberal pro-Israel Jews as Nadler once did \u2014 but at a much more challenging moment for pro-Israel politics. He has pushed for \u201cHamas out of Gaza and Netanyahu out of the Knesset,\u201d while also seeking protections for Jewish college students and on other fronts.<\/p>\n Unlike in the other races, though, Lasher\u2019s did not explicitly pivot on Israel \u2014 making it hard to draw conclusions about his voters\u2019 tolerance for more critical views. (One of his major sticking points with his leading primary opponent, Alex Bores, was over artificial intelligence.) Lasher\u2019s strong bonds with the local Jewish community will also position him for a potentially crucial interlocutor role for local Jews, some said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that Micah is going to be a bridge between the Jewish community and the current city administration,\u201d Hoylman-Sigal told JTA. \u201cI think he\u2019s someone who can work with the mayor, but I think he can also represent the community in a way that\u2019s going to make us all proud.\u201d<\/p>\n Conley\u2019s victory in the suburbs<\/a>, meanwhile, could bring another pro-Israel Jewish torchbearer to Congress as the body becomes a lonelier place for that demographic population. The 17th district has a large pro-Israel Orthodox population, and is currently represented by Lawler, though Democrats are bullish on their prospects in November. Lawler is regarded as one of the most vulnerable House Republicans in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although Conley bested a Jewish opponent, Beth Davidson, in the primary, the military veteran ran a staunchly pro-Israel campaign and has said she sees the country as a key U.S. national security ally. How Democrats, and their Jewish leaders, rally behind her in their efforts to flip the seat will serve as a telling sign of whether the party can still sell itself to pro-Israel swing voters.<\/p>\n 4: AIPAC was everywhere \u2026 and nowhere<\/p>\n For all the attention AIPAC attracted in New York City this election cycle, one could be forgiven for assuming the lobbyists were spending on candidates there like crazy.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s now-infamous \u201cmonsters\u201d comment preceded a Brooklyn cafe rejecting<\/a> Goldman\u2019s business on the grounds that his money for a cup of coffee was \u201cprobably coming from AIPAC\u201d \u2014 which had endorsed Goldman.\u00a0<\/p>\n The progressive victors Tuesday night railed against the pro-Israel group in their speeches, but in fact, AIPAC appeared to be less involved than most progressives charged. Following accusations from Valdez that a new super PAC backing her opponent was being secretly funded by AIPAC, the PAC\u2019s own supporters denied the charge<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In general, the AIPAC lobbyists appear not to have funneled the kinds of primary cash into the New York-area races that they have in other cycles. The exception, a large donation to Chevalier\u2019s opponent Espaillat, backfired with a Chevalier victory.<\/p>\n In its own statement<\/a> on the race, AIPAC congratulated Jeffries and touted its endorsed candidates who had won elsewhere in New York and other states \u2014 many of whom ran with no serious opposition.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile disappointed that some of our endorsed candidates did not prevail, our community is proud to support pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans who stand for our values, and we are encouraged that voters in races across the country this primary season continue to choose serious, thoughtful leaders who support a strong U.S.-Israel partnership,\u201d the group wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street\u2019s brand fared slightly better. The group congratulated Lander, whom they had endorsed \u2014 while also cross-endorsing Goldman \u2014 as well as Lasher and Conley.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement to JTA, J Street director Jeremy Ben-Ami said of Lander, \u201cWe look forward to working with him toward a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n 5: Are progressives splitting over Israel divisions?<\/p>\n Even among a broader victory for Mamdani\u2019s lane of progressivism, there were some signs of strain.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, endorsed Lander and Valdez \u2014 but not Chevalier (although he spoke at a joint rally for her and the other candidates). In a since-deleted X account, Chevalier years ago had knocked Sanders for his \u201cliberal Zionism,\u201d the New York Post reported<\/a>. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another progressive superstar with an often rocky relationship with Jewish communities, also did not endorse Chevalier.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, New York\u2019s first lady Rama Duwaji, whose social media activity has long suggested even more strident pro-Palestinian views than her husband, urged her followers to vote for Valdez and Chevalier, the two DSA-backed candidates \u2014 but she did not mention Lander, the lone Jewish candidate and most positive toward Israel of the three Mamdani endorsees.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lander, despite being Mamdani\u2019s most visible Jewish ally, also showed signs of frustration with the movement during his campaign. He wouldn\u2019t defend<\/a> the mayor\u2019s AIPAC comments, instead pushing for \u201ca spirit of unity and humanity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n