In two weeks, New York City will hold a Democratic mayoral primary where Andrew Cuomo will compete before facing off against the current mayor and a Republican challenger. But should Andrew Cuomo be the next mayor of New York City? A quick look at his record shows the obvious answer.
By Shalom D. Felder
In two weeks, New York City will hold a Democratic primary for mayor. If Andrew Cuomo wins, he will face the now-independent incumbent Eric Adams and Republican crime fighter Curtis Sliwa in the general election. In order to be elected as mayor, he will have to secure the Orthodox Jewish vote, which makes up a large portion of New York City.
But before voting for him, we need to seriously ask: Should Andrew Cuomo indeed be mayor of New York City?
No one doubts that Cuomo has publicly supported Israel and spoken out against antisemitism. We obviously appreciate that. Standing up for Klal Yisrael is of extreme importance.
But words alone are not enough. And thankfully, we don’t have short-term memory loss.
During his time as governor, Cuomo’s handling of the COVID pandemic showed a painful lack of understanding and fairness toward the frum communities. He deliberately created “red zones” that singled out neighborhoods like Borough Park and parts of Rockland County – areas with large frum populations – and imposed harsh restrictions on shuls, yeshivos, and daily life. These zones were not just about health; they publicly marked frum Jews as dangerous, fueling stigma and division.
Sadly, these policies helped fuel antisemitism. Hate crimes rose, and the frum community felt under siege – not just from the virus, but from government policies that seemed designed without respect or partnership.
On top of this, Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic was a grave failure. A directive from his administration required nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients, which clearly contributed to thousands of deaths – including many in the Jewish community. This tragedy was made worse by the administration’s underreporting of these deaths and lack of transparency.
Cuomo’s administration also took actions that were perceived as attempts to enforce secular education standards in yeshivas. Many in the frum community were rightfully concerned that these measures represented government overreach into religious education, potentially leading to increased scrutiny and interference in yeshiva curricula.
There are serious concerns about his character as well, with multiple credible reports about inappropriate behavior toward women in his office. There are additional concerns about ethics, use of state resources, and a leadership style described by many as harsh and intimidating. These issues add to a pattern that calls into question whether he truly serves the people of New York.
Leadership means more than good speeches or political gestures. It means respecting and protecting our community, listening to our concerns, and standing with us in practical ways.
Despite his pro-Israel rhetoric and promises to fight antisemitism, Cuomo’s record is one of a leader who often failed to do what was needed for our community. For the sake of our families, our schools, and our shuls, Andrew Cuomo should not be mayor of New York.
Thank you very much for speaking up.
For me this is VERY personal because I was with my Mother הי”ד as she suffered greatly before she passed away from Covid in a Nursing Home.
He is my fantasy/solution. It may seen far out but with Hashem’s help it may work.
Mandami wins & then since Cuomo ימ”ש will still be on the ballet ( his own party) there will be 4 candidates running.
Since the Liberals will SPLIT there votes it is possible that either Adams or Sliwa wins.
What do you think?
I dont want him as mayor, but I think the other guy running as democrat is even worse, an open sonei yisroel.
What practical choices do we have?
Maybe I should run for mayor..
Dear “pick your poison,”
As Chassidim I don’t think it’s our job to choose for Hashem the lesser or 2 evil’s, we do what’s right and that is not to support anti-semite and not to support someone that still doesn’t acknowledge what was wrong with the red zone and putting our grandparent into into hospitals hy”d.
There are many ways even al pi derech hatevah for Mamdani to lose including “thank you” or Hashem is the one that constantly creates and shall he say it should stop then Mamdani will have no life.
All of this is irrelevant to the primaries election. You can choose between Cuomo and antisemitic communist Mamdani. Obviously pick Cuomo. Then vote for Adams or whomever in the general election afterwards.
what about Adreinne Adams and Zellnor Myrie like the 26 Schools and Yeshivas in Boro Park endorsed?
This article comes at the wrong time and might keep people from voting in the democratic primary!
For those who don’t know how to vote, there’s primaries (in New York City) it’s only democrats that have one 🙂
And then there is the Mayoral election.
2 separate things to vote for.
The Mayoral election will be between Silwa (Rep), Adams (Ind), and whoever wins the Democratic primary.
Vote for Adams or Silva in the mayoral election, but for heaven’s sake, do all you can to keep that Sonei Yisroel from getting on the Democratic ticket.
Is Cuomo. Anyone else is a true calculated risk for possible disaster. Everything is in the hands of Hashem, but please go derech hateva and not be like so many Jews pre WWII, that believed strongly that they were living in a civilized society and nothing terrible could possibly happen, until it did! We need to do Teshuva and vote with our heads. None of these options are tzadikim if you scrutinize their records. The best chance of the lot is A. Cuomo. Sorry but I believe this strongly.
I was on Mivtza lulav on a Manhattan street cornor sukkois 5781, wearing a hat and jacket and all, i got that day quite a few hateful comments about religious jews spreading diseases (those were the news headlines then, including reports of selichois in 770) from several passerby (including a few concerned yidden) and even got yelled at & threatened to ‘get out of here’ by a white middle-aged individual.
Did it have to do with Coumo’s handling of Covid? Probably.
What you don’t realize is that Cuomo ימ”ש is also running in November on his own Third party line called the “Fight & Deliver” which (see my comment #1) is why I an radically suggesting that it would be good if Mamdami wins & then splits the vote with Cuomo which would cause either Adams or Sliwa to win.
What do you think?
Ranked choice voting will be used in the NYC Mayoral Primary Election, but unfortunately not in the NYC Mayoral General Election.
What this means, is that if Democratic Socialist candidate Mamdani wins the Democratic Primary, the Mayoral General Election would see Mamdani, Eric Adams, Cuomo, Republican Sliwa split the vote. Whoever gets the most votes, ( a plurality not a majority) would determine the winner.
In a crowded field, Democratic Socialist Mamdani could win as the only left wing candidate with the center and right being split by three other candidates.
Comment by Jay S.
Theyeshivaworld exposed the real antisemitic Sliwa a few years. They posted some of his speeches. If anyone hears it will see how terrible he is.
Actions speak louder than words.
Curtis Sliwa and the group he founded, the Guardian Angels, were here in Crown Heights, patrolling the streets during the 1991 riots, and again in 2019 during an antisemitic crime wave. Name another “antisemite” or even someone claiming to be “a friend of the Jews,” who has personally patrolled the streets of a Jewish neighborhood at times and in areas where Jews were being physically attacked.
Agudath Israel of America, like all New Yorkers of good will, is outraged at current mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa’s recently publicized rant against Hassidic Jews. Our outrage is accompanied by great surprise, considering how Mr. Sliwa and the Guardian Angels group he founded have shown great concern for the safety of Jews.
In his 2018 address to a Hudson Valley meeting for the Reform Party, Mr. Sliwa berated Hassidim, hurling age-old misrepresentations and distortions that those who hate Jews have used for centuries at contemporary Jewish residents of Hudson Valley counties, several of which have seen influxes of identifiable Orthodox Jews over recent years.
Among much other ugliness, he expressed disdain for Jews who donate to political candidates. And derided “able-bodied men who study Torah and Talmud all day while “all they do is make babies like there’s no tomorrow.”
Such Jews, he said, don’t vote like “normal Americans,” and have the audacity to access educational funding for their schools to which they are entitled.
Some Jews were thankful when Curtis Sliwa and his Guardian Angels showed up in Crown Heights to patrol the community following the recent string of antisemitic attacks. But let’s be brutally honest. Curtis Sliwa is part of the problem. Mr. Sliwa, you cant ride in on your “red horse” to show what a great guy you are, when you say the most heinous despicable biased anti-Semitic rhetoric in public on 100,000 watt radio stations. Public diatribes like his and others against Hasidic Jews have created a breeding ground for viscous anti Semitism. Anti Hasidic bigotry manifests itself in multiple shapes and forms. First comes the disgusting rhetoric on social media which quickly grows to swastikas and grave desecration. That hate then metastasis itself in the form of government sponsored zoning discrimination where some municipalities in NY and NJ are actively preventing Orthodox Jews from building homes, synagogues, Yeshivos and eruvs. Public forums and planning meetings devolve into cesspools of bigotry and intolerance where Jews are heckled and shouted down with the most vile of anti-Semitic invective. So what started out as unchecked hate speech like Sliwa has offered, ultimately leads to the kind of horrific attacks Jews are now experiencing in Jersey City, Monsey and Brooklyn. There’s simply no other way to say it but based on his public actions, Sliwa is just a another fraud and hypocrite. Don’t believe it? Listen in the clip below and cringe for yourself. Mr. Sliwa we would suggest you first patrol your mouth and look deep into the mirror before you present yourself as some kind of heroic knight in red armor. We don’t need the likes of you.