Antisemitic attacks sharpen NYC mayoral race as Cuomo targets rival’s hostile rhetoric

In a ranked-choice voting simulation, Cuomo wins with 54% to Mamdani’s 46%, representing a significantly tighter race than earlier polling suggested.

By Jewish Breaking News

The race for New York City mayor took a heated turn this week as recent antisemitic attacks across the country became a flashpoint between the Democratic primary’s top contenders.

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who holds a commanding lead in early polling, seized on Sunday’s firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado, to indirectly criticize his closest rival, Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.

“The anti-Israel rhetoric of ‘genocide,’ ‘war criminals,’ and ‘murderers’ must stop,” Cuomo posted on X Sunday night. “It is spreading like a cancer through the body politic.”

Twelve people were injured when a man shouting “Free Palestine” used a makeshift flamethrower and threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages.

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and hate crimes.

Mamdani, has in the past described Israel’s defensive military campaign in Gaza as genocide.

Many Jewish organizations have objected to that use of the term, which the Anti-Defamation League says “unfairly serves to demonize the State of Israel and to diminish recognized acts of genocide.”

The Colorado attack came less than two weeks after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington by a gunman who shouted “Free Palestine”.

The suspect in that case, Elias Rodriguez, told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” and has been charged with first-degree murder.

Recent polling from Emerson College shows Cuomo leading the Democratic primary with 35% support, while Mamdani has surged to 23%, a dramatic rise from just 1% in February surveys.

In a ranked-choice voting simulation, Cuomo wins with 54% to Mamdani’s 46%, representing a significantly tighter race than earlier polling suggested.

The violence has thrust the Israel-Palestine conflict to the center of a campaign already focused on public safety and affordability.

Cuomo, who has made fighting antisemitism a cornerstone of his political brand, marched in the Israel Day Parade on May 18 and has repeatedly criticized what he sees as insufficient support for Israel among his opponents.

Mamdani has defended his use of the term “genocide” when pressed, saying in an October interview on NY1 that even though it’s a “highly charged” term, it’s “the most accurate description of what is going on.”

The assemblyman, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, has built his campaign around making the city more affordable for working families.

When asked about Cuomo’s statement linking his rhetoric to the attacks, Mamdani’s campaign pushed back hard.

“Zohran has condemned these horrific attacks in the clearest possible terms, but the facts have never mattered to Andrew Cuomo,” campaign spokesperson Andrew Epstein tells Politico.

“As Zohran continues to shrink Cuomo’s now-single-digit lead, expect more cynical fearmongering and lies from the disgraced ex-Governor.”

Other candidates have also weighed in on the violence.

Whitney Tilson, a long-shot Democratic candidate, plans to address Mamdani’s rhetoric at Wednesday’s primary debate.

“Zohran Mamdani and other extremists in my own party have stoked the antisemitism that inspires these attacks by constantly demonizing Israel and falsely accusing the world’s only Jewish country of ‘genocide,’” Tilson said in a statement Monday.

Meanwhile, a separate Emerson College poll found that 49% of New York City Democrats found it unimportant that the next mayor has a pro-Israel stance, while 31% found it important.

The NYC primary is scheduled for June 24, with early voting beginning June 14. Current mayor Eric Adams, who opted out of the Democratic primary, is running as an independent in the general election on an #EndAntiSemitism ballot line, which he created.