For Mayor of New York, The Jewish Vote endorses...

Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, which issues endorsements under the name The Jewish Vote, jointly endorses Brad Lander & Zohran Mamdani for Mayor!

We are delighted to announce that JFREJ’s electoral arm, The Jewish Vote, endorses both Brad Lander and Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of New York! 

Both candidates are campaigning to make NYC a more affordable, more welcoming, and more caring city with free childcare and accessible home care, and a fierce commitment to defending New Yorkes from Trump. 

New York City has ranked choice voting (RCV), which gives New Yorkers the chance to vote for up to five candidates for any citywide race, ranking them in order of preference. RCV means progressive candidates and their supporters can work together and win, and – most importantly – stave off a victory from our real opponents in this mayor’s race: Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo. Click here to learn more about how RCV works, and click here to learn more about the most important acronym you need to know for this election: D.R.E.A.M: Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor. 

Our joint endorsement of Mamdani and Lander is unranked, meaning we’re not putting either of them first or second, but throwing our weight behind these two progressive champions equally. 

Here’s why we are so excited to back them:

As a member of the State Assembly from Queens, Zohran Mamdani has been a courageous and visionary leader in both our city and state: from going on a hunger strike with members of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) to win millions of dollars in debt relief for NYC cab drivers bankrupted by the city’s false promises, to his life-changing plans for a rent freeze. By taking unapologetically left stances and putting forward bold plans to actually implement them, Zohran has fundamentally transformed what feels possible in our city and state. His candidacy has electrified New Yorkers across the city, inspiring thousands of people who were ready to give up on electoral politics altogether to register to vote and participate in this election. We’ve been proud to organize alongside him for a ceasefire and full hostage deal, for Fair Pay for Home Care, and for the Not On Our Dime Act. If elected, he’d be our city’s first Muslim mayor – a powerful move in an increasingly Islamophobic political atmosphere. Click here to learn more about Zohran!      

From his days in City Council to his current role as NYC Comptroller, Brad Lander has been our staunchest ally in office for over a decade. With JFREJ, he’s organized to pass landmark legislation to end Stop & Frisk in NYC, from the Community Safety Act in 2013 and the Right To Know Act in 2018. He knows how the levers of power work, and he sticks his neck out using them to materially improve the lives of New Yorkers. Brad hasn’t just been a powerful leader in NYC, where he uses his platform as the highest-ranking Jewish city official to speak out as a loud and proud progressive; he’s also been a leader organizing local elected officials across the country to advance progressive policies and oppose Donald Trump. He’s walked every picket line, has always been willing to engage in honest and accountable conversations, and of course, he’s a longtime JFREJ member! Click here to learn more about Brad!

There are two other progressive candidates we interviewed in the race for mayor – Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie – and while we chose not to endorse them, we remain excited about their candidacies and see them as an essential part of the D.R.E.A.M. Team! 

How did we make this decision?

Our mayoral endorsement process began months ago, with members coming together from all corners of JFREJ to create endorsement criteria and design candidate questionnaires. Over the course of two days, we held individual interviews with each of the four progressive candidates, with nearly 200 JFREJ members attending and participating! 

Last week, we held a membership assembly, where hundreds of members came together to discuss, debate, and evaluate the candidates through the lens of our endorsement criteria. Then, we sent out a ballot to all dues-paying JFREJ members to fill out. Over 600 members submitted ballots ranking the candidates, with 97.5% listing either Brad or Zohran as their first choice, and roughly 70% listing both of them as their first and second choices! On Wednesday evening, a decision-making body of JFREJ member leaders reviewed the ballots and voted to jointly endorse Zohran Mamadani and Brad Lander. 

We are incredibly proud of the robust and transparent democratic process we’ve engaged in. At a time when so many people are losing faith in our democratic institutions as we see them crumble around us, it matters that JFREJ is doubling down on participatory democracy and member-driven decision-making. Our institutions may be crumbling, but we are building something new and powerful to carry us forward. 


Now that we’ve endorsed, the real organizing begins!

We’ve got our work cut out for us. Serial harasser, prolific liar, and nursing home death merchant Andrew Cuomo is trying to use our city to stage his political comeback. And our current mayor, Eric Adams, has fully lost the trust of New Yorkers after countless corruption charges, reckless budget cuts, mass resignations, and a quid pro quo deal to let Trump target our city and our immigrant neighbors. These resumes should be disqualifying for anyone seeking to lead our city, but Cuomo in particular has a huge war chest. He’s ready to use it to viciously attack progressives and try to retake power. We cannot let him.

That means we are going ALL IN to rally and campaign for our two champions in this race, Brad and Zohran, and we’re not going to badmouth or detract from the other progressive candidates in the race either. We’re going to work together and win by putting a progressive mayor in office. That also means it’s all hands on deck, and we need YOU to help make it happen!

Click here to split a donation between Zohran’s & Brad’s campaigns!

Click here to sign up for a JFREJ phone-bank or canvass to talk to NYC Jewish voters!

 

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