‘I never stood with Bibi,’ Cuomo says as Netanyahu figures large in the NYC mayor’s race

This piece first ran as part of The Countdown, our daily newsletter rounding up all the developments in the New York City mayor’s race. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. There are 49 days to the election.

2️⃣ Cuomo polling second

• Andrew Cuomo, the former governor who is polling second, has called for an end to the war in Gaza for the first time.

• “There is no doubt that the people of New York and the nation see the continued carnage that is happening and are deeply, deeply disturbed and want it over, and believe it has gone on way too long,” Cuomo said in a New York Times interview published late Monday. He added, “It should end today. Return the hostages, end the violence. Today. I think it should have been over months ago.”

• The comments marked a departure for Cuomo, who has long fashioned himself a “hyper-aggressive” supporter of Israel and has accused Zohran Mamdani of “fueling antisemitism” as the frontrunner wielded much stronger criticisms of Israel. After appearing to criticize Gaza’s aid crisis in August, Cuomo quickly clarified that it was just “some people” — not him personally — who questioned Israel’s conduct.

• Cuomo’s latest comments come amid a historic decline in support for Israel among Democratic voters. They also come as polling shows that New York City voters strongly prefer Mamdani’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Cuomo’s.

• Cuomo chastised Mamdani for his renewed pledge to arrest Netanyahu as mayor, and he avoided criticizing the Israeli leader himself. But a year after volunteering to join Netanyahu’s legal defense against a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, Cuomo placed some distance between them: “I never stood with Bibi,” he said.

👀 Adams watch

• Mayor Eric Adams is taking a different tack when it comes to Netanyahu, posting a picture of himself shaking the Israeli prime minister’s hand.

• “As Mayor of New York City, I’ll never forget the warm welcome I received in Israel from Netanyahu and the Israeli people,” he said on X. “I look forward to returning that hospitality when the Prime Minister comes to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.”

• Adams also met with Jewish leaders in the heavily Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park, bought a packet of honey cookies for Rosh Hashanah at Weiss Bakery and smiled while Rabbi Moshe Davis blew a shofar for him at Eichler’s Judaica.

• He is counting on a cohort of Jewish voters who strongly support Israel. According to a Times/Siena poll last week, 40% of Adams voters are Jewish. But they aren’t enough to save his single-digit polling numbers.

🍎 Jews share food and reflect on Mamdani

• Our reporter Grace Gilson swung by a food distribution event by the Met Council, a Jewish social services nonprofit, to hear what Jews are saying about Mamdani and food affordability on Monday.

• Passing out crates of Kedem grape juice, Met Council CEO David Greenfield said they planned to distribute 1.7 million pounds of food — reaching over 200,000 people — for the High Holidays this year.

• Greenfield said he was “keeping an open mind” about the candidates and Mamdani’s promise to make the city more affordable. “I think it’s important to broaden the tent, and so I genuinely do look forward to hearing what he has to say and evaluating it from there,” he said.

• Comptroller Brad Lander also showed up. He suggested that Mamdani’s proposed city-run grocery stores could stock kosher food.

• “Mayor Mamdani will be a partner with Met Council and making sure that New Yorkers who need kosher food have a chance to get it, whether they’ll do that through the city-run grocery stores, or whether they’ll do that through Met Council,” said Lander.

🚫 Non-endorsement tracker

• Mamdani got Gov. Kathy Hochul’s endorsement on Sunday — but other New York Democrats didn’t fall in line, highlighting the party’s internal tensions ahead of election day.

• “I will not be endorsing Mamdani,” said Long Island Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi on Monday. “While I share his concern about the issue of affordability, I fundamentally disagree with his proposed solutions.”

• Laura Gillen, another Democratic Long Island Rep., also issued an anti-endorsement. “I completely disagree with the Governor’s endorsement of Mr. Mamdani,” she said in a statement to Politico. “Long Islanders are already facing a cost-of-living crisis and the last thing they can afford is Zohran Mamdani’s reckless agenda.”

• Top New York Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries are still staying quiet.

🐝 Social media buzz

• Mamdani and Jewish actor Ilana Glazer hopped on a viral trend last night, proclaiming their alliance as a “Muslim immigrant socialist Democratic nominee” and a “proud self-loving Jewwy Jewish New Yorker” who agreed that “the safety of Jews and Muslims are inextricably linked.”