Sliwa calls attention to Cuomo’s pandemic comments criticizing Orthodox Jews for gathering

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 34 days to the election.

🕍 Cuomo racks up more Jewish endorsements

• More Jewish communal leaders are backing Cuomo following Adams’ exit from the race, signaling a push among some Jewish institutions to coalesce behind the remaining moderate candidate and fight Zohran Mamdani’s momentum.

• A range of Jewish groups and leaders from across New York City, largely representing Orthodox communities, endorsed Cuomo in a joint statement yesterday.

• “We are deeply concerned about the direction that mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani would take our city,” they said. “We are troubled by his statements regarding the role of police in maintaining law and order, his past support for those calling to ‘globalize the intifada,’ and his socialist policies that we believe would create chaos for all New Yorkers and put our Jewish communities at risk.”

• The announcement was signed by groups including the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, the Association of Crown Heights Shuls, the Staten Island Jewish Coalition and the Queens Jewish Alliance. Landau was also among the signatories.

• Another rabbi who backed Adams, Yossi Garelik, signed a letter from the Crown Heights United PAC endorsing Cuomo on Monday.

• Mamdani has scored endorsements from two left-wing Jewish groups, Jews for Economic and Racial Justice and Bend the Arc: Jewish Action.

🗣 Sliwa won’t let it slide

• Sliwa jumped on a weak point in Cuomo’s relationship with Jewish communities yesterday. He posted a clip from a 2020 press conference during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Cuomo was governor, in which Cuomo criticized Orthodox Jewish groups for holding mass religious gatherings.

• “Cuomo targeted Jewish communities during COVID and his deadly executive order led to the deaths of 15,000 seniors,” said Sliwa.

👀 Trump watch

• Trump has doubled down on threats to withhold federal funding from New York City under a Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

• “Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist premises,” Trump said on Truth Social. “He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?” He also said that Mamdani “will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party.”

• Mamdani responded to the comments by telling reporters, “I think that Donald Trump is going through the stages of grief.” He said Trump had moved past denial that Mamdani could be elected and was “coming to terms with the fact that we’re going to win this race.”

• Later on Wednesday, the Trump administration said it would not pay out $18 billion previously allocated to New York City infrastructure projects, including to advance the Second Avenue subway, to penalize what it said were discriminatory state policies.

⏳ Adams endorsement watch

• Now that Adams is out, will he make an endorsement?

• The mayor told The New York Post that he was committed to seeing Mamdani defeated, but would not answer definitively if he’d back Cuomo or Sliwa.

• “I’m more inclined to Cuomo,” he said, adding, “Let’s not underestimate Sliwa as a fighter, but the problem is that he can’t govern.”