A version of this article was originally published in Spanish in the Argentinian publication Nueva Sion.

NEW YORK — With just weeks to go before election day, New York’s mayoral race remains unpredictable. One thing, however, is clear: it’s been unlike any in the city’s modern history. If frontrunner Zohran Mamdani wins on November 4, it would mark an extraordinary shift in New York City’s Jewish history. He would be the city’s first anti-Israel mayor, the first without close ties to the city’s large and diverse Jewish population, and the first in decades to face accusations of peddling antisemitism—or, at the very least, of failing to forcefully denounce it.

In recent weeks on the campaign trail, which coincided with the Jewish High Holiday season, Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old member of the New York State assembly and self-described social democrat, has been attempting to win over Jewish voters. He managed to secure a handful of appearances in Jewish spaces, including visiting several Orthodox leaders at their sukkahs in Williamsburg. Mamdani also gave his first talk at a mainstream Reform synagogue in Park Slope,  a wealthy and largely progressive neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Outside the event, dozens of pro-Israel protesters, many of whom said were members of the congregation hosting the candidate, gathered to demonstrate. One held a sign reading: “Jews for Jihadists?” Inside, attendees said that Mamdani reiterated that October 7th was a “war crime,” but appeared to avoid directly answering a question on whether it constituted a “legitimate act of resistance.”

From a staff of 5 to a workforce of 300,000

Let’s take a step back: it’s unusual for a mayoral race in New York to draw such international attention, but Zohran Mamdani is a candidate like no other. If elected, he would go from overseeing a few staffers to leading a workforce of 300,000 city employees. Born in Uganda, the son of a filmmaker and an academic of Indian descent, Mamdani moved to New York when he was seven after a couple of years in South Africa. He was raised Muslim and is married to a Syrian-American animator and illustrator.

From the moment he announced his candidacy in October 2024, Mamdani has been a widely polarizing figure. His positions align with the democratic socialist wing of the Democratic Party, spearheaded nationally by known figures such as Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cornel West, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. But it is his views on Israel that have drawn the most scrutiny—a particularly sensitive issue in the United States and across the West amid the war in Gaza.

As the race progressed, Mamdani proved far more popular than any of his rivals, ultimately winning the Democratic primary in June. Young, charismatic, and media-savvy, he has centered his campaign on the city’s affordability, housing shortage, childcare, and public transit, while calling for a stronger social safety net for New Yorkers. He has also cast himself as an anti-Trump figure, advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy and protections for immigrants. The excitement he has generated, especially among younger voters, has far outpaced that of the other frontrunners: Andrew Cuomo, a scandal-plagued former governor, and Eric Adams, and the outgoing mayor, who was indicted on federal charges of bribery and fraud but later spared by the Trump administration. In the final weeks of the campaign, Adams exited the race.

Mamdani’s positions on Israel and accusations of antisemitism

In college, Zohran Mamdani co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an anti-Zionist group accused of openly supporting Hamas and promoting antisemitism on college campuses across the U.S. The organization has been accused of justifying and glorifying the October 7 attack, and has often used violent rhetoric as “by any means necessary” to describe the struggle for Palestinian liberation.

Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the country’s largest socialist organization. The DSA has made anti-Zionism one of its key principles and has described Hamas’s actions on October 7 as part of “Palestinian resistance.” The group is so radical that, in 2024, it even pulled its endorsement of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she denounced antisemitism. As mayor, Mamdani has said he would back the BDS movement boycotting Israel.

During his campaign, Mamdani faced criticism for defending the slogan “globalize the intifada.” He described it as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” Intifada, Arabic for “uprising,” is widely understood to refer to violent terror attacks against Israeli civilians; many argue that “globalizing” implies exporting such violence against Jews around the world. Mamdani’s remarks drew broad condemnation, and he was repeatedly asked to denounce the phrase. Ultimately, he only conceded that he would not use the phrase, but still refused to explicitly condemn it. After the Trump-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Gaza was announced, has declined to say whether Hamas should disarm.

Mamdani also appeared in an interview with Hasan Piker, a left-wing Twitch streamer who also defended Hamas and has said that “America deserved 9/11.”

The Challenges Ahead

While he does have some Jewish supporters, particularly among younger voters, polls indicate that 75% of New York’s Jewish voters view Mamdani unfavorably. Beyond his stance on Israel, the main concern among Jewish voters is his commitment to protect them amid a renewed wave of antisemitic incidents across the city. In 2024, antisemitic incidents increased by 18%. The city’s police department reported that antisemitic attacks made up 62% of all hate crimes reported in the city at the beginning of 2025.

These controversies left Mandani scrambling to repair the damage and persuade Jewish voters that he is not antisemitic in the final stretch of the campaign. At best, Mamdani’s antisemitism stems from association and omission: by associating with figures and organizations accused of antisemitism, and by refusing to outright condemn the wave of antisemitism coming from the left and the pro-Palestinian movement. The result is the image of a candidate walking a careful line between moderating his tone to appeal to a broader electorate while avoiding to alienate or upset his core base, which is very vocal on X (Twitter) on its radical views on Israel and the Jewish community’s support for the Jewish state.

Regardless of the outcome on November 4, Mamdani’s rise marks a turning point in New York’s political landscape. Even New York, a city where one in eight residents is Jewish, has proven not to be immune to the normalization of ideas that make Jews uncomfortable at best—and unsafe at worst.