Click here to read the opinion piece in the New York Daily News
As we enter the final days of New York’s mayoral primary, a bewildering chorus in liberal media is suddenly trying to make the case for disgraced former governor, Andrew Cuomo. This is paired with the hand-wringing of some voters who can’t decide which of the paths represented by the two highest polling candidates is safest in the age of Trump. We’re told that voters are now feeling tormented with the choice between an unrepentant Cuomo or an “inexperienced” Zohran Mamdani mayorship.
At Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), the organization I’ve led for nearly a decade, the choice couldn’t be clearer: more of the same corruption, bullying, pandering, and harassment, or the possibility of real progressive leadership, not just in terms of who wins the race, but how they get there, who they bring with them, and who they ultimately serve.
In times of rising authoritarianism, the possibility of a different kind of politics can feel so far off it may be tempting to grasp for anything resembling normalcy. For many New Yorkers, this may be the calculation they’re making when they reach for Cuomo — the devil they know — over Mamdani’s visionary promise of a city so different from the one we struggle in now.
We’ve seen how racism and Islamophobia also play a part in giving some voters pause about Mamdani: from fear-mongering mailers to threats on his life and against his loved ones, about which he spoke so powerfully, days ago. But the hesitation also stems from a culture starved for political imagination, preventing many of our neighbors from reaching for so much more than the scraps we’ve been forced to settle for.
Perhaps it speaks to our country’s collective despair that some voters want a bully to fight a bully, cynically turning Cuomo’s abusive record into a point in his favor. But this misguided, dangerous approach confuses bullying with strength. It’s barreling down the exact road that got us where we are now. It’s why so many of us are forging a wholly different path — one that fosters strength through solidarity over division and fear.
JFREJ enthusiastically endorsed both Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander as our top pick for mayor in a dual, unranked endorsement. Our 6,000 members — and tens of thousands of New Yorkers — are practically running to the polls. They’re not wrestling with some kind of lesser of two evils bargain; on the contrary, most are chomping at the bit to cast their votes for a future that belongs to all of us.
With ranked choice voting and the recent cross-endorsements between candidates, we have an opportunity to transform not just our city, but how we do politics, period. This election is a chance to replace “winner takes all” and the mean-spirited tactics we know too well with a sense of hope and partnership in shaping the city we love.
Lander and Mamdani represent the best of our city. New Yorkers got a chance to see Lander’s principled leadership in action last week when he was so violently arrested for accompanying immigrants from their hearings, and used his platform to lift up the inhumane conditions facing our neighbors; we then saw how Mamdani was one of the first to arrive on the scene in defense of Lander and the very people he was protecting.
Both Lander and Mamdani are genuinely committed to improving the lives of working people. They refuse to turn their backs on vulnerable New Yorkers, be they Jewish or Muslim, immigrant or born-and-raised, tenants or homeless, trans or disabled, young or old. They also both have the courage to lead with integrity and compassion against the backdrop of Trump’s corruption and cruelty.
One story of this election is that a progressive Jew and a Muslim socialist are teaming up by refusing to attack one another and staying focused on preventing Cuomo’s comeback. Their cross-endorsement strengthens their respective campaigns while telling voters they prefer to work together for all our sakes than split us into camps where nobody wins. It’s a breath of fresh air, a sign of how things could be if we choose to reject fear, lean into hope, and demand more for our city and ourselves.
New York has the potential to not just be a sanctuary in Trump’s America, but a force for transformative change — if we have the courage to get out of our own way. To my fellow New Yorkers who are on the fence: what are you waiting for?
Sasson is the executive director of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice.