Nearly 7,000 Jewish city voters recently registered as Democrats ahead of the June mayoral primary — a potentially ominous sign for Zohran Mamdani and other lefty candidates viewed as soft on antisemitism.
More than 4,130 of the Jewish voters who just signed on with the Democratic Party — and thus are allowed to vote in the primary — were previously registered as independent or belonged to the Republican or another party, according to the Jewish Voters Action Network, which pushed the effort.
Another 2,564 new Jewish voters also have enrolled as Democrats.
That’s a total of 6,695 fresh registered Dem voters since January — and the numbers should only grow, the group said.
“We think this registration drive is a big deal. Jewish voters are a sleeping giant in New York politics,” JVAN founder Maury Litwack told The Post on Sunday. “And they are awake.
“Jews are showing up to play. We’re not ignoring this election. We are punching above our weight.”
The voting push comes from the same playbook that Jewish organizers used to help unseat “Squad” member Jamaal Bowman in a House primary last year.
Concerns about antisemitism are driving up interest in the 2025 elections among Jews across the spectrum — orthodox, conservative and reformed, Litwak said.
Antisemitism spiked after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, triggering anti-Israel protests, particularly on college campuses, in New York and throughout the US.
“Antisemitism is on the rise. Jews are saying they want their voices heard at the ballot box,” Litwack said.
He said the effort to re-register voters as Democrats is because the winner of the Democratic primary will be heavily favored to win the general election, even against embattled Mayor Eric Adams, a Dem who is skipping the primary race and running as an independent.
Democrats vying for the party nod in June include front-runner and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, surging Democratic Socialists of America candidate Mamdani, city Comptroller Brad Lander, his predecessor Scott Stringer, state Sens. Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie, former state Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake and financier Whitney Tilson.
There are a total of around 3.77 million registered Democrats in the city, nearly 25% of whom voted in the last mayoral election in 2021, according to the Gotham Gazette.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa will again be Republican nominee as he was in 2021, and former federal prosecutor Jim Walden also is running as an independent.
The JVAN, which has dedicated $7 million to the Jewish voter mobilization effort, is non-partisan and is not endorsing any candidate.
But Litwack is a staunch critic of the left-wing Israel-bashing DSA, which counts anti-Israel critic Mamdani as a member.
Litwack helped mobilize Jewish voters in Westchester County last year for the Democratic primary for Congress, where challenger George Latimer toppled incumbent and Israel critic Bowman.
Jews voted overwhelmingly for Latimer, the more moderate, pro-Israel candidate.
“Jews stepped up to vote in the Bowman-Latimer race. It was a wake-up call,” Litwack said.
“Jewish voters have been moderate for some time. They are concerned about the extreme left and the extreme right.”
In the City Council districts that JVAN focused on in its registration push, Jewish voters make up much larger percentages of the overall recent re-registrants, according to the group’s analysis.
- In Manhattan’s District 4 on the East Side, 330 Jewish voters accounted for 49% or nearly half of re-registrants.
- In District 5 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, 353 Jewish voters made up 48% of re-registrants.
- In District 6 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, 323 Jewish voters made up 46% of re-registrants.
- In Brooklyn’s District 48 (Coney Island-Sea Gate, Brighton Beach, Midwood, Gravesend Homecrest, Madison, Sheepshead Bay-Manhattan Beach-Gerritsen Beach), 178 Jewish voters accounted for 53% of re-registrants.
- In Brooklyn District 39 (Kensington, Borough Park, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and the Columbia Waterfront), 158 Jewish voters made up 25% of all re-registrants.
