2025 NYC Democratic Primary Voter Guide

Voting has opened for the New York City Democratic Party primaries and there is a LOT on the line. You can vote TODAY until JUNE 24! Find your polling place HERE.

There are things you need to know, take action on, and call all your friends about:

There are candidates running at all levels who present dangers to the Jewish community
There are people claiming to be progressive who are associated with DSA, which celebrated October 7 and the murder of two Jewish community members in Washington, DC
The primaries will determine the city’s next mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough presidents, and some city council members.

In an election cycle with crowded primaries and rampant misinformation in an extremely polarizing political climate, it can be difficult to navigate the different candidates, their stances, and how to make use of ranked-choice voting. New York has the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, and is a “blue state” whose politics have major influence in the Democratic Party nationwide. So the stakes are as high as it gets.

Mayoral Race

The Jewish vote is an essential voting bloc for the mayoral race, making up around 16% of the primary electorate.

Understand Ranked Choice Voting

NYC has implemented a ranked-choice voting system, meaning that voters can rank up to 5 candidates. This allows us not only to vote for our top choice, but also rank other candidates. If no candidate receives more than 50% of first choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first choice votes will be eliminated, and those ballots will have their second-ranked candidate counted. This process will continue in rounds until a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. As a result, ranked-choice voting can be used to actively prevent candidates from winning.

While we may not have a candidate that deeply inspires us, we must do everything we can to keep anti-Jewish political officials out of leadership. The more candidates you rank, the more times your vote will be counted against other candidates. So be sure to rank 5 candidates, even if they don’t thrill you.

Candidates

Zioness Action Fund is actively opposing two candidates that strongly oppose our values and exploit social justice movements to launder, normalize, and perpetuate anti-Jewish animus with language that has been used to justify violence against Jews. DO NOT RANK Zohran Mamdani or Brad Lander.

Zioness Action Fund is not endorsing any candidate for Mayor. Please do independent research to determine the right ranking for you.

We encourage voters to rank 5 of the following (listed alphabetically):

Adrienne Adams
Andrew Cuomo
Zellnor Myrie
Jessica Ramos
Scott Stringer
Whitney Tilson

(Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is running as an independent candidate and will not appear on the ballot in the June primaries.)

DO NOT RANK ZOHRAN MAMDANI. Because of low voter turnout in primaries, Mamdani is currently in a strong position and without all of us organizing, mobilizing and showing up, we risk having him as Mayor of New York City.

Mamdani is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Like DSA, Mamdani has consistently expressed extreme anti-Israel views, including strong support for BDS.
Mamdani has been a strong and consistent advocate against military funding for Israel at a time when Israel was fighting an existential, 7-front war for the future of Western civilization.
Mamdani is endorsed by AOC, Jamaal Bowman, and other individuals and groups who have actively undermined Jewish communal safety and normalized language that has been used as justification for deadly violence against American Jews.
Mamdani’s statement on October 8th, 2023 did not condemn Hamas’ attack; instead, it accused Israel of occupation and apartheid.
On October 13th 2023, less than a week after the October 7th Hamas attacks in Israel, Mamdani was arrested during a pro-Hamas “global day of jihad” demonstration.
In November 2023, Mamdani joined a small group of elected officials and activists in a hunger strike accusing the U.S. of “being an actor in this genocide.”
In a recent debate, Mamdani refused to state that Israel had the right to exist as Jewish state.

DO NOT RANK BRAD LANDER, the NYC comptroller who is currently polling in third place and has actively worked to normalize and justify anti-Zionism in ways that have eroded, divided and destroyed our social justice movements, harming Jews and all who genuinely want progress for all New Yorkers.

Although Lander is Jewish, he has consistently aligned himself with overtly anti-Jewish activists and aspiring politicians. Lander is one of the original co-founders of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a radical and extraordinarily divisive group that organizes alongside Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.
Lander participated in a joint fundraiser with notorious antisemite, former Congressmember Jamaal Bowman, who called reports of sexual assault by Hamas on October 7th ‘propaganda’ and voted against a bill condemning Hamas and affirming Israel’s right to defend itself.
Lander endorsed Shahana Hanif for City Council, who blamed Israel for the October 7th attacks. (More on Hanif’s council race below.)
Lander has endorsed DSA candidates in other races. He is often positioned next to Mamdani, serving as a Jewish token to validate anti-Jewish aspiring leaders, with many organizations co-endorsing Lander and Mamdani.
Lander went on record to passionately defend committed antisemite Linda Sarsour and was endorsed by AOC as her third choice for Mayor.
Lander attended a self-proclaimed anti-Zionist Shabbat dinner hosted by a restaurant, Ayat, with a section on its menu called “From the River to the Sea”––a slogan recognized as a call for eradication of the Jewish state.

Comptroller: ZAF is proud to endorse MARK LEVINE!