David, a 29-year-old wearing a yarmulke who declined to give his last name, said the vote felt like an “existential” decision. He said he didn’t particularly care about how the mayor feels about Israel, but Mamdani’s focus on Israeli-Palestinian politics made it hard to believe he’s not antisemitic, and he worried whether that could bleed into other policies.
He said he planned to vote for Cuomo “reluctantly.” “He’s bad on everything,” David said of his preferred choice. “He’s a bad person.”
Eric Weltman, a 58-year-old wearing a suit and tie, proudly said he voted for Mamdani.
“He’s smart, competent, principled and progressive,” he said, adding he had no qualms about Mamdani’s positions on Israel.
“He’s going to be mayor of New York, not ambassador to Israel,” he said.
As for Needleman, the 77-year-old who quoted “Fiddler,” he said he couldn’t support Mamdani and felt Cuomo was too dishonest. So he decided to vote for Sliwa even though he disagreed with the Republican’s politics, saying Sliwa seemed like a “decent guy.”
Sliwa seems like a “decent guy,” but not Mamdani?
Ok racist.
He said he planned to vote for Cuomo “reluctantly.” “He’s bad on everything,” David said of his preferred choice. “He’s a bad person.”
Luckily, your bad vote and bad opinion won’t matter. Your fear Mamdani is racist is probably just you projecting your own racism. You should fix that.
So he decided to vote for Sliwa even though he disagreed with the Republican’s politics
You don’t actually disagree with him. That said, somehow I have slightly more respect for a vote for Sliwa over Cuomo. At least he’s open about who he is and he won his party’s primary (technically!).
I don’t understand why someone would just not vote rather than vote for what I assume is the opposing party? It’s one thing to withhold a vote it’s another to vote for someone actively working against the people you presumably voted for last election.
Also, very strange the other guy would vote for a “bad person” over a possible antisemite. Almost like he doesn’t care about anyone else because potentially maybe Mamdani might be an antisemite (though he’s obviously not), so who cares about Cuomos proven terrible behavior. I know most people are not as left as I am, but these people cannot actually believe they are left of center.
The person who wouldn’t give his surname is a plant. Mamdani doesn’t talk about Israel unless he’s asked about it. The problem was that reporters and debate moderators were desperate to ask him about it