Even before Eric Adams was indicted last week, Jewish leaders supportive of the embattled New York City mayor had already initiated a series of informal private discussions to express concerns about his prospects in a looming and increasingly crowded primary election.

Motivating their conversations, according to people familiar with the matter, was the absence of a strong and appealing Democratic alternative in the race, which has drawn several candidates on the progressive left — most prominently Brad Lander, the city comptroller, whose close ties to anti-Israel activists have drawn scrutiny from some mainstream Jewish leaders.

But now that Adams is facing five felony counts amid a widening legal quagmire that has ensnared multiple members of his administration and forced several top staffers to resign, the mayor’s traditional Jewish allies — including Orthodox leaders who had helped propel him to Gracie Mansion three years ago — have largely remained silent as the controversy unravels.

The continued lack of public support for Adams, who has built strong relations with the organized Jewish community during his long tenure as an elected official, underscores how many Jewish leaders are now taking a wait-and-see approach to the evolving race — mindful of alienating a mayor who has delivered for the community even as they begin to weigh a scenario in which he resigns or is pushed from office.

“Most of the Jewish community has been pretty quiet,” said one prominent Jewish leader who asked to remain anonymous to address a sensitive issue. “This is the beginning of the end.”

Multiple Jewish community activists who spoke with Jewish Insider indicated that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been privately mulling a comeback campaign, is emerging as the favored alternative candidate among Jewish leaders, citing his moderate to conservative record on key issues and outspoken support of Israel, which he has made a central focus of his messaging in recent months.

While the former governor will need to overcome the stigma of sexual misconduct allegations that he denies but that forced him to resign in 2021, he will also face lingering resentment from Orthodox voters over his restrictions targeting the community during the COVID pandemic, which were criticized as discriminatory.

But conversations with several Orthodox leaders in recent weeks suggested that the community is open to overlooking its past differences with Cuomo — in large part because the current primary field has yet to produce a more credible substitute for the legally imperiled incumbent.

“The stakeholders have said, ‘We’ll vote for him despite holding our noses,’” said one Orthodox leader who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. “The take is really just to hang tight and see how things play out,” he explained. “There’s no real strong, viable candidate out there right now for the Orthodox community.”

Even as Cuomo remains on the sidelines for now, he is widely expected to mount a campaign for mayor, according to several informed sources familiar with the former governor’s plans. 

In a statement to JI on Friday, Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, did not explicitly rule out a mayoral bid, even as he declined to confirm if the former governor is preparing to run next year.

“Governor Cuomo has spent a lifetime in public service fighting and delivering for the people of New York and will do whatever he can to help — that said, the speculation is premature as Governor Cuomo believes Mayor Adams is entitled to due process,” he said.

The rest of the field includes some contenders who are known within the Jewish community, even as they each bring their own unique “baggage,” to the race, as one Jewish leader put it. 

Scott Stringer, the former city comptroller who is Jewish, has been making calls to Orthodox leaders, according to sources familiar with his outreach. He has also been touting his support for Israel on social media, including his attendance at a hostage rally in Central Park. But while leaders have appreciated his statements, many are skeptical of his rhetoric after a failed mayoral campaign last cycle in which he faced backlash for courting support from some legislators who had endorsed boycotts of Israel. 

In addition to Stringer, the primary also features Zellnor Myrie, a progressive state senator who has built ties to Hasidic leaders in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn but is largely unknown to the broader electorate, and Jessica Ramos, a state senator in Queens who does not represent a large Jewish constituency and has been critical of Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas.

Lander, widely seen as a front-runner, has long described himself as a “progressive Zionist,” but he has taken heat from the Jewish community for aligning with anti-Israel activists. The first-term comptroller has been recently reaching out to Jewish leaders as he seeks to mend fences, but his efforts have been received with skepticism, according to a source familiar with the situation. 

If Adams resigns before his term is up, Jumaane Williams, the city’s left-wing public advocate, would be first in line to succeed him as acting mayor. He would then have three days to schedule a special election.

Gov. Kathy Hochul could also invoke her power to remove Adams from office, but she has not made a firm indication that she is now actively considering such a move.

The mayor has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges brought by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, including allegations that he had solicited foreign campaign contributions from Turkey. He has rejected growing calls to resign from elected officials.

In the aftermath of the indictment on Thursday, the mayor’s team was seeking to corral support in the Jewish community as Adams went on the defensive. One top staffer in his office urged Jewish leaders to sign a letter, circulated on the encrypted messaging app Signal, accusing the prosecution of targeting the mayor because of his trips to Israel, which were not mentioned in the indictment, according to people familiar with the matter.

But such efforts fell flat last week as most Jewish leaders have cautiously kept their distance. Even as Jewish leaders have appreciated active engagement from the mayor’s office along with his support for Israel and outspoken opposition to antisemitism, there is a frustration among some that the unfolding legal drama has further crippled the administration as the community remains in need of key services.

“The government is paralyzed. We’ve felt it for a while already, but it’s going to become worse,” said a Hasidic activist in a Brooklyn neighborhood where Jewish leaders can deliver thousands of votes in an election. “It’s hard to get assistance on community issues.”

Despite the complaints, some Jewish leaders are choosing to publicly stand with Adams, who is the first sitting mayor in New York City history to be charged with a federal crime. 

“We’re not happy the guy’s indicted, there’s no question about it,” Leon Goldenberg, a prominent Orthodox business leader in Brooklyn, told JI in an interview on Friday. “But he’s our best choice,” he said, pointing to Adams’ policies on security, policing and bail reform. “He’s done everything that we could want from him.”

Goldenberg said he was considering running an ad voicing support for Adams but was “not ready to commit to that yet.” Should Adams leave office, on the other hand, Goldenberg said the Orthodox community would likely coalesce behind Cuomo. “He’s burnt his bridges with us,” he clarified, “but at the end of the day, with everybody else in there, he’s probably our best choice.”

But most Jewish leaders are resisting invitations to weigh in on the mayor’s fate — for now at least.

“The problem with the landscape is everything is up in the air,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist who advised Andrew Yang’s 2021 mayoral bid and who has heard from a number of Jewish leaders in recent days. “If you’re a Jewish leader, I’m not sure what you gain by being the first to the microphone on this. and so you may want to see how things go.”