As the New York City mayoral race continues to shape up in advance of next year’s primary election, President-elect Donald Trump’s historically robust showing across the five boroughs earlier this month has contributed to a newfound level of introspection among Democrats rethinking strategies to win back working-class voters of color, who until recently had been a dependable part of their coalition.

Trump, who claimed 30% of the vote in New York City, outperformed every Republican presidential nominee since 1988. He improved his margins not just in sections of Manhattan, a liberal enclave, but also in working-class immigrant neighborhoods in South Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx — where he drew particularly pronounced support from Asian, Black and Latino communities, while making gains among Orthodox Jewish voters.

The rightward turn, which had been building in recent years, will impact the upcoming mayoral race, political observers say, pushing the candidates to reevaluate their outreach to voters on a range of issues. Meanwhile, even as the electorate is growing redder, the primary field as it now stands is largely filled with a host of progressives, creating an opportunity for a credible moderate challenger — yet to emerge in the race — to claim a centrist lane.

Mark Levine, the Democratic borough president of Manhattan, characterized the presidential election results as “a shift in the tectonic plates of New York City politics” that “will reverberate throughout New York City and state politics,” as he put it in a recent interview with Jewish Insider. “It can’t be ignored.” 

Levine, who is now running for city comptroller, expressed hope that Democrats “will listen to the voters we’ve lost” — and that such attention will effect “change not just in Democrats’ messaging but” in how party members “deliver in politics to actually address the problems voters told us they’re concerned about.”

“It’s too soon to know how much Democratic leadership will hear that message,” he said. “But I think there are early signs it’s gotten through, and you do see it in the mayor race, where pretty much every candidate is talking about the affordability crisis, public housing, childcare and even public safety.”

Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist, agreed with that view, noting that mayoral candidates “have to throw a bunch of assumptions out the window” in the wake of Trump’s victory — with a new focus on what he called “bedrock kitchen-table issues” such as housing, school choice and economics, among other issues.

“Black, Hispanic and Asian communities are more up for grabs,” he told JI. “All evidence from earlier in November shows we need to take another look.”

As Mayor Eric Adams’ political and legal future remains in question after his recent indictment, the existing primary makeup has created an ideological vacuum of sorts — allowing room for a mainstream voice to carve out a distinct profile in the field full of left-wing candidates.

Despite his baggage, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been mulling a comeback campaign as he seeks a return to political life, could credibly fill that void, some strategists and Jewish leaders say. He is now preparing to launch a mayoral bid soon, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

“It’s happening,” said one of the people, who told JI that Cuomo’s team is in the process of setting up an independent expenditure group and reaching out to several leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community, where he faces lingering resentment over targeted restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. “He’s really trying to pitch the moderates now,” said the person.

Early polling has indicated that Cuomo, who resigned from office in 2021 amid allegations of sexual misconduct, would be a front-runner in the mayoral primary alongside Letitia James, the state attorney general, who is also reportedly weighing a challenge to Adams.

In a statement to JI after this article was published, Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, did not rule out a mayoral bid but declined to confirm if the former governor intends to move forward with a campaign.

“This is all premature,” he said, “but New Yorkers know it was Governor Cuomo who raised wages for hundreds of thousands of workers, codified Roe v. Wade into state law before the Supreme Court overturned it, put the strongest gun protections and paid family leave laws in the nation on the books and built projects previously declared impossible, such as the Moynihan train station, the new LaGuardia and JFK airports, the Second Avenue subway and the Kosciuszko Bridge, all while cutting taxes and reining in spending.”

If he ends up running, Cuomo would be one of the few contenders with a staunch pro-Israel record, as several candidates have drawn heightened scrutiny from the Jewish community for their maneuvering on the issue. 

In recent months, Cuomo has frequently emphasized his support for Israel in its war with Hamas while positioning himself for a possible mayoral bid. On Sunday evening, in a joint appearance with James, the former governor delivered remarks at a dinner hosted by the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education in Manhattan, speaking about Israel and antisemitism.

“This is the moment when true friends stand up shoulder to shoulder and fight for the State of Israel,” he said at the event. “Antisemitism is not only wrong and immoral, it is illegal,” he added. “I signed the law.”

One Jewish leader who saw the speech interpreted his comments as a clear sign he intends to mount a campaign. “He’s gearing up,” the Jewish leader said of Cuomo.

The field has continued to grow as Cuomo remains on the sidelines, with Michael Blake, a former state lawmaker from the Bronx who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2020, joining the primary last week. 

Blake, who previously cast himself as a supporter of Israel, is now facing criticism for social media commentary after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in which he espoused anti-Israel views, including accusations of genocide. (Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the posts.)

Leon Goldenberg, a prominent Orthodox business leader in Brooklyn and ally of Adams who has also been receptive to a Cuomo campaign, told JI that Blake “has been very bad on Israel” since the Oct. 7 attacks, describing his social media comments as a nonstarter. Even as he remains loyal to Adams, who built strong relationships with Orthodox leaders, he said he would “seriously” consider taking a look at Cuomo if he enters the race. “He’s probably the only normal person there,” Goldenberg reasoned.

As the race develops, other people informed of Cuomo’s strategizing said that the former governor — whose traditional coalition largely overlaps with Adams — might not enter the race unless the mayor resigns from office, triggering a special election, or chooses not to run in the June primary next year. “He’s concerned about the optics,” another Jewish leader told JI recently. “He polls best in the Black community and doesn’t want to be seen as pushing the mayor out.”

The former governor could also face reservations among voters turned off by the allegations of sexual harassment that pushed him from office three years ago, as well as accusations he lied to Congress about his role in a report on nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic — both of which he denies. Trump’s recent victory, however, has suggested that voters may be more tolerant of politicians’ ethical indiscretions — as he weathered a litany of legal troubles in addition to allegations of sexual misconduct.

One Jewish ally of Cuomo, who spoke anonymously to discuss the race, said a number of Jewish leaders are now privately urging the governor to run in the primary, driven largely by mounting fears that some candidates who have voiced anti-Israel rhetoric or aligned with critics of Israel could garner momentum.

Zohran Mamdani, a state senator and Democratic socialist in Queens who announced his mayoral campaign last month, has raised concerns among Jewish leaders over his strident criticism of Israel and support for boycotts targeting the Jewish state. Brad Lander, a Jewish Democrat who now serves as city comptroller, has also faced scrutiny from the Jewish community for aligning with far-left anti-Israel activists whose views he claims not to share.

Since launching his campaign over the summer, Lander has downplayed his progressive roots while emphasizing material issues such as health care and education. Mamdani, for his part, has been reaching out to Trump supporters in the outer boroughs, as he promotes such policies as rent freezes and free childcare that could appeal to working-class New Yorkers.

Meanwhile, Scott Stringer, the former comptroller and a Jewish Democrat, is now seeking a political comeback while positioning himself as a centrist — after a failed mayoral campaign last cycle in which he drew backlash from Jewish leaders for courting support from state lawmakers who had endorsed boycotts of Israel.

Rounding out the current field are two Democratic state senators, Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie — both of whom, by varying degrees, are occupying the progressive lane.

Even as the field remains dominated by the left wing of the party, some political observers have noted that the candidates, chastened by Trump’s recent showing in New York City, have not been particularly eager to tout their progressive credentials while seeking the mayor’s office.

“Even the most pure-hearted progressives in the race are talking about making city government do its job better for all New Yorkers instead of the city taking on new challenges for specific vulnerable groups among us, which is a significant rhetorical shift already,” Stu Loeser, a veteran strategist who worked for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, told JI. “Candidates for mayor are going to have to compete with more broad-based ideas and approaches that appeal beyond the furthest-left base primary voters.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean “the presidential election results represent a complete rejection of progressive policies,” Eli Valentin, a Democratic strategist who writes frequently about New York politics, told JI. 

“This election was shaped by two key issues: economic anxiety and public safety concerns,” he said. “Candidates who can address these challenges at the local level — whether progressive or moderate — are likely to gain significant support. Ultimately, in mayoral races, voters prioritize solutions to these bread-and-butter issues.”

But most serious candidates are now “recalculating” how they present themselves to voters, according to a Democratic insider familiar with the primary field. 

The primary could still expand as other potential candidates are floated. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), whose district covers the South Bronx, has also been approached about mounting a bid for mayor — even as he indicates that he is more seriously weighing a campaign to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who replaced Cuomo. 

In a statement to JI on Sunday, Torres, a pro-Israel Democrat who could claim a centrist mantle if he runs for mayor, said he had “made no final decision to seek executive office but, like every New Yorker, I am fed up with the pervasive incompetence that I see.”

“There is no state that saw a greater swing toward Donald Trump than New York — which, to me, is an indictment of incompetent governance in New York,” Torres added. “Both the state and the city have been fundamentally ineffective at combating antisemitism on college campuses. If I were the governor or the mayor, there would be no tolerance for campus antisemitism. None.”

Chris Coffey, a Democratic political strategist who led Andrew Yang’s mayoral bid in 2021, suggested that “Trump’s enhanced numbers” in the election “have different potential meanings.” In a mayoral primary, “Democratic voters may be repulsed by a President Trump and that may move them to the left — to clearly send a message,” he told JI.

“It’s also possible voters remember someone like Cuomo standing up to Trump and” find that history “appealing,” Coffey added, noting that “whoever is the anti-Trump will likely do well in a Democratic primary.”

Yang, for his part, believes that “many New Yorkers will be looking for a practical, effective, moderate manager who is not ideological,” he told JI in a text message on Sunday. “A candidate who represents that will draw many voters from every community.”

Regardless of how the primary takes shape, “the climate in New York in June of 2025 is going to be different than the climate in New York in June of 2021,” Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at New York University and an expert on local politics, said in an interview with JI. “This is going to be a lively, intensely fought primary.”