Even before President-elect Donald Trump’s strong electoral performance in New York City last month, where he claimed particularly pronounced support from working-class voters across the five boroughs, some of the leading progressive mayoral candidates had already begun to moderate their messaging on a variety of issues.

But in the wake of Trump’s historic showing in his native city, many left-wing candidates seeking the mayorship appear to be reevaluating their outreach to voters who had traditionally been a core part of the Democratic coalition, political observers say.

The day after the presidential election, for instance, as New York City’s political class gathered in Puerto Rico for the annual Somos conference, “people were fuming,” said one Democratic insider who attended the multiday confab. “You could even see some of the candidates were kind of chastened,” he recalled. “They’re all recalculating.”

In contrast with the previous mayoral election in 2021, when several candidates swung dramatically to the left, the primary field is now predominantly populated by progressives focusing on such quality of life issues as affordability, childcare and public safety, among other mainstream concerns.

“We’ve heard voters say quite clearly that they are frustrated with the rising cost of living and with government’s failure to address these challenges,” Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn who is among several Democratic candidates challenging embattled Mayor Eric Adams in the June primary, said in a statement to Jewish Insider on Tuesday. “In New York City, the choice is clear: either we use all our strength to lower the cost of housing, or we continue to fail New Yorkers and push families out.”

But even as some of the furthest-left candidates in the race use more populist messaging to soften their rhetoric while targeting working-class New Yorkers, some strategists say they could face skepticism from voters over their ties to radical activist groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America, which has staked out increasingly extreme anti-Israel stances in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.

“In this race for mayor, depending on the field, a candidate trying to conduct an ideological makeover may be too cute by half,” Jake Dilemani, a veteran Democratic strategist, told JI. “Savvy voters can smell bullshit, not to mention there will likely be outside interests spending money reminding voters of candidates’ records. Just look at the presidential election, or the congressional primaries that saw the ouster of two Squad members — their own words were used against them quite effectively.”

Brad Lander, the city comptroller and a longtime DSA member, has drawn continued scrutiny from Jewish leaders as he runs for mayor, even as he has sought to distance himself from some far-left allies who have espoused anti-Israel views he claims not to share.

In recent months, Lander, a Jewish Democrat who identifies as a “progressive Zionist,” has been asking for private meetings with different Jewish groups in the city to discuss his campaign, according to people familiar with the matter, one of whom described the outreach as an effort to “neutralize opposition” from Jewish leaders worried about his bid. “He’s backed off on his most extreme partnerships, but I think that’s for his political purposes,” said the person.

“Lander knows he has a Jewish problem,” another person familiar with the matter told JI, noting that he has met with the Satmar community, a politically powerful Hasidic sect in Brooklyn. Still, the person, who like some others spoke anonymously to address a sensitive issue, predicted Lander’s engagement is “not going to help him with the overall Jewish vote.”

A spokesperson for Lander’s campaign declined to address his outreach to Jewish voters on the record.  

“What the election proved is what Brad already knew: New Yorkers are fed up with city government that doesn’t deliver for New Yorkers,” the campaign spokesperson said in a statement to JI on Tuesday. “Brad knows that we all deserve a city that’s safe and affordable. He’s got the track record to deliver services that actually work.”

Several Jewish leaders have also privately raised concerns about Zohran Mamdani, a far-left state Assemblyman in Queens who is among the most strident critics of Israel in Albany. Mamdani, who launched his mayoral campaign in October, has already won endorsements from the DSA’s New York chapter as well as JVP Action, the political arm of Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Israel group that pushes boycotts of the Jewish state.

While he has not shied away from continuing to express harsh criticism of Israel during his bid for mayor, Mamdani, who was arrested last year while protesting at a cease-fire demonstration weeks after the Hamas attacks, has also been courting Trump supporters in the outer boroughs who could find his policies on free childcare and rent freezes attractive. “The cost of living is driving working people out of the city they built and Eric Adams has taken every opportunity to make it worse,” Mamdani said in a statement to JI on Tuesday.

“My campaign is laser-focused on bold, transformative policies that can make life easier, more affordable and more dignified,” Mamdani added. “But we need to be clear-eyed about the crisis of faith in government. When I spoke to New Yorkers in working class neighborhoods that saw some of the biggest shifts to Trump in last month’s election, I heard again and again about the failure to address skyrocketing prices, all while our tax dollars fund war and a genocide in Gaza. Restoring civic trust means speaking clearly about these issues and offering New Yorkers a vision that’s worth believing in.”

But even as Mamdani’s message could resonate among some voters in the primary, some political strategists speculated that his rhetoric on Israel and ties to radical groups will severely limit his appeal in a city that is home to the largest Jewish community in the country.

Formal affiliation with the DSA, for example, has required that candidates “not visit Israel” and back the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting the Jewish state, noted Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic strategist. Mamdani, he said, is “not going to be able to get away with” connections such as those.

“The problem is that there’s a record of things today,” Sheinkopf told JI recently. “You can’t get away from who you are, and what New Yorkers told Democrats on Election Day is that they’re no longer just going to fall in line because someone screams the word Democrat.”

Michael Blake, a former state lawmaker who jumped into the race last week, has also faced backlash for posting anti-Israel commentary on social media in the wake of Hamas’ attacks, despite previously casting himself as a strong supporter of the Jewish state. 

His campaign has not responded to requests for comment from JI on his rhetorical shift.

Amid an uptick in antisemitic activity sparked by the ongoing war in Gaza, some centrist candidates see an opening to build a more moderate profile in the primary, which now includes seven prominent challengers to Adams. 

Jim Walden, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor who officially entered the race early last week as an independent, is the only major candidate to feature a detailed blueprint for combating antisemitism on his campaign site — including several proposals to counter anti-Jewish prejudice on college campuses and other places.

“As New Yorkers make clear that crime and safety are of paramount importance, you’ll see the left-leaning candidates try to change their stripes,” Walden wrote in an email to JI on Tuesday. “Mine will always remain the same: restoring safety and security to our neighborhoods and on our transit systems is my top priority. My long track record makes me the only candidate in the race with the experience to do it.”

With regard to Israel, Walden said he had made his position “crystal clear, and in writing.”

“It will not change,” he affirmed. “My position as mayor will not change. I support Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorists, as it supported the U.S. after 9/11.”

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, an established moderate who is expected to soon launch a mayoral bid, has also been stressing his support for Israel as he seeks a comeback after his resignation from office three years ago amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Meanwhile, Scott Stringer, the former city comptroller and a Jewish Democrat, has sought a more moderate lane in his second bid for mayor — after a failed run in 2021 where he drew the ire of Jewish leaders for courting support from far-left lawmakers who had endorsed the BDS movement. 

His campaign did not respond to a request for comment about his approach to the primary.

“People are seeing that with Mamdani and Lander in the race, there is no room on the left for people to go,” said one Jewish activist familiar with Stringer’s campaign, noting the former comptroller “is hoping he’ll be a strong and widespread second” pick in the city’s ranked-choice voting system. “The only way to go is the middle of the road.”