New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has selected former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as her running mate in her reelection race this year — a pick that provoked both applause and consternation among leaders of the state’s Jewish community.

Adams, who vied unsuccessfully against Mayor Zohran Mamdani for Gracie Mansion last year, declared herself “ready for this fight” in embracing her new role as the No. 2 on the Democrats’ gubernatorial ticket. Lieutenant gubernatorial candidates run separately from governors in primaries in New York State, but form a combined slate with their party’s pick in the general election. 

If victorious, Adams would become the first city council speaker to ever win higher office after leading the municipal legislature.

But Adams has already made history in a different way: besides being the first Black woman to hold the speaker role since its creation in 1989, she was also the first occupant of the position not to lead a delegation to Israel. Although she denied that she was boycotting the country, she raised concerns in 2024 when her office drafted an ultimately abandoned resolution urging a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that one Jewish community leader described to Jewish Insider on Wednesday as “one-sided” and “inflammatory.”

“It’s a disappointing pick,” the leader who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of their position, said of Hochul’s announcement. “There were definitely picks that had a much stronger relationship with the Jewish community.” 

However, this sentiment was far from unanimous. David Greenfield, CEO of the influential Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, took to X to declare Adams “an inspired choice.”

“Adrienne is awesome and will make a great Lieutenant Governor,” wrote Greenfield, who himself formerly served as a Democratic city councilman.