New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took a hit to his political credibility on Tuesday when his endorsed candidate in a special election for City Council went down in overwhelming defeat — but it’s not clear if the loss will lead to an override of his veto of school buffer zone legislation or further stall his political momentum. 

Legislative aide Carl Wilson’s trouncing of Mamdani-backed Lindsey Boylan in a West Side district was not just a loss for Mamdani but a triumph for Council Speaker Julie Menin, sources told Jewish Insider, noting she had lent Wilson not just her endorsement but an effective ground game turning out his voters.  

“It was a resounding dominant victory,” said Jewish Community Relations Council of New York CEO Mark Treyger, himself a former city councilmember. “It’s not just about one seat. It’s about the message it sends to the body, and the message it sends to New York, not to underestimate her and her operation.”

Other sources, some of whom requested anonymity out of a need to preserve professional relationships, noted that Mamdani himself had carried the district in the 2025 primary — and suggested his success last year looks more like the consequence of unique circumstances than proof of overwhelming political support. This, they suggested, meant that members of the council going forward would be more susceptible to Menin’s influence than the mayor’s.

“The mayor got a lot of votes in June from a lot of people who weren’t socialists, because they couldn’t vote for [former New York Gov.] Andrew Cuomo,” said one insider, noting that the seat was outside the areas of Brooklyn and Queens where the Democratic Socialists of America are strongest. “His endorsement just didn’t carry the weight in non-DSA areas that he hoped.”

Treyger read Wilson’s win as an optimistic sign for City Council legislation that would compel the NYPD to develop a protocol for establishing security perimeters to guarantee access and egress from education facilities during protests. The measure, part of the Menin’s signature package of legislation intended to combat antisemitism, came in response to demonstrations targeting yeshivas and gathering places for Jewish students.

Mamdani vetoed it last week on the grounds that it defined educational facilities too broadly and might impinge on union activities, even though the bill contained an explicit carveout for organized labor. The legislation originally passed with the support of 30 councilmembers, four shy of the votes necessary to overcome his opposition. 

As a candidate, Wilson said he’d vote to do so, though he backed off this declaration after winning the election — and then reversed to support it again a few hours later.

Treyger argued that with councilmembers more likely to defer to Menin than Mamdani now, the likelihood of an override increases.

“It adds many more options and tools in her toolbox in regards to how she wants to move forward on this issue and others,” he said. “I think there is significant interest on how to find a path forward on this.”

Others weren’t so sure. Sources noted that Gov. Kathy Hochul has endorsed her own buffer zone legislation, which would impose felony penalties on any protester who comes within 25 feet of the doors or driveways of an institution that holds regular prayer — which would cover religious schools. They also pointed to the city’s multibillion-dollar fiscal shortfall, which has already delayed the municipal budget and become a major point of contention between the Council and the mayor’s office.

“It’s not about ‘can she,’ it’s about ‘will she,’” a source said of Menin’s ability and inclination to force an override vote.

Veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf was more blunt.

“It’s probably the wrong fight,” he said, noting Menin successfully pushed through a separate measure to formalize police buffer zone policy at houses of worship. “You gotta pick your battles.”

Sheinkopf agreed that the special election had wounded Mamdani’s credibility, but warned the damage was “overstated.” He asserted that the true challenge for the mayor and his foes will be the upcoming congressional primaries, where Mamdani has backed Assemblymember Claire Valdez and former city Comptroller Brad Lander in a pair of left-leaning House districts.

“The real test will be in June,” Sheinkopf said.

The NYPD — part of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration — declared before the City Council on Wednesday that it has “no objections” to Council Speaker Julie Menin’s proposal compelling the department to develop a policy for establishing “buffer zones” outside houses of worship during protests.

The legislation formed the core of a suite of antisemitism-battling legislation that Menin, the body’s first Jewish speaker, rolled out in January. The bill, which obligates the NYPD to codify protocol for ensuring worshippers can enter and exit religious facilities without obstruction or harassment, initially contained language that would set the range of police barricades or tape at “up to 100 feet.”

However, an updated iteration of the legislation released Monday night eliminated any specific reference to distance, in response to objections that such language could actually constrict the NYPD’s range of protective activity. As a result, the department announced before a hearing of the Council’s Committee to Combat Hate that it has no issues with the bill, following the mayor’s previous allusions to unspecified concerns he and his NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch had with the proposal.

“We greatly appreciate that dialogue and collaboration,” said NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs Michael Gerber, who explicitly stated he was providing the opinion of Tisch. “The result is a bill that is consistent with the NYPD’s ability to protect people entering and leaving places of worship, as well as our commitment to facilitating First Amendment activity.”

The Menin bill is distinct from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push for 25-foot buffer zones around houses of worship, which would subject violators to criminal penalties. Despite the controversy over the Council proposal, which inspired dueling rallies in opposition and support prior to the hearing, Gerber noted that the law would not impose new policies upon the NYPD but simply require Tisch to formalize and publish their procedures.

“To be clear, the policy will not alter our practices but rather will articulate and describe what we are already doing,” Gerber said. “I think the bill fosters transparency.”

A corollary piece of City Council legislation, introduced by Councilmember Eric Dinowitz — chair of the body’s Jewish Caucus — would apply the same standards to educational facilities. Gerber said his department could not offer the same carte blanche support for this proposal, because it would set uniform standards for police conduct on both public and private property. 

Menin pressed Gerber regarding the NYPD’s failure to set up a clear path of access and egress to Park East Synagogue in Manhattan amid an anti-Israel protest in November spearheaded by openly pro-Hamas activists. Gerber reiterated a statement of regret that Tisch, a scion of one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families, also made at the time.

“We got that one wrong,” said Gerber. “We didn’t have the appropriate frozen zone at the entrance, and that led to a situation that should not have happened.”

But the deputy commissioner stressed that the NYPD must guarantee the right of protesters to demonstrate in sight and earshot of their targets, even if their message is hateful and even if the targets are entering or exiting a house of worship.

“The NYPD must protect the First Amendment rights of protesters,” said Gerber. “If individuals choose to protest against those entering a place of worship, the NYPD will ensure that they have sight and sound to the entrance of that location, consistent with the First Amendment. At the same time, the protesters will not be permitted to obstruct, impede or interfere.”

Several left-wing members of the Council pressed Gerber for statistics and responses to hypothetical scenarios, and to make a straightforward declaration of support or opposition to the measure.

Other council members shared their view that the bill does not go far enough. “My concern is that we’re putting forward a symbolic bill that doesn’t really address the real concerns and fears that are being expressed today,” said Councilmember Sandy Nurse.

Menin’s proposal now has 27 co-sponsors, two more than the needed majority of the Council’s 51 members — though seven short of the number required to override a mayoral veto. Mamdani has so far declined to say whether he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

A city council meeting in Richmond, Calif., ended with shouting and frustration after 11 p.m. on Tuesday evening when the body adjourned without considering a measure seeking to censure Mayor Eduardo Martinez, who is under fire from the local Jewish community after sharing antisemitic posts on his LinkedIn page last month. 

“This is a complete embarrassment as a city council,” Councilmember Jamelia Brown, one of the officials who sought to issue a formal censure of Martinez, said before walking away from the meeting room. “We will stand in solidarity and say that this was antisemitic conduct and behavior, yet we don’t want to formalize it and put it on record. It’s very coward [sic] behavior.”

Tuesday’s meeting was the first since Martinez shared multiple incendiary posts regarding the terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach, Australia, last month. He shared one post referring to the shooting as “Israel’s false flag attack.” Another post called the public celebration of Hanukkah “deeply provocative and very un-Jewish” and said it was meant to intimidate Muslims.

He has since fended off calls to resign from the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council and several dozen local elected officials from nearby cities and towns.  

Martinez offered an apology at the start of the meeting, though he began with a jab at “people who are not ready to accept an apology.” 

“I failed to meet the responsibility that my position requires. I reposted content online that included antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories, which have long been used to dehumanize Jewish people and justify violence against them. I was wrong to share them,” Martinez said. 

He offered another apology to “people who felt they had to choose between taking concerns of antisemitism seriously or continuing to support me and the larger vision of justice that we strive toward.”

“I regret that I compromised the integrity of the Palestinian solidarity movement here in Richmond,” Martinez said. “We must be clear that we will not allow antisemitism in our movements, nor will we allow antisemitism to be weaponized against progressive causes.”

The antisemitic rhetoric has struck a nerve with the city’s small Jewish community and Bay Area Jewish activists, givenMartinez’s history of sharing anti-Israel content. Richmond, a San Francisco suburb home to 115,000 people, was the first city in the country to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel, doing so weeks after the attacks. 

“We’re still angry. His apology did not feel genuine. It was sort of like a ‘sorry that my opponents are coming after me’ kind of apology, and so we’re maintaining the position that he should step down,” JCRC CEO Tyler Gregory told Jewish Insider on Thursday. 

The Richmond City Council voted to adopt a measure to begin a “restorative process” between the mayor and the city’s Jewish community, with Martinez undergoing antisemitism training and meeting at least twice with Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller, the rabbi at Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond. Martinez said he met with Saxe-Taller and local Chabad Rabbi Yitzchok Wagner in recent days. 

“I appreciate our beginning a much-needed process to address antisemitism and to address the way it’s being increasingly and more baldly used to target Jews as well as to justify attacks on other vulnerable communities,” Saxe-Taller said in brief remarks at the council meeting. “The mayor and leadership of Temple Beth Hillel and others have begun a process of repair with the goal of making Richmond less vulnerable to antisemitism and therefore also to racism and division.”

Wagner and Martinez met for about two hours last week, Wagner told JI. He declined to speak publicly about the content of their meeting, but noted that frustration remains within the Jewish community.

“I think there is a large group that basically says, ‘Well, we have to do our part and just try to work with him. At the same time, the apology is not OK,’ and they’re not ready to accept the apology. They don’t feel it was sincere,” Wagner said. 

Attendees at the council meeting held up competing signs as city residents and activists from nearby communities spoke for a minute each. “Censure Mayor Martinez,” one sign read. “It was not just ‘one mistake,’” read another. The mayor’s supporters held signs reading, “Richmond Jews support our mayor” and “People power from Richmond to Palestine.” 

Vice Mayor Cesar Zepeda was one of two councilmembers, along with Brown, who introduced the formal censure resolution. He told JI that his goal was to show his colleagues that there should be consequences for harmful language. 

“What my colleagues might not realize is that by not voting to censure him, they voted to allow future councilmembers to pretty much get a Get Out of Jail Free card if you say bad stuff about our community, whether they’re antisemitic or racist or homophobic, whatever it may be,” Zepeda said. “You can post three or four things online, say a couple of things here and there, and just do a semi-apology, and you’re good to go.” (While the formal censure resolution was tabled, an amendment to a different resolution that would have censured Martinez was voted down.)

Martinez is up for reelection this year, and Gregory said the JCRC’s affiliated political arm is considering whether to support an opponent to the mayor.

“We’re looking carefully at the mayoral race and seeing if there might be an alternative that’s going to be less of a bomb thrower and less, just to be blunt, less antisemitic as mayor,” said Gregory. “We’re still waiting to see how the race shapes up, but there’s a strong possibility that we get involved in trying to see some change there.”

In recent years, Jewish and pro-Israel activists in New York City have been successful in defending favored incumbents while boosting candidates in open-seat local races. But they have struggled to go on the offensive against far-left Israel critics on the City Council aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, which has gained prominence in some districts.

Now, however, some Jewish community activists and pro-Israel strategists are expressing optimism that a competitive City Council election in southern Brooklyn could be their best pick-up opportunity in next week’s citywide primaries, delivering a possible upset that has so far proved elusive at the local level.

In one of the city’s most hotly contested local races, Alexa Avilés, a two-term councilmember backed by the DSA, is facing a formidable challenge from Ling Ye, a moderate former congressional staffer making her first bid for elective office with a focus largely on public safety.

The race is playing out in a redrawn district that now includes more moderate constituents in Dyker Heights who are likely less receptive to reelecting a socialist, strategists say, fueling hopes among allies of Ye eager to pick off an incumbent whose hostility to Israel while in office has rankled Jewish leaders.

Ye, who immigrated to the United States from China in her early teens, is also depending on the sizable population of Chinese American voters who live in the ethnically diverse district — which covers such progressive pockets as Red Hook, winds down through a heavily Latino section of Sunset Park and terminates around Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights in southwestern Brooklyn.

“She is hyper focused on the issues impacting the community she grew up in and served through her many roles in government,” Haley Scott, a spokesperson for Ye, told JI. “She’s fighting to make south Brooklyn safer and more affordable, and to make sure every community in this district is being heard and represented in City Hall.”

One political consultant supportive of Ye said that he had seen recent polling showing Avilés with an eight-point lead over her opponent, but cautioned the district is difficult to accurately survey because the electorate is so diverse and voters speak several different languages.

“There are a bunch of voting pockets, between the Asian population and working-class moderate white voters, that could break toward Ye,” the consultant, who spoke on condition of anonymity to address the race, told Jewish Insider this week.

Haley Scott, a spokesperson for Ye, also projected confidence ahead of Tuesday’s primary, saying the first-time candidate “is running a campaign to win” and built “overwhelming grassroots support and an aggressive turnout operation to make sure everyone who can vote exercises that right.”

“She is hyper focused on the issues impacting the community she grew up in and served through her many roles in government,” Scott told JI. “She’s fighting to make south Brooklyn safer and more affordable, and to make sure every community in this district is being heard and represented in City Hall.”

Ye, who most recently was a staffer for Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), is backed by a pro-Israel super PAC as well as a group with ties to the real estate industry that has invested in attack ads targeting Avilés over past calls to defund the police, among other issues.

Like some other candidates who have previously endorsed such efforts — which have more recently become a political liability — Avilés has softened her rhetoric on public safety issues as she faces scrutiny over her positions while seeking reelection to a third term in the changed district.

As recently as last August, for instance, Avilés had explicitly advocated for “defunding the NYPD” in a platform section on her campaign site, according to archived screenshots on the Wayback Machine. But her current platform features no such language, and even acknowledges that a “police presence” coupled with public services like “better street lighting” have helped constituents “feel safe” in their communities. 

Rather than calling for a wholesale divestment from law enforcement, Avilés’ platform now pushes for increased police accountability while arguing that officers are unfit to respond to mental health calls, among other things.

Her campaign did not return a request for comment from JI on Thursday.

The Puerto Rican-born councilwoman, who chairs the Committee on Immigration, has otherwise been emphasizing constituent services, citing her efforts to protect residents from federal agents conducting what she has called “unlawful” raids and arrests as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown targets New York City.

For her part, Ye has countered that Avilés’ tenure has been more defined by what she characterizes as performative gestures such as voting against the city budget, while suggesting that her vociferous support for defunding the police has damaged relations with law enforcement at the expense of the community’s immediate needs. Ye has called for “strengthening relationships between local police precincts and the neighborhoods they serve” amid local concerns over violent crime, among other policies that she casts as practical solutions better aligned with the district.

Ye, who has drawn donations from Jewish and pro-Israel donors, is supportive of Israel but has stressed that the City Council is not an appropriate venue for litigating foreign policy and has sought to focus on local issues throughout the race, according to her campaign. The district is home to just a small number of Jewish voters, according to experts, even as it includes some parts of Borough Park, a Hasidic enclave.

“New York’s AIPAC is spending big against me,” Avilés said during her speech on Saturday before a packed audience at Terminal 5, referring to Solidarity PAC, a local pro-Israel advocacy group supporting Ye that has no formal ties to the Washington-based federal lobbying organization. “Because I’ve stood up over and over to demand a ceasefire in Gaza,” she added defiantly to cheers from the crowd. “We want to end the genocide and we want a free Palestine!” 

Still, Israel’s ongoing wars have fueled tension in the district. Pro-Palestinian activists have heckled Ye on the campaign trail, according to video seen by JI, accusing her of supporting “genocide” and taking “blood money” from Israel, a false claim that echoes antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of American politics. Ye has also faced xenophobic rhetoric amid the race, as one of her public campaign posters was defaced with graffiti labeling her a “Zionist” as well an affiliate of the “CCP,” or the Chinese Communist Party, a photo recently shared with JI shows.

Even as Avilés has somewhat tempered her rhetoric on law enforcement, she has continued to speak out stridently in opposition to Israel, most recently at a campaign rally in Manhattan for Zohran Mamdani, a far-left state assemblyman from Queens polling in second place in the Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday. 

“New York’s AIPAC is spending big against me,” Avilés said during her speech on Saturday before a packed audience at Terminal 5, referring to Solidarity PAC, a local pro-Israel advocacy group supporting Ye that has no formal ties to the Washington-based federal lobbying organization. “Because I’ve stood up over and over to demand a ceasefire in Gaza,” she added defiantly to cheers from the crowd. “We want to end the genocide and we want a free Palestine!” 

In keeping with the DSA, which drew widespread backlash for promoting a Manhattan rally at which attendees were seen celebrating Hamas shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Avilés backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions moment targeting Israel and has faced scrutiny for being among a handful of City Council members who abstained from voting in favor of a City Council resolution to establish an annual “End Jewish Hatred Day.”

Sara Forman, who leads Solidarity PAC, criticized Avilés in a statement to JI as “a DSA ideologue” who during her time in office has “sidelined” key issues such as affordable housing “in favor of empty promises, an obsession with foreign policy and political posturing.”

Solidarity PAC, Forman said, “proudly supports Ling Ye, who has called Brooklyn’s 38th District home since immigrating to the United States at 14, as someone who understands the real and pressing needs of the community.”

As she seeks to fend off her primary challenger, Aviles’ allies have raised some concerns about the race, even as she has won a range of high-profile endorsements from such progressive leaders as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and the Working Families Party. In a recent Zoom discussion about the “Israel lobby,” Yuh-Line Niou, a former far-left state assemblywoman who lost a tight congressional contest in 2022, warned that Avilés is running in “a very tough race” and urged viewers to support her campaign.

“There are people who are Asian voters who will literally see an Asian name on the ballot and be willing to vote for them,” suggested Niou, who is Taiwanese American.

Despite some unease among supporters of Avilés, the race has largely flown under the radar and has been overshadowed by a separate City Council race in Brooklyn where Shahana Hanif, the DSA-aligned incumbent, has drawn backlash from Jewish voters over her strident criticism of Israel. 

“It’s going to be the closest of the DSA races,” said one Jewish leader, speaking anonymously to discuss the primary. “But Alexa still wins,” he predicted, while speculating that Mamdani’s “coattails” in the district “will help.”

In her primary, Hanif is defending her seat against Maya Kornberg, a pro-Israel Jewish Democrat also backed by Solidarity PAC who, like Ye, has accused her opponent of failing to provide solid constituent services while advocating for policies like defunding the police that have not helped the district.

But while the race has drawn national attention as well as spending from outside groups backing both candidates, some strategists and Jewish leaders who are eager to see Kornberg win expressed skepticism she will ultimately unseat Hanif — owing largely to the ideological makeup of the district that includes deeply progressive Park Slope. 

Some Jewish community activists are also cautious about Ye’s race further south. “It’s going to be the closest of the DSA races,” said one Jewish leader, speaking anonymously to discuss the primary. “But Alexa still wins,” he predicted, while speculating that Mamdani’s “coattails” in the district “will help.”

Still, others following the race are holding out hope that Avilés’ new district lines will favor a moderate Democrat like Ye, who has argued the community “doesn’t need another professional protester” in City Hall.

“There’s a really good chance for a pick-up here,” said another Jewish community activist who has tracked the race.

With his towering 6-foot-10 frame topped by a bundle of impressive dreadlocks, Robert Cornegy, Jr., a New York City councilmember who until recently claimed the title of tallest politician in the world, was hard to miss as he sauntered into Basquiat’s Bottle, a trendy bar and restaurant on a commercial drag in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. 

“This is one of the restaurants that’s kind of central to the community,” Cornegy, 55, told Jewish Insider on a recent Sunday afternoon, settling in at a table in the back while contemplating an order of shrimp and grits.

Cornegy, whose district includes Bedford-Stuyvesant as well as Crown Heights, is now competing for the more high-profile role of Brooklyn borough president — and he has been savoring the opportunity to step away from Zoom, hit the pavement and make a more personal impression on potential voters with just weeks remaining until the June 22 Democratic primary.

“Because I’m such an attraction, I’m used to meeting people and engaging people,” said Cornegy, who wasn’t boasting so much as accurately characterizing his striking height. “I’m on the doors, I’m in the streets, I’m in bars, I’m in restaurants talking to people. When people generally get a chance to speak to me and know me, whether they’re with me or not, they walk away with a solid impression.”

But Cornegy is relying on more than just his memorable presence as he jockeys to succeed Eric Adams, the outgoing borough president and mayoral hopeful. In recent months, Cornegy has established himself as a leading contender in the crowded field of more than a dozen candidates, tying for first place in one poll alongside fellow city councilmember Antonio Reynoso, with Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, who leads in fundraising, not far behind. 

Robert Cornegy in Coney Island (Courtesy)

While Reynoso has pulled in support from a number of leading progressives, Cornegy is carving out a center-left lane, having earned endorsements from several prominent Jewish community leaders as well as influential celebrities including Tracy Morgan and Spike Lee. 

Facing term limits in the City Council, where he has served since 2014, Cornegy believes that he is best qualified to usher his home borough into a post-pandemic era, citing his current role leading the housing and buildings committee as well as his prior experience chairing the small business committee.

“During the pandemic, it became incredibly evident to me that whoever was going to lead this borough had to have a solid understanding for the recovery process of small business and job creation and responsible development,” said Cornegy, who is also chairman of the council’s Democratic Conference. “While we try to fight for affordability in an ever-increasing, unaffordable borough, the person couldn’t be just a ‘no, no, no’ person. It had to be somebody who was willing to fight the hard fight around affordability and who had some acumen within that.”

The borough presidency is largely ceremonial, holding some substantive duties like community board appointments and zoning and land use recommendations. But Cornegy says he is excited by the role because it nevertheless represents a powerful platform. 

“We have the largest bully pulpit probably in the state outside of the mayor of New York and the governor,” he argued, indicating that the primary pillars of his campaign are job growth, affordable housing and public safety — perhaps the issue on which he is most passionate.

The city councilman was an active presence last summer at social justice demonstrations in his district, where a Black Lives Matter mural was painted in bright yellow letters onto a block-length stretch of Fulton Street he helped turn into a pedestrian plaza. But while Cornegy advocates for increased policy accountability, he has distanced himself from efforts to defund or abolish the police. 

“I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive to demand reform and accountability in the criminal justice system — I’m a Black man in America — while still supporting a platform for solid public safety,” said Cornegy. “I don’t think you have to abandon one for the other.”

He says his constituents are largely in agreement with his views. “My community, the community of Bedford-Stuyvesant and northern Crown Heights, has never demanded abolishing or defunding the police,” said Cornegy, who believes that police officers should live in the neighborhoods they work in and advocates for the establishment of a mental health emergency response unit. “They’ve demanded policing in their communities that didn’t violate their civil and human rights, and I think most people would agree with that as a narrative.”

Henry Butler and City Councilman Robert Cornegy speak during “The Last O.G. Season 2” Garden Party For Good at the Hattie Carthan Community Garden in Brooklyn on March 28, 2019 in New York City. 547100 (Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for TBS)

Still, Cornegy has found himself at odds with progressives who support more sweeping reforms. “He’s trying to signal that he understands policing is a problem, but almost every elected official is saying that,” said Alex Vitale, a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and the author of The End of Policing. “He does support some small investments in non-police public safety strategies, but those proposals are very small in scale and don’t reduce the burden of policing.”

Cornegy took issue with such criticism, noting that he is deeply engaged in reform efforts, pointing to his sponsorship of a chokehold criminalization bill as well as his support for ending qualified immunity, which has long protected police officers from wrongdoing. 

“I can go all the way back where we’ve been witnessing this regularly in our communities and trying to find a substantive way for long-term, substantial change, and have been working towards that,” he told JI. “I think that there was a little bit of a disregard for that hard work that some of us have put in.”

Others have appreciated his approach. “Security is a major issue, especially considering all the anitsmeitic incidents,” said Leon Goldenberg, a prominent Orthodox Jewish real estate executive and talk radio host in Midwood who, as a member of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, recently endorsed Cornegy.

If elected, Cornegy said he will use the borough president’s office as a “sanctuary” for victims of hate crimes while working to assemble a task force for attacks within Brooklyn. “In order to get a hate crime designation, it takes almost an act of god,” said Cornegy, who adds that he will encourage Brooklyn’s district attorney to act more forcefully on such designations. “This kind of hatred, unchecked, only escalates.”

Cornegy has longstanding ties with Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community thanks in part, he said, to his support for causes like security funding of yeshivas. “My agenda for public safety certainly encompasses the Orthodox community and my narrative around public safety,” he said.

Such relationships, he says, have only accrued over time. “I celebrate the fact that, yes, while I’ve gotten Orthodox support,” Cornegy said, “it has come out of hard work together.” 

Robert Cornegy in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn (Courtesy)

“I’ve worked on behalf of an issue that was germane to a particular demographic, and so that demographic now feels confident that, as a Black man, I could still have Jewish issues or Hispanic issues or Polish issues. I have a Polish contingency,” Cornegy told JI. “But those are all forged out of doing work that positively impacted those communities. So there’s this kind of feeling that, ‘OK, he’s Black, but he has a larger view of what the needs of public communities outside of his own are, and potentially can advocate on our behalf as well.’”

“I would say his claim to fame is he’s really a consensus builder,” said David Greenfield, the CEO of the Met Council and a former city councilman who served alongside Cornegy. “In Brooklyn, which is a big, complicated, complex borough, he’s done a good job bringing people together.”

The son of a Southern Baptist minister who grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cornegy — now a father of six — played basketball at St. John’s University, went to the Final Four and then played professionally overseas for 15 years. He spent some of that time playing in Israel in the early ’90s — while also living briefly on a kibbutz because he wanted to immerse himself in the culture — an experience he describes as formative. “I played on teams where they were professional athletes and still served in the military,” he recalled. “When I would ask why, there was a level of patriotism that existed that I didn’t even think existed in the United States.” 

“I’m a patriot,” Cornegy said. “I love the United States of America. But I hadn’t seen that before.”

Cornegy described the recent violence between Israel and Hamas as “incredibly disturbing,” adding: “I was there, and I understand protecting your homeland from people who really have to do that on a consistent basis.” 

“Because we’re such a diverse borough, it is always on my mind how to bring peace here, at least, because you’ll see that there are conflicts that are happening on our homeland because of what’s happening there,” Cornegy told JI. “That disturbs me a lot, because for the most part, here in the borough, we kind of live cohesively together, and I’m always thinking about what can I do as the Brooklyn borough president to alleviate some of that pressure that people are experiencing.”

Robert Cornegy at a rally

That impulse was on display, on a smaller scale, at Basquiat’s Bottle in Bedford-Stuyvesant the other day, when a kitchen worker approached Cornegy to thank him for providing a free suit for his graduation not long ago. And although the city councilman only had a glass of water, he still bought a round of drinks for the wait staff — he abstained — rather than leaving the restaurant without having ordered anything.

It was clear that Cornegy was enjoying his status as a kind of community fixture as he campaigns for the opportunity to expand his web of connections.

Cornegy gained some prominence outside of Brooklyn when, having undergone a rigorous vetting process, Guinness World Records deemed him the world’s tallest politician a couple of years ago. But he lost his crown after an insurance commissioner in North Dakota beat him by a centimeter. “A centimeter,” Cornegy emphasized, sounding a note of amused annoyance, “and some obscure elective role that I’ve never even heard of before.”

He didn’t seem too bothered by it, though. “I’m still the people’s champ here in New York,” he said. “I’ll take that.”

Julia Coleman hasn’t been involved in campus advocacy for a number of years now. But Coleman still carries many of the lessons she learned during her time working as a field representative for the Leadership Institute, a conservative youth organizing group, touring colleges in the mid-Atlantic region.

“One of our demonstrations was we would take a SodaStream and we would set up a little booth,” Coleman recalled in a recent interview with Jewish Insider, referring to the popular soda machine, which is headquartered in Israel and is a frequent target of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns. “While we’re showing them this amazing apparatus, we would talk about the innovations coming out of Israel and the importance of having a free, democratic state in the Middle East and protecting Israel. And it opened up a lot of students’ eyes.”

Such discussions were, incidentally, also good practice for Coleman in her personal and political future as a young Republican. She is now the daughter-in-law of Norm Coleman, the former Minnesota senator and current chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “You can’t be in my home and not have those conversations,” the former senator said matter-of-factly in a phone conversation with JI. 

Now that she is vying to represent Minnesota’s 47th district in the state Senate, Coleman — who currently serves as a city council member in Chanhassen, a suburb of Minneapolis — is acutely aware that some of the same issues she faced on campuses will also be present in higher office. Coleman defeated Victoria Mayor Tom Funk in the 47th district Republican primary in August.

She says she is ready for the challenge. “I would like to let the Jewish community in Minnesota know that they do have an ally in me,” she said.

Coleman, 28, says she entered the race to replace Scott Jensen, a Republican retiring at the end of his term, because she believes the state has been co-opted by progressives like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), the freshman congresswoman who is highly critical of Israel and has been accused of antisemitism. “She definitely has yanked that entire party further left and has really created quite a radical base here in Minnesota,” Coleman declared weeks after Omar’s resounding primary victory over a more moderate challenger. 

Julia Coleman during her swearing-in ceremony.

“I will fight antisemitism, whether it’s coming from Ilhan or members of the state legislature or the public, whether it’s coming from movements like BDS,” promised Coleman, who characterizes herself as “a strong, Zionist, pro-Israel supporter.”

It may seem, at first glance, that a down-ballot candidate such as Coleman wouldn’t have much of an opportunity to effect change at the state level. But her father-in-law avers that it is just as important to have pro-Israel candidates locally as it is to have them in Congress. 

“To have somebody who, in their core, understands the importance of these issues, I think, really makes a difference because the battles are being fought on the local level,” he said. 

Dan Rosen, a lawyer in Minneapolis who is involved in pro-Israel causes at the state and national levels, agreed. “Even here in Minnesota, the Jewish community has to be on its guard,” he told JI. “Anti-Israel advocates are active at our capitol, where pro-Israel legislators have passed anti-BDS legislation and thwarted efforts to force divestment from Israel. Accordingly, we are grateful when legislative candidates, like Julia, are committed to fighting those that would single out Jewish and pro-Israel interests for attack.”

Coleman, who was raised Catholic, has developed a strong affinity for Judaism since she married Jacob Coleman — an account executive at a Minneapolis insurance company and a volunteer fireman in Chanhassen — in 2018. They have decided to raise their 10-month-old son, Adam, in both religious traditions, just as Jacob, whose mother is Catholic, grew up.

“We’ll do Christmas and Hanukkah, we’ll do Easter and Passover,” she said, “and it has helped me to not only appreciate the Jewish people and their faith, but also it has taught me so much about my own because we share that Old Testament. I think that it is so important for Christians to really get to know their Jewish brothers and sisters and their faith, because it helps us to understand our own even better.”

Coleman with her husband, Jacob, a volunteer fireman in Chanhassen.

Coleman said she has learned much about Judaism as well as the U.S.-Israel bond through her relationship with her father-in-law. “He did my first Seder,” she told JI, “and it was just such a beautifully eye-opening experience into the Jewish faith, as well as my own, because that’s part of our background.”

“You learn simply by being around him,” Coleman added, noting that she attended the RJC convention at his behest in 2019. “That was such a great experience. I’ve always been pro-Israel, but to hear the president speak and to get to meet hundreds of people who are Jewish and Israel supporters, and to share why this issue matters to them on a personal level, and to hear Norm speak to them and hear their stories — you learn so much.”

Coleman — who has never been to Israel but wants to visit — was raised in Minnesota. Her father is a Ramsey County deputy sheriff, and her mother is an executive consultant. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and was Miss Minneapolis in 2014. (Her platform, she said, was suicide prevention.) She “gave up” her “crown,” as she jokingly put it, to spend a year with the Leadership Institute, but returned to her home state to work for Charlie Kirk’s conservative nonprofit student organization, Turning Point USA.

“I got kicked off of college campuses more than I care to admit,” she said.

Soon after, she was hired as a reporter and anchor for Alpha News, a partisan media startup in the Gopher State. But Coleman found that being in front of a camera was unfulfilling, so she moved on to a new position as a public relations manager at Medical Alley Association, a trade group advocating on behalf of Minnesota’s health technology community. 

She currently holds that job while serving on the Chanhassen City Council, a position she has occupied since 2018, the same year she married her husband — who five years ago ran for the Senate seat she is gunning for, but lost the Republican endorsement to Jensen.

“My dad was thrilled when I married Norm’s son, because Norm brought the Wild to Minnesota, and my dad is a die-hard Wild fan,” said Coleman, alluding to Minnesota’s professional hockey team. “I don’t think my husband had to put up too hard of a fight to ask for permission, although my dad was on duty and armed when Jake asked for permission, so, brave guy.”

Coleman sits with her father, a Ramsey County deputy sheriff.

Though Coleman is only two years into her term as a city council member, she believes that she is ready for a promotion to the State Senate. 

“I felt compelled to run in order to preserve the freedoms that I got to grow up with and the opportunities I had,” she said, emphasizing that she takes Omar’s statements personally in large part because of her son.

“My son has Jewish heritage,” she told JI. “I’m just blown away by Ilhan Omar’s rhetoric, and when people think of a female politician from Minnesota, I want them to think about someone who’s pro-Israel and supportive of the Jewish community.”

Support for BDS, Coleman added, has become commonplace among left-leaning politicians in Minnesota, a development she regards as troubling. “It is just antisemitism at its finest,” she told JI.

Coleman, who is all but assured a seat in the solidly conservative district as she goes up against Democrat Addie Miller in November, swats away questions about her ambitions beyond state office. 

“I always say the same thing when I was on council,” she said. “I have to prove I can do a good job here before I’ll even think that far ahead.”

In the meantime, she is looking forward to taking on more substantive issues assuming she is elected to the State Senate — a return of sorts to her days advocating for conservative causes on campuses in her early 20s.

“You really don’t talk about hot button issues on council,” Coleman told JI. “You talk about zoning, you talk about the local levy, the fire department. In the State Senate, issues like BDS will come before me. Issues like abortion and the Second Amendment will come before me. Issues that are going to affect every single Minnesotan will be discussed and debated. And so I do believe that, if elected in November, I will be incredibly blessed to fight for the people of Minnesota and, hopefully, leave behind a state that is better than the one I grew up in for the next generation of Minnesotans.”

A City Council intern who collapsed during a press conference for mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn this afternoon was forced to wait more than 30 minutes before a Hatzollah ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital. The intern had to wait 30 minutes even with a personal phone call from Quinn to police Commissioner Ray Kelly asking for help.

The 17-year-old intern, who works in the office of Councilwoman Diana Reyna, collapsed around 12 p.m. during a Williamsburg press conference. According to several news outlets, the victim was promptly pulled into the shade by Quinn and other staffers, and continued to fade in and out of consciousness for 30 minutes before a volunteer Hatzollah ambulance arrived to take her to Long Island Jewish Hospital.