Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) apologized to Zohran Mamdani for recently saying that he had made “references to global jihad,” as New York Democrats continue to weigh their response to the 33-year-old democratic socialist’s stunning upset in New York City’s mayoral primary last week that sent shockwaves through the party establishment.

The senator, who is among several Democratic leaders who have so far refrained from endorsing Mamdani in the general election, claimed in a radio interview last week that the Democratic nominee had made comments that are alarming to Jewish voters in New York, alluding to his controversial defense of calls to “globalize the intifada,” a phrase critics interpret as provoking violence against Jews.

“They are alarmed by past positions, particularly references to global jihad,” Gillibrand said in the interview on WNYC. “This is a very serious issue because people that glorify the slaughter of Jews create fear in our communities. The global intifada is a statement that means ‘destroy Israel and kill all the Jews.’”

While a spokesperson for Gillibrand, whose comments drew backlash, soon clarified that she “misspoke in that instance,” her team added on Tuesday that the junior senator had also privately apologized to Mamdani on Monday night, according to a readout of their call first shared with Politico.

The senator “apologized for mischaracterizing Mamdani’s record and for her tone on the call,” the readout stated, adding Gillibrand “said she believes Mr. Mamdani is sincere when he says he wants to protect all New Yorkers and combat antisemitism.”

The news of her apology came shortly after Mamdani had formally clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, in a resounding, 12-point victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his chief rival in the Democratic primary, who had already conceded.

Mamdani, who significantly expanded his initial seven-point lead on election night, won 56% of the vote in the third and final round of ranked-choice tabulations, with Cuomo in second place at 44%, according to the New York City Board of Elections results.

“I am humbled by the support of more than 545,000 New Yorkers in last week’s primary,” Mamdani said in a statement. “This is just the beginning of our expanding coalition to make New York City affordable. And we will do it together.”

Mamdani has been seeking to shore up support from Democratic leaders as he prepares for a fall general election against Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor running as an independent; Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee; and Jim Walden, an attorney also running as an independent. Cuomo will also be on the November ballot on an independent line, but has not yet indicated if he will mount a campaign.

Even as Mamdani has claimed backing from a growing number of state and local party leaders, federal lawmakers have largely been hesitant to fully embrace him, as he has continued to decline invitations to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” an issue that has dogged his campaign in recent weeks.

Gillibrand, for her part, said in the radio interview last week that she had spoken with Mamdani about Jewish security concerns, and that he had agreed to work with her to “protect all residents” amid rising antisemitism.

“These are things that I think are important to New Yorkers, and I will work with him when he gets elected, if he gets elected, to make sure everyone is protected,” she said.

The political developments over the last week couldn’t send a more dispiriting message about the viability of the political center — in both parties. 

Last Tuesday, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on a far-left agenda on issues ranging from the economy, crime and antisemitism, emerged as the Democratic standard-bearer for mayor of New York City. 

Over the weekend, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), one of the most pragmatic Republicans in the upper chamber, announced he wouldn’t be running for reelection after signaling he’d be one of two GOP votes against President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill. His decision to retire came after Trump, in a Truth Social post, threatened to support a primary challenger. 

Tillis, notably, was the deciding Republican vote scuttling the nomination of interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin for, among other issues, his associations with a Nazi sympathizer.

And on Monday, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), one of only three House Republicans who represents a district that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, formally announced his retirement, making it all the more likely a more-partisan Democratic lawmaker will succeed him in the seat. 

These are just the latest developments that underscore that moderation, pragmatism and bipartisanship are becoming endangered principles in a polarized political environment that rewards extremism and hot takes over thoughtful policymaking. 

The list of threats to the mainstream middle are all over: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is facing a serious threat from far-right Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in next year’s primary despite his long record of pragmatism and thoughtful policymaking as Texas’ senior senator. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who reluctantly cast the tiebreaking vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary despite his record opposing vaccines, is nonetheless facing the likelihood of a tough renomination fight against state Treasurer John Fleming, a former GOP congressman.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Mamdani’s surprise victory threatens to activate the left-wing grassroots in numerous congressional primaries. For a while, it looked like the moderates in the party held the upper hand after an embarrassing 2024 election where activists’ preferred policies badly hurt the Democratic ticket. But amid a DSA victory in New York, anti-ICE activism percolating again throughout the party and significant crowds showing up for anti-Trump “No Kings” protests last month, there are signs of an empowered progressive flank of the Democratic Party. 

The emergence of liberal lawmakers like Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who are accommodating out-of-the-mainstream views in the party, is an ominous sign of where the party could be headed. 

Murphy told NBC’s “Meet the Press” about Mamdani’s primary win: “He was authentic, right? I mean, yes, he’s got some views that are a little bit out of the conventional mainstream. But you know what? The traditional political pundits have no idea what’s actually mainstream in this country …  And so Democrats should learn from his victory.”

We could be close to a time where both parties’ populist, activist wings become the dominant forces in primaries, a trend that has been apparent in recent years and may be past the point of no return. That would be a blow to good governance and a win for performative politics and nonstop narcissism being the driving force in American elections.

Zohran Mamdani’s commanding performance in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday night underscored how the 33-year-old assemblyman, a democratic socialist from Queens, successfully built a coalition extending well beyond his far-left base of support.

But while his focus on affordability resonated with many voters across the five boroughs who rejected former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani’s all-but-certain victory has also empowered some of his more extreme supporters to espouse incendiary rhetoric that his critics say has helped fuel a rise in antisemitism in the city. 

In celebrating the presumed upset by a candidate with a long record of anti-Israel activism, many of Mamdani’s allies on the far left have promoted calls to “globalize the intifada,” a motto he had refused to condemn in the final stretch of the campaign, while attacking “Zionists” and using threatening language that has raised alarms within the city’s mainstream Jewish community.

“Consider the intifada globalized,” one prominent Mamdani supporter wrote on social media, using a phrase that critics interpret as violent incitement against Jews — and echoing a number of comments invoking similar language in the wake of the bitterly contested primary.

“The last 24 hours will be an inflection point in history for Zionism and the entity,” said another backer with a relatively sizable following on social media. 

“Tonight we celebrate,” a like-minded Mamdani enthusiast added in an ominously worded post. “Tomorrow we get the lists from Zohran and the round up begins.”

Mamdani, for his part, has avoided such rhetoric throughout the campaign, even as he has not fully distanced himself from radical elements of the pro-Palestinian movement in which he has long been an outspoken figure, particularly during his four years serving in Albany.

In the closing week of the race, he controversially defended calls to “globalize the intifada,” doubling down in a radio interview a day before the election, where he suggested that the phrase “has a variety of meanings to a variety of people,” but clarified that he does not himself use it now.

Earlier in the campaign, while speaking to Jewish voters during a candidate town hall, Mamdani also refused to disavow Hasan Piker — an antisemitic influencer who has stoked controversy for justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks — after joining the podcaster’s widely viewed show for an extensive interview.

“I do not have regrets of speaking to any interviewer, to any journalist, to any podcaster, because ultimately, my message is consistent in all of those mediums,” Mamdani said in May. “And it’s a message that I want to have reach as many people as possible while making clear what my values are and my statements.”

In his victory speech late Tuesday night, Mamdani — a longtime supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel — sought to assuage Jewish voters’ concerns about his positions on the Middle East, saying he is among “millions of New Yorkers who have strong feelings about what happens overseas.”

“While I will not abandon my beliefs or my commitments, grounded in a demand for equality, for humanity,” Mamdani said, “you have my word to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree, and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements.”

Despite engaging in diplomacy as he tries to widen his support base for a competitive general election, Mamdani’s critics allege that his perceived lack of interest in drawing red lines on threatening rhetoric toward Israel and its supporters has helped create a permission structure for the far left to use language that has alienated many Jewish Democrats from the party they have long called home.

That Mamdani appears to have claimed a decisive win even before all votes have been tallied — and in a place home to the largest Jewish population of any city in the world, no less — has also spurred anxiety among Jewish community leaders that he will likely maintain his dominant position in the general election, all while continuing to ignore the mounting pressure to more forcefully address extreme statements issued by his supporters.

“Does it not matter because we lost?” one Jewish leader, who had backed Cuomo, said on Wednesday, voicing skepticism that Mamdani will feel he needs to confront the fringes of his movement to prevail in what is expected to be a crowded general election to unseat Eric Adams, the scandal-scarred mayor now running for reelection as an independent.

Even within Mamdani’s campaign, some of his staffers have drawn scrutiny for their polarizing commentary on Israel and other issues. A campaign videographer, Donald Borenstein, has advocated for Israel’s elimination, writing in a since-deleted social media post late last year that “Palestine will be free, Lebanon will stand strong, and the fascist state of Israel will fall in our lifetimes.”

“It is time for Mr. Mamdani to move from disturbance to responsibility and to unambiguously reject and reign in these actors with whom he has been strongly associated,” said Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, before citing a line from Mamdani’s speech on Tuesday. “He needs to prioritize the safety and security of New Yorkers over his ‘strong feelings about what happens overseas.’” 

Meanwhile, Mamdani’s political director, Julian Gerson, has voiced sympathy for Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of a health-care executive in Manhattan last year — arguing that he “is adored not only because he dared to target a leader of one of the most vile, self-enriching industries darkening our society today, but because he dared to defy the stasis of nihilistic rejection.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, called on Mamdani, a self-described anti-Zionist, to disavow “the rhetoric and actions of those whose opposition to Zionism has driven them to work to instill fear and intimidation in Jews who support Israel.”

“It is time for Mr. Mamdani to move from disturbance to responsibility and to unambiguously reject and reign in these actors with whom he has been strongly associated,” Hauer continued, before citing a line from Mamdani’s speech on Tuesday. “He needs to prioritize the safety and security of New Yorkers over his ‘strong feelings about what happens overseas.’” 

A spokesperson for Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider on Wednesday.

As Democratic leaders who stayed out of the primary are now forced to confront Mamdani’s stunning rise, many have sidestepped his divisive positions on Israel in favor of praising his political acumen and broad-based message about the city’s affordability crisis, even if most have so far stopped short of endorsing him. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), for example, congratulated Mamdani on “an impressive campaign that connected with New Yorkers about affordability, fairness and opportunity,” he said in a social media post on Wednesday. 

The Senate leader, who has equated anti-Zionism and BDS with antisemitism, did not comment on Mamdani’s record on Israel issues.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), on the other hand, chose to endorse Mamdani on Wednesday, an imprimatur from a veteran Jewish congressman that could help broaden Mamdani’s outreach to skeptical Jewish voters who lean progressive. Nadler, who called Mamdani’s win a “repudiation” of President Donald Trump, said he spoke to the assemblyman about “his commitment to fighting antisemitism” and “all bigotry and hate.”

Still, some lawmakers continued to air their concerns about Mamdani, including Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY), whose Long Island swing district is heavily Jewish. “Socialist Zohran Mamdani is too extreme to lead New York City,” she said in a critical statement posted to social media, arguing that “he has demonstrated a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments which stoke hate at a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing.”

Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, has rejected accusations of antisemitism, claiming his opponents have weaponized the issue to score “political points,” while vowing to increase city funding for hate crimes prevention by 800% if he is elected.

“No question that we will have to get behind Adams,” Leon Goldenberg, an executive board member of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, told JI. “The two big questions: Does Adams get the Republican line and does Cuomo run? Adams needs the Republican line and Cuomo to stay out of the race. Then he stands a slight chance.”

With some Democrats divided over Mamdani, the Orthodox Jewish community, which backed Cuomo during the primary, is now expected to unite behind Adams as he seeks reelection, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. 

The mayor’s team had been eager to face Mamdani in the general election rather than Cuomo — whose coalition of Black and Jewish voters largely overlaps with Adams. Cuomo, who conceded on Tuesday, has not indicated if he will run on a separate ballot line.

“No question that we will have to get behind Adams,” Leon Goldenberg, an executive board member of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, told JI. “The two big questions: Does Adams get the Republican line and does Cuomo run? Adams needs the Republican line and Cuomo to stay out of the race. Then he stands a slight chance.”

The GOP nominee, Curtis Sliwa, often dismissed as a gadfly, ran unopposed in the primary this week.

But even as Mamdani’s opponents, who believe his campaign has enabled increasingly vitriolic rhetoric toward Israel, game out 11th-hour strategies to defy his path to the mayor’s office, one well-placed Jewish leader suggested such efforts seem unlikely to succeed for the moment — hinting at a reordered political calculus.

“People are talking about it, but many people who have the resources don’t think that the math is there right now,” he said. “The mayor is deeply unpopular — and we learned last night that you cannot win an election on Black turnout and pro-Israel, Orthodox Jewish support.”