New York Republicans launched a new ad campaign on Wednesday that is aimed at persuading Jewish voters to join their party and accuses Democrats of abandoning Israel and promoting antisemitism.
“We watch with sadness as the Democratic Party, which alleges to stand for marginalized groups, spirals into that ugliest and oldest hatred, antisemitism,” Edward F. Cox, the leader of the state Republican Party, wrote in a letter that will run online and in Jewish newspapers in the coming weeks.
He added, “You have a home with us.”
The letter singled out Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of New York City, for saying at a campaign rally last month that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was part of a group of “monsters” that commanded too much money and power in American politics.
Mr. Cox praised AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby that spends millions of dollars trying to influence campaigns, for fighting “the scourge of antisemitism that has found a home in the Democratic Party and is championed by New York City’s mayor.”
Republicans have spent years trying to break the longstanding bond between Democrats and Jewish voters, as the Democratic Party (and especially its left flank) has turned away from Israel and some of its supporters in response to the war in Gaza.
But the campaign by Republicans is the first explicit appeal to voters to change their party registration in New York, a state that is home to the largest Jewish community outside Israel. And it arrives during an election season in which Republicans are trying to win key suburban New York House districts with large Jewish populations and make a long-shot run at the governorship.
It can be difficult to precisely measure partisan affiliation of any religious or ethnic group, but polling has long suggested that Jewish Americans have supported Democrats over Republicans by large margins, including as recently as the 2024 presidential election.
Democrats sought to brush off the new ads. Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the state Democratic Party, called it “pure political garbage” and urged Republicans to clean up examples of antisemitism in their own party.
Mr. Jacobs himself declined to endorse Mr. Mamdani as mayor last year, citing fundamental disagreements over Israel and democratic socialism.
But on Wednesday, he pointed to leaked messages that included leaders of Young Republican groups praising Hitler and to past comments by President Trump. (Mr. Cox condemned the Hitler remarks at the time; he is a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump.)
“Remember, this is the party whose leader, Donald Trump, characterized Nazi marchers as ‘good people’ and who publicly name-calls the prime minister of Israel in terms I don’t care to use,” said Mr. Jacobs, who is Jewish. “I only wish I knew the Hebrew word for hypocrite.”
Republicans believe that the shifting positions of Democratic voters and elected officials may give them an opening to win over some segments of more moderate or conservative Jewish Democrats, especially in New York.
David Laska, a party spokesman, declined to specify in which newspapers or websites the ads would run. The initial expenditure was expected to be only a few thousand dollars, but party leaders said they planned to expand the appeal if they felt it was working.
Growing numbers of Democrats in Congress now favor cutting off military aid to Israel, a longtime ally, and left-wing candidates across the country defeated incumbents this year by attacking them as too close to Israel and AIPAC.
New York has been the epicenter of those changes. Mr. Mamdani won his own election last year on an explicitly pro-Palestinian platform. Many Jewish voters supported him, but has struggled to win over others who view him as hostile to Israel.
After he had referred to AIPAC as being part of a group of “monsters,” the mayor defended the remarks, saying he had been referring to a wide array of special interest groups seeking to influence American politics. A few days later, he helped push three more critics of Israel to victory in congressional primaries.
A spokesman for Mr. Mamdani declined to comment on Mr. Cox’s letter.
The mayor has sought to draw a distinction between his views of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians and his support for Jewish people. He has repeatedly condemned antisemitism and increased the budget for city offices focused on combating antisemitism and hate crimes.
In his letter, addressed “to our Jewish neighbors and fellow New Yorkers,” Mr. Cox called Israel “a democratic miracle” and also took shots at Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul for leading a party veering leftward on Israel. (All three are strong supporters of Israel.)
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