A Passover Seder plate. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh
April 10, 2025
The Passover Seder traditionally concludes with the phrase L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim — “Next Year in Jerusalem.” This year, the Jewish candidates running for mayor of New York City have a variation in mind: “Next Year in Gracie Mansion.” If elected, they are pledging to host a Seder at the mayor’s official residence along Manhattan’s East River.
This week, ahead of the Passover holiday, the two Jewish candidates running in the June 24 Democratic primary for mayor — Brad Lander and Scott Stringer — and Whitney Tilson, an investor who is married to a Jewish woman, were campaigning in Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods.
While Jews make up just 12% of the city’s population, according to a recent Jewish Federation survey, their influence in the nine-person mayoral race could be even greater. About 800,000 people voted in the 2021 Democratic primary, and the margin of victory under the ranked-choice voting system was just 7,000 votes. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams attributed his win to Orthodox voters in Borough Park and Crown Heights.
More than a third of those ages 18 to 29 identify as Orthodox, according to the Federation survey, and the community often votes in blocs based on rabbinic endorsements.
On Tuesday, Lander, the New York City comptroller, participated in an 18-minute shmura matzo baking session in the backyard of a Borough Park residence. Alexander Rapaport, the executive director of Masbia, a network of kosher soup kitchens, let Lander use his temporary bakery for the second year in a row.
Earlier in the day, Stringer, a former comptroller, toured Jewish businesses in the heart of Borough Park — visiting a Judaica store, a hat shop, a bakery, and a gift shop.
And on Sunday, Tilson went door-knocking to canvass at a Rego Park, Queens apartment building with Bukharian Jewish residents. He also went to Crown Heights for the renaming of part of President Street to Lubavitcher Rebbe Way.
Where are the Jewish candidates celebrating Passover?
Lander usually travels to St. Louis, Missouri, to celebrate a family Seder with his parents, Carole and David. But this year, due to the tight schedule in the mayoral race, he and his wife, Meg Barnette, will be hosting some friends at their home in Park Slope. Their two children, Marek and Rosa, will still travel to St. Louis to be with their grandparents.
“My parents are a little sad I am not coming,” Lander told me.
“It’s my fault,” his campaign manager, Alison Hirsh — who is also Jewish — interjected.
Lander said he’s used the Weissman Family Haggadah since he was 13, a version that lets readers customize the text with content that resonates with them. “We adapt it to the year’s events,” he said. “It’s like, who are the Israelites this year?”
He pledged to host the Seder at Gracie Mansion next year, if elected as mayor. (Adams hosted an interfaith Seder last year ahead of the holiday.)
Stringer is taking a few days off from the campaign trail to spend the first days of Passover with his in-laws, Susan and Barry Buxbaum, in New Haven, Connecticut. The entire family will be gathering for the Seder, including a member flying in from London.
“We are taking a well-deserved family campaign break,” he said. “We are excited about that.”
Tilson and his Jewish wife, Susan Dana Blackman, will host the Seder at their Carnegie Hill home. The couple are longtime members of Central Synagogue, one of the largest Reform congregations in the country. During a car ride from Queens to Brooklyn, while munching on roasted peanuts, Tilson said he will be hosting his in-laws, Meryl and Kenneth Blackman, along with two of his three adult daughters and other family members.
His youngest daughter, Katharine, is away at college and will be attending a Seder there.
“We have a lovely Seder every year,” he said. His favorite dishes? Matzo ball soup and haroset.
A spokesperson for Andrew Cuomo, who has two Jewish brothers-in-law and is the frontrunner in the race, did not respond to a question about the candidate’s weekend schedule. Cuomo has referred to himself as a “Shabbos goy,” a term his late father used to describe his experience turning on lights during the Sabbath for Orthodox families in his native Queens.
