Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy Chasidic voters largely followed community leaders’ endorsements in yesterday’s election
Chasidic Williamsburg Voters Line Up Behind Hochul
Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy Chasidic voters largely followed community leaders’ endorsements in yesterday’s election, giving Governor Kathy Hochul a solid win in their blocks, according to unofficial Board of Elections results.
The endorsement picture this year was a sharp turnaround from 2022, when some major Hasidic sects in New York backed Republican Lee Zeldin. On October 20, leaders of Williamsburg’s organizations, Mosdos and kehillos issued a joint endorsement backing Hochul for governor, Letitia James for attorney general and Thomas DiNapoli for comptroller. Satmar, Pupa, Vizhnitz, Vien, Tzehlim, Klausenburg, Krula, Skver, Nitra, Krasna and Nipest, along with community askanim, joined the endorsement. It said the governor had shown herself to be a true friend of the community.
Both Satmar’s in Williamsburg endorsed Hochul this time. So did the Satmar community in Kiryas Joel, Chabad leaders in Crown Heights and the Bobov sect, the largest voting bloc in Boro Park, along with other Boro Park Hasidic leaders and Assembly Member Simcha Eichenstein, who had stayed out four years ago. In Rockland County, the Skver community in New Square also endorsed the governor.
In the 24 election districts that make up Jewish north Brooklyn, from Williamsburg south through the Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill blocks toward Myrtle Avenue, Governor Hochul received 66.5 percent, to Blakeman’s 33.1 percent. Governor Hochul won by 2,417 votes and carried all 24 districts. Blakeman’s share was still well above his 20.4 percent across Brooklyn, where Hochul won 493,734 votes to his 126,899.
His best showing came in the heart of Hasidic Williamsburg, in Assembly District 50, where Hochul led only 126 to 115 in district 47, 121 to 105 in district 43, 134 to 116 in district 45 and 134 to 115 in district 68. Nearly all of Hochul’s support came on the Democratic line; only 477 of her votes, about 10 percent, were cast on the Working Families line.
Attorney General Letitia James ran ahead of the governor in the same blocks, taking 72.8 percent, to 1,868 for Republican Saritha Komatireddy. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli did best of all, with 75.6 percent, to 1,651 for Republican Joseph Hernandez, a margin of 3,580. Boroughwide, James won 79.7 percent and DiNapoli 82.4 percent.
In the 7th District, Democrat Claire Valdez won easily overall, with 135,179 votes, or 83.3 percent, to 24,370 for Republican Melvin Rivera and 2,155 for Priscilla Ghaznavi on the Our Future line.
In the neighboring 8th District, Hakeem Jeffries was reelected with 128,197 votes, or 78.9 percent, to 31,969 for Republican Lewis Mizrahi; by the Board of Elections count, all 24 districts covered here vote in the 7th.
Further down the ballot, State Senator Julia Salazar and Assembly Member Emily Gallagher ran unopposed but drew protest write-ins in the Jewish blocks, about 6 percent in each. Those districts produced more than a third of all Salazar’s write-ins and a quarter of Gallagher’s. On the city charter questions, the Jewish districts nearly split on Proposal 1, 2,167 yes to 2,122 no, and backed Proposals 2 through 5 more comfortably.
The 24 districts are election districts 33 and 35 through 49 and 68 in Assembly District 50, district 1 in Assembly District 52, districts 37 and 65 in Assembly District 53, and districts 12, 13, 14 and 71 in Assembly District 57. They were identified by their voting pattern, with Blakeman winning at least 20 percent while under a quarter of Hochul’s vote came on the Working Families line, not by a count of who lives there.
