Forward: Progressive Jewish strategists helped the Muslim candidate navigate controversy and connect with voters

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, on July 2. Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

By Jacob KornbluhJuly 8, 2025

Zohran Mamdani is poised to become New York’s first Muslim mayor in no small part thanks to a tight-knit team of young Jewish professionals who helped him beat a storied political dynasty.

The team behind the youthful socialist’s shocking blow to the establishment is all the more remarkable, considering how his positions on Israel have roiled the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.

Mamdani’s rivals in the primary and now ahead of the general election have painted the state legislator as a dangerous radical, even an antisemite. His statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have unsettled many of the city’s more than 1 million Jews.

They platformed him on podcasts, chose tough interviewers and brought him into Orthodox neighborhoods who had supported his primary rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, or Adams.

His progressive message of inclusion and justice was consistent, no matter the forum. Mamdani confronted criticism head-on, insisting that opposing the policies of the Israeli government and supporting the boycott Israel movement did not mean endangering Jewish New Yorkers.

“I’m lucky that I do not have to turn too far for feedback from Jewish New Yorkers in that so much of my campaign is being run by Jewish New Yorkers,” Mamdani said in his April interview with the Forward, his first to a major Jewish outlet. “It is a key part of both the way in which we are running this campaign and also the values that underpin the campaign.”

Here’s a look at Mamdani’s Jewish team:

Andrew Epstein, communications director

Epstein, 38, a professional digital director, built an online campaign in a town that typically has seen candidates run on broadcast and cable. He produced all the campaign’s social media videos, several of which went viral.

Epstein, working closely with campaign manager Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s chief of staff in the Assembly, made the candidate approachable to reporters. He booked him on podcasts, including those who opposed Mamdani, to broaden the campaign’s reach and engage younger voters. He also helped with debate prep.

Epstein joined the Mamdani campaign last September after serving as chief of staff to Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, who represents the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Gallagher, like Mamdani a democratic socialist, was elected the same year, 2020, amid an anti-establishment wave that began in 2018. Epstein managed Gallagher’s campaign and worked very closely with the Satmar Hasidic sects in Williamsburg on local issues.

Epstein learned some Yiddish growing up while attending the West Side Yiddish School.

Previously, Epstein volunteered on Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, as well as for local races, such as the campaigns of State Sen. Julia Salazar, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and actress Cynthia Nixon’s unsuccessful bid for New York governor in 2018.

In an interview with The Forge, Epstein said he became politically active in high school after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq War, participating in the anti-war protests and later joining a community organizing group. At Yale University, which he attended from 2013 to 2017 as a graduate teaching fellow in history, Epstein signed a letter calling for a ceasefire in the 2014 war in Gaza.

Epstein is expected to stay on as a senior adviser to Mamdani on messaging and outreach.

Julian Gerson, political director 

Gerson, 28, brought insider credibility to his key role in shaping Mamdani’s agenda and his campaign’s outreach. It was Gerson’s idea to have Mamdani walk the length of Manhattan on the Friday before the election, a move that earned media coverage and was mentioned by the candidate at the start of his victory speech, according to an official affiliated with the campaign.

He previously served as the campaign manager for Rep. Jerry Nadler, the co-chair of the congressional Jewish Caucus, who faced a tough reelection bid in 2022.

In outreach then to Jewish voters, Gerson noted that Nadler was the city’s lone remaining Jewish House member. He said losing that primary, against former Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the redrawn 12th District — which includes the heavily Jewish neighborhoods of Manhattan’s Upper West and East sides — would have “national implications.”

He also highlighted Nadler’s liberal record on Israel. “Jerry embodies the idea that one can absolutely be pro-Israel and progressive simultaneously,” Gerson wrote in an email to Jewish voters.

In Congress, he served as Nadler’s press secretary and speech writer.

Nadler endorsed Mamdani immediately after his primary win, while other New York Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Dan Goldman, have yet have yet to do so.

Gerson previously worked for the 2018 congressional campaign of Antonio Delgado, ​​now the lieutenant governor of New York, who is married to a Jewish woman. Before he joined the Mamdani campaign, Gerson was a speechwriter for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for reelection and facing a possible primary challenge by Delgado next year.

Gerson now serves as Mamdani’s director of writing, overseeing speeches and all written communications.

Morris Katz, media strategist 

Katz, 28, is affiliated with Fight Agency, a Democratic media firm that identifies inspiring candidates with working-class appeal. He served as Mamdani’s senior adviser and TV ad buyer.

Katz was initially hesitant to join the campaign because of his doubts about Mamdani’s viability, according to a New York magazine profile. Mamdani personally reached out and Katz said he left their 45-minute meeting inspired and fully won over. At the time, Mamdani was polling at just 1% after launching his mayoral bid last September.

The son of David Bar Katz, a screenwriter and producer behind Showtime’s Ray Donovan, Katz wrote several screenplays while attending Skidmore College. After the election in 2016 of Donald Trump, he brought his ad-writing and messaging skills to Democratic candidates.

Katz has worked closely with Rebecca Katz, a veteran strategist who worked for former Mayor Bill de Blasio. She recently helped Ruben Gallego, a moderate Democrat, win a tight U.S. Senate race in the battleground state of Arizona. The two are not related.

Spencer Goldberg, Mamdani’s executive aide and body man, who typically is near the candidate and privy to all conversations, is also Jewish.

Brad Lander, outgoing NYC comptroller and key ally 

Lander, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the city, is credited with helping Mamdani get over the finish line. His cross-endorsement of Mamdani in the final week of the campaign, despite their disagreements on Israel, assuaged some voters who might have been wary of the assemblymember’s pro-Palestinian activism.

“You had a Muslim New Yorker and a Jewish New Yorker campaigning together,” Lander said in an interview. “You could tell that it touched something in people.”

Lander, who finished third in the primary, said his alliance with Mamdani spurred mixed reactions among Jewish voters. Some applauded him for forging a hopeful Jewish-Muslim political partnership, while others said they were alienated by his decision.

A liberal Zionist, Lander said the two continue to talk regularly but declined to elaborate on whether he will seek to influence Mamdani’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “We’re having some conversations about the campaign and the issues we’re facing,” he said.

The progressive Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, of which Lander is a member, endorsed both Mamdani and Lander through its affiliated political arm, The Jewish Vote, after hundreds of members voted in favor of a dual-ranked endorsement. Audrey Sasson, JFREJ’s executive director, praised Mamdani’s alignment with the organization’s values, particularly his focus on kitchen table issues and commitment to combating hate crimes.

Sasson said she expects JFREJ to have a closer partnership with City Hall under Mamdani than in previous administrations. “We can’t wait to keep shaping the city and having an opportunity and a partner in that work,” Sasson said.

Confronting fears over antisemitism

Since his surprise victory, Mamdani has expanded his team and redoubled his outreach efforts, including with critics of his support for the Boycott Israel movement and with Orthodox leaders who may view Adams as a more reliable ally but question his chances of reelection given the scandals that plague him.

In his victory speech, Mamdani appealed to voters who had backed Cuomo.

“I hope now that this primary has come to an end, I can introduce myself once more,” he said. “I promise that you will not always agree with me, but I will never hide from you.”

Mamdani has tempered his public comments on the conflict, but has not backed down from his sharp criticism of Israel. He says he would govern based on his commitment to international law and human rights.

“We are going to have an administration that is open to all New Yorkers, especially Jewish New Yorkers,” Ali Najmi, the Mamdani campaign election attorney who is close with some Orthodox leaders, said on NY1, a local TV station.

Lander said Jews concerned about rising antisemitism need not worry about Mamdani. “He is absolutely committed to keeping all New Yorkers safe — including Jewish New Yorkers, who, like me, are Zionists,” he said.