Haredi voice will determine today: Who will run for mayor of New York?

New York Haredi public is going this morning (Tuesday) to the polls to decide on the identity of the candidates in the race for mayor of New York .

This morning primaries will determine which identity mayoral race contenders for the Democratic Party and Republican Party will have, and candidates are battling over every potential vote among the Haredi public .

"Contrary to the general election in which the Haredi public normally mostly votes for the Republican Party , the criteria for municipal elections change and the public votes for the candidate who promises to take care of the needs of Haredim in the city," one of the activists told Behadrey Haredim. The Haredi public is split on the matter.

New York has the highest concentration of Jews in the United States. According to data published by the New York Times, the Haredi community has grown in recent years, and they constitute about a third of the Jews of New York, which requires candidates to consider their political power.

"They are no longer an anonymous group of strange people," Samuel Heyman - professor of sociology at New York University, said in an interview with the paper. "They are a significant part of the city and their influence has been increasing, no one can provide a cohesive bloc of thousands of votes as a Rebbe is able to."

The struggle in Satmar

Leading candidates in the Democratic Party are Mrs. Christine Quinn who served as the spokesperson for the city council. Some of the Haredi community including the Halabi Flatbush community, expresses support of her despite her personal lifestyle.

Other Democratic candidates are Bill de Belisio, a businessman who recently broke into politics, and Bill Thompson.

In Williamsburg the two Satmar factions number about 11,000 votes, and the yards are divided in their support, when among the followers of the Satmar Mahar"a it was decided to announce official support of de Belisio.

In contrast, Thompson the black candidate wins the Mahari Satmar's voices , and may even win the support of Skolen, Papa and Munkatch Hassidus.

Due to the conflict, the Satmar see the elections as a show of force to prove to politicians and the public "Who is greater" and who has more electoral power.

In the Republican Party the leading candidate is Yosef Lotta, a familiar public personality. Another likely candidate is John Katzimtidis, a Greek businessman who announced his run for the post, and has gained support among some Haredi community activists in the city.

Eric Salgado, another candidate for the job, even came for a round of visits in recent months at the homes of Rebbes and Rabbis in Brooklyn, assuring that he will change the municipality's policy regarding the commandment of Bris Milah.

Ideal for Haredim

Candidates invest time and effort wooing the Haredi vote: Thompson arrived last week for a special tour in Williamsburg, with a promise of activist Rabbi Moshe David Schneiderman, to recruit over ten thousand votes for him.

Several months ago, Thompson also visited Crown Heights neighborhood and told of his acquaintance with the neighborhood: "It's great to see how Crown Heights looks now. The progress and changes that have occurred here are great," he said. "I'm going to be mayor, and I'll make sure we never go back to the bad old days when there were riots in the neighborhood."

Candidate Eric de - Belisio visited Boro Park, and met with potential voters, accompanied by his Haredi adviser Aharon Naeh. They visited 13th Avenue when talking avreichim and yeshiva students.

What is surprising this time is the involvement of several seniors of Agudath Israel of America, whose members generally refrain from interfering in politics. They include Aba Bidermann, who openly supports Thompson and Leon Goldberg who supports De - Belisio.

"It's ideal for the Haredi public," said a Boro Park activist, "everyone votes and supports everyone, what is important is that activists will manage to bring to the polls as many haredi people as they can to demonstrate our electoral strength."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!