Who are the Jewish governors and mayors
Chutzpah and challah in the chambers
Amid the frenzy on Zohran Mamdani’s success, one glaring detail has escaped public discourse. His main opponent Andrew Cuomo is wedded to the Jewish community. Quite literally.
His sister Maria married Jewish fashion mogul Kenneth Cole. His other sister Margaret also wed a Jewish man, Howard Simon Maier. Even his eldest daughter Mariah chose a Jewish spouse, Tellef Lundevall.
Fox News was especially sensational in highlighting Mamdani’s Muslim background, running headlines like, “How Socialist Muslims pulled off a 20-year takeover of the Democratic Party.”
It’s an absurd narrative—just look at how many Jews are governors and mayors… and they are all Democratic Party.
At the end of the article, I include a list of current Jewish mayors and governors.
There are currently 5 Jewish governors in the United States. And another governor married to a Jew. It may be the highest number of Jewish state governors in U.S. history.
The mayors of Northern California — Oakland, Sacramento, and San Francisco — are all Jewish. That region has a relatively higher concentration of Jewish residents, who make up 4% of the population.
In addition, America's largest cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—recently had Jewish mayors. Bloomberg in New York (2002-2013), Garcetti in Los Angeles (2013-2022), and Emanuel in Chicago (2011-2019).
On a fun side note, Las Vegas has had Jewish mayors since 1999.
State governors
There are 5 Jewish governors. Another governor is married to a Jew.
Josh Shapiro (D-Pennsylvania)
Josh Stein (D-North Carolina)
Jay Pritzker (D-Illinois)
Josh Green (D-Hawaii)
Jared Polis (D-Colorado)
Phil Murphy1 (D-New Jersey)
Mayors
Many of America’s largest cities are led by Jewish mayors.
Daniella Levine Cava (Miami Dade County)2
Daniel Lurie (San Francisco)
Darrell Steinberg (Sacramento)
Libby Schaaf (Oakland)
Kate Gallego (Phoenix)
Ron Nirenberg (San Antonio)
Shelley Berkley (Las Vegas)
Freddie O'Connell (Nashville)
Craig Greenberg (Louisville)
Larry Agran (Irvine)
This article is part of a series on Jewish leaders in America. Executive branch, Congress, governors and mayors, university presidents, NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS, and WNBA.
Phil Murphy is not Jewish. His wife Tammy Murphy is Jewish.
Miami-Dade County is much larger than the city of Miami, which is just one of its many cities.