Satmar Leadership Rejects ‘Unauthorized’ Mamdani Endorsement, Backs Cuomo

The Board of Directors for the Satmar community, which follows Harav Aharon Teitelbaum shlita, formally endorsed Andrew Cuomo for Mayor of New York City on Sunday, after what insiders tell Belaaz was the unauthorized endorsement of Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani by community leader Rabbi Moshe Indig in the name of Satmar hours before.

Indig, who typically speaks on behalf of Satmar, made the endorsement while meeting Mamdani.

This announcement was immediately met with internal pushback. Sources confirm that upon seeing a post about it on a Williamsburg news website, askanim contacted the Satmar Board of Directors and the Rebbe’s gabbai directly, who were not aware of the endorsement.

According to a high-level source who spoke with Belaaz, both the Board and the gabbai stated that the endorsement was “totally unauthorized” and that the Rebbe’s original instructions had been for the community to remain neutral in the mayoral race.

In response to the unauthorized posting, the Board of Directors opted to counteract the messaging and endorsed the independent candidate Cuomo.

The letter, which was provided in both Yiddish and English, is reportedly signed by three Board of Directors members: Cheskel Berkowitz, Avrum Brach,and Shulem Yitzchok Jacobowitz.

Following the intervention, the original website post was altered, changing the source of the endorsement from “Satmar” to indicate that Indig himself was endorsing Mamdani, according to the source.

The chaos follows a meeting last week in Williamsburg with the leaders of both Satmar communities, including Indig, with Cuomo and outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, in which both communities showed solidarity with Cuomo, but held off of a full endorsement, as reported first by Belaaz.