New York Jewish leaders defend Democratic Attorney General Letitia James from GOP challenger’s attacks

JTA – New York state Attorney General (AG) Letitia James and her Republican opponent, Saritha Komatireddy, clashed over how to combat antisemitism ahead of Tuesday’s election. 

The GOP challenger has frequently attacked James during the campaign over her handling of antisemitic crimes, but prominent Jewish leaders are rallying to defend the Democratic incumbent. 

Komatireddy accuses James of turning a “blind eye” to antisemitic hate crimes as they grow more common in the state with the largest Jewish population. 

A number of Jewish leaders have lined up to defend James’s record. 

Mark Treyger, chief executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) in a statement that he has seen James’s commitment to New York communities “firsthand”. 

“When an Ethiopian-Israeli small business owner in Harlem faced hate, she rearranged her statewide schedule to stand with her, offered immediate support, and followed through personally,” Treyger said, referring to anti-Israel backlash that faced Tsion Café. 

“From confronting antisemitism and discrimination to protecting public safety and celebrating Jewish life, she has remained accessible and responsive to community concerns,” he continued, praising “her unwavering leadership and partnership”. 

As a City Council member, James’s district included parts of the heavily Orthodox Jewish Crown Heights neighbourhood, and she has called herself an “honorary Lubavitch”. The Crown Heights United public action committee endorsed James for re-election last month. 

As AG of New York state since 2019, James is the state’s chief legal officer, leading an office with more than 700 lawyers that conducts statewide criminal and civil investigations. 

But as reported hate crimes against Jews across the state have increased in the past decade, Komatireddy, who was a federal prosecutor in New York for more than a decade, said the AG wasn’t doing enough. 

“The data shows that antisemitic hate crimes are surging in New York, and someone has to step in and do something about it, because our district attorneys [DAs] are being ineffective in stopping that trend,” Komatireddy said in an interview with JTA, referring to DAs who generally oversee the prosecution of hate crimes. 

James has rejected Komatireddy’s claims. A campaign spokesperson told JTA that she has “stood arm in arm with the Jewish community all throughout her career”. 

“She’s gone after bad actors who preyed upon Jewish New Yorkers time and time again, and will continue to fight against antisemitism and hate in all its forms,” the spokesperson said. 

Jewish Democratic politicians in New York are supporting James’s bid. Outgoing US Representative Jerry Nadler, City Council Speaker Julie Menin, and six other Jewish Democratic officials endorsed James at a press conference last week, where they commended her support for the Jewish community. 

Manhattan Borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal praised her for combatting housing discrimination against Chassidic families in Orange County and for stopping a Rockland County car wash from overcharging Orthodox Jews. 

Menin thanked James for annually marching in the Israel Day Parade, an example, she said, of James “standing with the Jewish community when things are difficult”. 

“I’m verklempt [overwhelmed] right now,” James said after Menin’s remarks. 

But some Jewish figures and groups are backing Komatireddy as she attempts to become the state’s first Republican elected as AG in more than 30 years. Komatireddy has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, who called James “corrupt” after she brought a civil suit against him over inflated property values and called for her to be removed as special prosecutor in a Cornell University rape lawsuit. 

Komatireddy told reporters that she would declare a “state of emergency on antisemitism” on day one as AG – a plan that James told JTA can be enacted only by the governor, not an AG. 

Asked how she would declare a state of emergency, Komatireddy said she meant that she would use a law that allows the AG “to step in and prosecute hate crimes when a DA has been ineffective in doing so”. Komatireddy’s promises to the Jewish community also include establishing buffer zones outside Jewish schools and synagogues using existing civil rights law. 

Komatireddy’s tough-on-crime, tough-on-antisemitism campaign has resonated with some Jewish New Yorkers, and could be the catalyst for “a lot of defections from James to Saritha”, predicted Moshe Davis, who was executive director of the mayor’s office to combat antisemitism under Mayor Eric Adams. 

“I think a lot of the Jewish community is taking to her message,” said Davis. 

A poll conducted by Siena last month had James ahead 54% to 39%; James led by six percentage points in the New York City suburbs. 

Rabbi Elie Weinstock, who leads Long Island’s Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, told JTA that there is “a sense of unease” among Jewish voters regarding antisemitic incidents. 

“I think the Jewish community wants to hear people who will say, ‘I’ve got your back’, and I think whoever gives off that impression will do well in the Jewish community,” said Weinstock, who counts Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman among his congregants. 

He added that people’s opposition to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat like James, “may guide Jews’ votes” to Komatireddy. 

Komatireddy attended a service at Park Avenue Synagogue and posted a video in October of the congregation’s rabbi, Elliot Cosgrove, wishing her “every blessing on your campaign” from the bimah. In a text to JTA, Cosgrove clarified that, while the post was recent, her visit was in “winter/spring”. 

“I don’t/didn’t endorse. I always warmly welcome visitors,” he wrote. 

Jewish Insider reported in October that Komatireddy posted photos from a meeting on the street with members of a black Hebrew Israelite church that has called Jews “imposters” and the “Synagogue of Satan”. 

Komatireddy told JTA that this was “an impromptu meeting” on the street in Rochester, and that “once we found out who they were, we rejected the hateful views that the group espouses” and deleted the post. 

In March, Komatireddy wrote a scathing piece for the New York Post accusing James of turning a “blind eye” to antisemitic incidents. 

But Binyamin Krauss, principal of SAR Academy, a Jewish school in the Bronx, said, “That’s not my experience” of James. Krauss last week hosted the AG at SAR, where she spoke with pupils. He pointed to her “supporting the community” on Manhattan’s Upper West Side after two men were stabbed there over the summer. 

“Obviously you can disagree with certain decisions, when to prosecute, what to prosecute, how to handle a certain situation, but I do not agree with that characterisation,” said Krauss, who added that he is not endorsing any candidates. 

Meanwhile, Davis said that “turning a blind eye” is “not necessarily how I would frame it”, but opined that “people want to see more”. He also said that James is “someone who’s always shown up, always been a friend” to Jewish New Yorkers. 

Phylisa Wisdom, who leads Mamdani’s office to combat antisemitism and was executive director of the liberal advocacy group New York Jewish Agenda, told JTA that James “has been a committed advocate for New York’s Jewish communities for decades”, going back to her time on the New York City Council. 

“AG James has used the tools of her office to root out antisemitism and help ensure that everyone in the state, including Jewish communities across the five boroughs, can live safely and thrive,” Wisdom said. 

The left-wing group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice did not endorse James but recommended her in its voter guide, which commended her for taking action against far-right Zionist group Betar over “an alarming and illegal pattern of bias-motivated harassment and violence designed to terrorise communities and shut down lawful protest”.