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NEW YORK (RNS) — This summer, a wave of Congressional primary victories from New York progressives running on platforms sharply critical of Israel — once unthinkable for Democratic hopefuls — stunned political observers and raised questions about a broader shift in the party.
Among the winners was Brad Lander, perhaps Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s most prominent Jewish ally and, as city comptroller, once New York City’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official. After a bitter primary race, in one of the country’s most Jewish congressional districts, Lander defeated Rep. Daniel Goldman, who is also Jewish and was endorsed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. And on Tuesday (Nov. 3), Lander easily beat his Republican candidate, Jennifer E. Moore, to secure the seat for New York’s heavily Democratic 10th Congressional District.
A self-described liberal Zionist, Lander has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank while still voicing hope for a Jewish and democratic state. It’s an approach that has set him apart from his fellow Mamdani-backed New York congressional nominees, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez — both anti-Zionists endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America. When Lander arrives in Washington, he will join a Democratic party that is grappling over its positions on Israel, with a new class of members demanding the U.S. rethink its relationship with and aid to the country. He could become a bridge between the older guard of pro-Israel Democrats and a new, anti-Zionist cohort — or a target for both.
“I think that’s a narrow line,” said Lander’s rabbi, Sam Kates-Goldman, of the progressive synagogue Kolot Chayeinu.
“I find what Brad’s doing powerful and interesting to say Zionism remains an aspiration, but not a reality, and to say that the reality is not something that he can live with, not something that he feels is in alignment with either his Jewish values or his desire for the way the world ought to be,” said Kates-Goldman.
In his victory speech Tuesday, Lander vowed to be “the Jewish member of Congress who is boldest in support of Palestinian freedom,” while standing “firmly against antisemitism and for the safety of all my Jewish neighbors here and all around the world.” Lander said he would support Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, his staunchly pro-Israel New York colleague, in his bid to become speaker of the House, which was projected Tuesday night to flip to a Democrat majority. Lander added that he will encourage his Democratic colleagues to draw a line with big donors, including AIPAC, which endorses Jeffries. “Solidarity is not silence. I will hold them, all of us, our leadership, our House caucus, and myself accountable to the promises that we are making.”
Far from clashing, Lander sees alignment between his pro-Palestinian activism and his embrace of the liberal Zionist label, which he described as more than “some namby pamby words” used as a “get-out-of-being-a-perpetrator” card, in an interview with RNS. A firm believer in the Zionism project, he wishes to see Israel reform its conduct in the West Bank, Gaza and in its treatment of Palestinians.
In October, Lander traveled to the West Bank to help a Palestinian family with the olive harvest — an act of solidarity that has grown in popularity among activists in recent years, even as the olive harvest has become a target of Israeli settlers and increasingly dangerous. Lander, along with dozens of American rabbis, was detained by Israeli authorities and subsequently had his Israel entry permit revoked.
“I don’t believe it has to be that way,” Lander said, speaking to RNS after his return to the U.S. “We demand accountability, and then we try to make it better. And I think that’s still possible. There’s about 7 million Jews and about 7 million Palestinians in that land, and they have to figure out how to live together.”
Though he understands some American Jews’ reluctance to use the term genocide, Lander said he believes it captures the reality of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians in the years since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which left 1,200 dead. Israel has denied accusations of genocide raised by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in late 2023.
“I don’t blame people for wrestling with it, especially at a time of rising antisemitism,” he said. “It’s not so important whether everyone uses all the same words. It’s ‘Can you open your eyes? Do you see?’”
The stance earned him a spot among the mayor’s favored candidates for Congress. Unlike Avila Chevalier and Valdez, Lander wasn’t endorsed by the DSA but received endorsements from Mamdani, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Hindus for Human Rights, and the Muslim political advocacy group Emgage. He was also endorsed by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, which he co-chaired in the 1990s.
“I think his real commitment to taking on being a Jewish voice against genocide was an enormous factor in why he won,” said Sophie Ellman-Golan, a JFREJ spokesperson. “It’s a big part of how he was able to sort of like not be part of the DSA crowd, but still on the Mamdani team.”
Lander has no doubt his victory reveals a desire for a new approach to the U.S.-Israel relationship. “People want a change,” he said. According to a Pew report released in early 2025, the number of American adults who express “very unfavorable” views of Israel has doubled since Oct. 7, 2023, and Democrats are more likely than Republicans to express unfavorable views (69% and 37%). A September poll of American Jews from the Jewish Electorate Institute found that, while 86% of American Jews identify as pro-Israel, two-thirds say they are critical of some or many Israeli government policies (65%). And about half support cutting or eliminating aid to Israel (52%).
Yet, Lander’s liberal Zionist identity has highlighted friction within the progressive coalition. In June, the Justice Democrats, a progressive PAC, edited Lander out of a video that originally showed the mayor endorsing him, Avila Chevalier and Valdez. Despite not endorsing him, Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization with which Lander has protested, ultimately thinks his win is part of the progressive wave and is a “huge signal and sign of the dramatically shifted politics in New York City,” said JVP’s political director Beth Miller.
But at an Oct. 7 vigil commemorating Israeli and Palestinian victims, tensions flared with pro-Palestinian organizers frustrated with the mayor for observing the anniversary. As Lander stood by Mamdani, counter-protesters chanted “It didn’t start on October 7,” “Mayor Mamdani, what are you saying?” and “Death to the IDF.” Lander later bemoaned the “flattening of empathy” that he said kept people from mourning innocent victims on both sides of the conflict.
Rabbi Andy Bachman, former senior rabbi of Beth Elohim, where Lander is also a member, supported Lander during his 2009 New York City Council run, but worries Lander’s alliances with anti-Zionist candidates and Mamdani will not last. The vigil, he said, was the “quintessential example of how dangerous all of this was.”
“It’s very easy to imagine a far more radical DSA person saying, ‘Brad showed his true colors once he was in Congress, and he’s a Zionist, and let’s kick him out,’” Bachman told RNS. “That’s what a lot of us were observing when he shows up … and people were screaming for his blood.”
The UJA Federation of New York, which funds hundreds of Jewish institutions and social service agencies in the city, released a statement in June, during the primaries, condemning the “inflammatory rhetoric that pervaded this campaign cycle, which singles out Jews and Jewish institutions,” directly mentioning Mayor Mamdani’s comments about AIPAC being a “monster.” UJA-NY did not respond to RNS’s request for comments regarding Lander’s stance on Israel.
Lander insists he draws a line on the type of anti-Zionists and non-Zionists he is willing to work with and reaffirms his support of a democratic Jewish state. “I will do politics with people who disagree with me on political questions, including what’s the right way politically for Palestinians and Israelis to live together, but who I know aren’t going to compromise on anyone’s humanity, including that of Jews,” he said.
JStreet, a “pro-Israel” and “pro-peace” organization, initially endorsed Goldman, but also listed Lander among its “primary-approved” candidates. Lander is now listed among the organization’s endorsed candidates. JStreet did not respond to RNS’s request for comments.
A former vice president of the Reform youth movement, Lander has also carved out a space within New York’s Jewish scene since moving to the city in the 1990s. “He is deeply Jewishly connected and still holds deep connections and respect within a lot of the Jewish mainstream, and maintained that throughout his career,” said JFREJ’s Ellman-Golan.
In 2020, he helped launch the New York Jewish Agenda, a progressive group combating antisemitism, promoting a democratic Israel and a two-state solution. For 11 years, as a city council member for the 39th District, which spans the Hasidic neighborhood of Borough Park, Lander cultivated ties with community leaders who typically lean conservative.
Still, in the June election, Goldman won most of Borough Park’s precincts, receiving more than 90% of the vote in some.
Kates-Goldman, Lander’s rabbi, believes Lander’s ability to carve out a spot within the pro-Palestinian movement as a liberal Zionist reflects a commitment to “wrestling with God.”
“We Jews think about ourselves as those who wrestle with God, and I think Brad has really embodied that sense,” he said, pointing to the way Lander brought “his Zionism and his sense of justice into alignment with each other.”
Lander plans to apply this approach to his work with the Jewish Congressional Caucus, which he said he is “excited” to join. Founded in February 2025, the caucus advocates on issues important to American Jews, and counts 21 of the 35 Jewish lawmakers in Congress.
“There are Jews there, including Jews in the Democratic Party, with very diverse perspectives, and I do want to acknowledge that,” Lander said. “But I don’t think it’s a question of like good Jews and bad Jews. … We’ll keep that very Jewish debate up in the Jewish caucus in Congress.”