Tuesday, November 08, 2022
An Orthodox favorite, Lee Zeldin discusses his Democratic grandparents and Reform upbringing
If Lee Zeldin pulls off an upset win over incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in the election next week, he will be the first Jewish Republican governor in New York State history.
If so, he probably won't be able to thank the majority of the state's Jews, who like Jews elsewhere, tend to vote Democratic and, polls show, tend to reject the kind of pro-Trump conservatism Zeldin represents. (Zeldin voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results.)
And yet his tough-on-crime stance and hands-off approach to yeshivas has gained him considerable traction within the Orthodox community, a minority within a minority whose votes are coveted by politicians across New York. Although Zeldin's own Jewish background is in the non-Orthodox denominations — he is the grandson and grand-nephew of prominent Reform and Conservative Jews — his conservative views have won him major endorsements from Hasidic and Haredi Orthodox groups in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley.
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