The Jewish Parents Who Raised Mamdani Voters

The moment Isabel Rosen heard cheers coming from the Bushwick bar, she knew history had been made. She raced inside to find her friends hugging in front of four TVs blaring variations of the same news: “Zohran Mamdani Wins New York City Mayoral Race.” As the first few notes of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” began to play, Isabel, a 24-year-old campaign volunteer, felt like she might cry.“It was thrilling. I was like ‘Wow, I helped make this happen.’ ”And in the back of her mind, a tickle of satisfaction crept in: A few hours from then, she knew her mom would wake up in London to find out that the man she called “dangerous” and an “antisemite” had just cinched control of America’s largest city.“I was like, I won the argument,” said Isabel, an anti-Zionist raised in a mixed Catholic-Jewish household. “It’s fun to be right.”To Isabel, election night was one of the most exciting of her young life. To her mother, it was a nightmare.“I was horrified,” Sagra Maceira de Rosen, a 53-year-old investment consultant, told me. “I fear that kids I care for—my children—are brainwashed.”Subscribe to Unlock This StorySupport fearless journalism and unlock all of The Free Press—your first week is on us.Annual$8.33/monthBilled as $100 yearlyMonthly$10/monthBilled as $10 monthlyAlready have an account?Sign In