The Jewish Press endorsed Bruce Blakeman. The Hasidic blocs are lining up behind Kathy Hochul.

The Jewish Press editorial board endorsed Republican Bruce Blakeman for governor on October 11, 2026. It cited bail reform, Israel and Gov. Kathy Hochul's partnership with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The people who deliver the biggest Hasidic voting blocs were somewhere else.

Hochul spent the day in Hasidic communities. More than 6,000 girls at the Satmar Bais Ruchel schools in Kiryas Joel welcomed her. She met privately with Satmar Rebbe Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, visited Vizhnitz in Monsey, paid a shiva call on Kaser Mayor Elya Pinkasowitz, and met the Skverer Rebbe in New Square, Matzav reported.

On stage with her: Gedalya Szegedin, Kiryas Joel's village administrator since at least 2004, and Moshe Indig, the Williamsburg Satmar political operative. Matzav and Yeshiva World News reported Satmar had endorsed her; Matzav said the Skver kehillah formally endorsed her on October 10. We found no signed statement from either.

Indig publishes the Yiddish weekly Der Blatt, sits on Brooklyn Community Board 1, and is a leading member of the Jewish Community Council of Williamsburg. He backed Bill de Blasio in 2013 and Eric Adams in 2021. In 2025 he endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the primary, then Zohran Mamdani on November 2, splitting from his own faction's official leaders, who stayed with Cuomo, VIN reported. He told Mishpacha that Mamdani promised City Hall access, help on chinuch and to keep Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

His record has baggage. In 2010 the Village Voice put him first on its list of the city's worst landlords over a Flushing Avenue building with 132 violations. In 2017, during the federal probe of de Blasio's fundraising, DNAinfo reported investigators asked about Indig and a Bed-Stuy yeshiva vacate order; City Hall said the mayor never intervened. Indig was never charged.

Blakeman has courted the same voters: a Bukharian Jewish Congress event in Forest Hills on October 7, a roundtable at Satmar philanthropist Yoel Landau's home in Williamsburg on October 11, and a meeting with Hasidic leaders the next day, per VIN and JTA. He sided with Bobov, Belz and Satmar congregations fighting the state-backed takeover of Maimonides Medical Center. Donald Trump endorsed him in June.

We found no endorsement for Blakeman from Agudah, the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, Bobov, Belz or any Lakewood body. Quinnipiac's October 15 to 19 poll had Hochul ahead 55 to 41.

Hochul's budget this year included $90 million for nonpublic school safety equipment, $35 million more in hate crime security grants, and nearly $246 million in mandated services reimbursements to private schools, Yeshiva World News reported. On October 9 she opted New York into the federal scholarship tax credit.

How we reported this: from Matzav, Yeshiva World News, VIN, Mishpacha, The Jewish Press, 5 Towns Central, JTA, Hell Gate, the Village Voice and DNAinfo. We could not find the text or signers of the Satmar and Skver endorsements, and campaign finance records were not searched for this piece. Tips: [email protected].