New York City Councilmember Kalman Yeger and Rockland County Legislator Aron Wieder both cleared a hurdle on Tuesday when they won their primary elections in their bids to join the state legislature.

Yeger, who is running to represent a largely Haredi district in Brooklyn in the state assembly, and Wieder, who seeks to represent a largely Haredi district in Rockland in the same legislative body, both won their Democratic primaries handily.

Wieder to face Republican incumbent

Wieder received about ⅔ of the vote on Tuesday, according to unofficial election results from the state board of elections, defeating his opponent, Eudson Francis.

With this win, Wieder is the Democratic nominee to face the incumbent candidate in November’s general election, Assemblymember John McGowan, a Republican.

David Greenfield, CEO of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and a former New York City Council member, told the Haredi news outlet Hamodia he thinks Wieder can win the general election.

“The community realizes for the first time the odds of the winning — if they turn out — is very high,” Greenfield said.

Leading up to the primary, Wieder was endorsed by several local lay leaders, including Josef Margaretten, a constituent services assistant for the town of Ramapo and the leader of the local emergency response service Chaverim, and Crown Heights activist Chanina Sperlin.

If Wieder wins in November, he will represent parts of the towns of Orangetown and Ramapo, including the Hasidic village of New Square and most of the greater Monsey area.

Yeger faces no opponent in general election

Unofficial results from the New York City Board of Elections show Yeger with about 70% of the vote in the Democratic primary, beating his opponent Adam Dweck to represent a South Brooklyn district that stretches from East Flatbush to Sheepshead Bay.

On the ballot in November, Yeger will appear not only on the Democrat party line, but also on the Republican and Conservative party lines. He faces no opponents in the general election.

Yeger announced his campaign for state assembly in March, when the current representative of that district, Assemblymember Helene Weinstein, announced her retirement.

According to an ad Yeger’s campaign placed in the Haredi news outlet Flatbush Jewish Journal, he was endorsed by Weinstein, the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, the Sephardic Community Federation, the New York City Police Benevolent Association, Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein, and state senator Simcha Felder. 

Yeger also got contributions from major Jewish philanthropists within the Haredi world and beyond, according to campaign finance disclosures. This includes Sephardic businessman Harry Adjmi and Solomon Werdiger, who was the chair of the Agudath Israel of America board of trustees as of 2020. 

Yeger also got funding from ultra-wealthy philanthropist Leonard Stern and other members of the Stern family, and major Jewish philanthropists Thomas and Alice Tisch.

Correction: An earlier version of the article incorrectly described Assembly District 97. The district includes parts of the towns of Orangetown and Ramapo, not Clarkstown. We apologize for this error.