NY mayoral candidates address sanctuary, Trump and religious hatred at interfaith forum
NEW YORK (RNS) — New York City’s religious leaders gave mayoral candidates a platform to discuss their visions for the city at a forum on Thursday (June 5), at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Morningside Heights.
The event, hosted ahead of the June 24 primary election, was co-sponsored by a coalition of faith-based organizations, including Union Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary, Hindus for Human Rights and the Interfaith Center of New York.
Though all mayoral candidates were invited, only four attended: former federal prosecutor Jim Walden, New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, former New York State Assembly member Michael Blake, and former New York City comptroller Scott Stringer.
The idea for the forum came out of weekly faith leader meetings titled “Witness to Democracy,” held at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Since March, they have gathered every Monday evening to pray, sing and reflect on the country’s political situation.
“Faith is an important part of the civic fabric of New York, and it’s a critical time in the life of the city, so we want to be part of the conversation about the future of the city and about who’s elected mayor,” the Rt. Rev. Matthew F. Heyd, bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of New York (a sponsor of the event), told Religion News Service.
The forum aimed to asses the candidates’ commitment to protect the city’s most vulnerable, said the Rev. Adriene Thorne, senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City, a sponsor of the event.
“It was important for us to show up tonight and make sure that mayoral candidates heard from faith leaders on what matters to us — and what matters to us is a city that works for all of God’s people,” she said at the event. “There are many things happening in our city that appear to be in support of what’s happening in the federal government and in the Trump administration, and what that says to us is that this current administration does not care about the most vulnerable among us.”
The discussion, hosted by PBS’s Ray Suarez, focused on the candidates’ plans to protect New York’s immigrant communities, strategies to tackle hate crimes and religious hatred, and policies on affordability. Throughout the evening, the candidates — three Democrats and one Independent — discussed what they referred to as the Trump administration’s attacks on the city. They all suggested the November general election would be a referendum on what the city’s cooperation with the current administration should look like.
RELATED: In New York, faith organizations prepare for Trump’s immigration crackdown
“We have to win this election and stop Donald Trump,” said Stringer, a Democrat, who left the forum after opening statements to attend a fundraiser. “We have to restore honesty and dignity to government.”
The candidates unanimously criticized Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an Independent incumbent and did not attend the forum, for working with the Trump administration to facilitate immigration enforcement operations in the city. They also discussed ways to protect the city’s sanctuary status, put into question by the Adams administration.
Blake, a Bronx-born son of Jamaican immigrants, said he hopes to make immigration an issue all New Yorkers are concerned about. If elected, Blake, a Democrat, said he hoped to restore safe havens — barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from conducting arrests in places of worship, schools and community centers without a judicial warrant — and allow for upfront funding for nonprofits working with immigrants.
New York City mayoral candidate Michael Blake addresses an interfaith forum, Thursday, June 5, 2025, at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan. (Photo by Destiny Mata)
“The current mayor has allowed rhetoric to exist for immigrants not to be protected. … That is unacceptable,” Blake said.
Mamdani, a Uganda-born son of Indian immigrants, said his administration would focus on funding legal representation for immigrants.
“The simple act of having a legal representative increases your chances of going home to your family 11-fold. That is an investment that a city must make,” said Mamdani, a Democrat.
For Walden, who is running as an Independent, his priority is to ensure ICE abides by state laws and Supreme Court decisions by only conducting arrests under judicial warrants, not administrative warrants, he said. He also said court hearings should not be used as an occasion to arrest immigrants.
“There needs to be a safe passage law that makes it clear that if there’s a judicial process going on, someone cannot be arrested without the permission of the judge that is supervising their case,” Walden said.
The candidates also addressed the rise in hate crimes in the city. In 2023 — the most recent year with available data — the NYPD reported a 12.7% increase in hate crimes compared to 2022, with the most attacks against Jewish, Black and gay male New Yorkers.
