NEW YORK (JTA) — A Hasidic candidate conceded in a close race for the New York State Assembly.
Aron Wieder, 40, of Spring Valley, conceded Wednesday night, The New York Jewish Week reported. He lost by 61 votes in a three-way Democratic primary race for the Assembly’s 98th District won by Elisa Tutini.
The district, in New York’s Rockland and Orange counties, includes several towns with large haredi Orthodox populations. Although he is Hasidic, Wieder lacked the support of the Satmars, the largest Hasidic sect in the region.
Wieder is a former board member of the East Ramapo Central School District, where the Orthodox-majority leadership has angered public school advocates and been accused of mismanagement. The district was the focus of an episode this week on National Public Radio’s “This American Life.”
Wieder was bidding to become the rare Hasid in state government, joining Jason Bedrick, a Chabad Lubavitcher, a Republican former member of the New Hampshire state legislature.
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