Queens, New York — On October 19, 2026, Rafael Nektalov and Rabbi Nahum Kaziev were lauded by the Kew Forest Republican Club for leaving the Democrat Party.
Six weeks before, on September 6, 2026, the pair announced their departure from the party that embraces antisemites like AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and now our very own mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
Nektalov and Kaziev share Elon Musk’s sentiment, which he famously tweeted in 2022: “In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.”
New York State has seen enrollment in the Democrat Party drop precipitously from 2020 to 2024. In New York City alone, 7% of Democrats have left the party – most have become non-affiliated voters, although some have joined the Republican Party.
To understand the disillusionment among Democrat voters, one must look no further than the year 2019, when the Democrats gained full single-party control of the state, better known as “the trifecta” over government for the first time in a decade, in which they controlled the governor’s office, the State Senate and Assembly.
In New York City, they controlled the mayor’s office and all but a fraction of the seats in the New York City Council.
The result was catastrophic. The Democrats passed sweeping bail reforms, effectively ending cash bail. They removed all discretion from judges on bail decisions. They enacted discovery reforms for prosecutors, which resulted in many criminals being released on technicalities. They raised the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years old. And they passed the Clean Slate Act, which automatically seals convictions in many cases.
Since 2019, the Democrats’ soft-on-crime laws have caused petty and serious crime to skyrocket. Almost every index crime has risen by about 25% since that time.
There are now an average of 80 felony assaults per day in New York City. Felony assaults against officers and public workers have been regular occurrences since 2019. Grand larceny and robberies are now commonplace.
There are little to no consequences for most criminals.
Hate crimes, which were already sky high, became about 15% higher after Mamdani was elected. To no one’s surprise, most hate crimes are committed against Jewish people. Mamdani, unlike a brute who physically harms people, harms his victims through vile rhetoric. He inflames those of lower intellect with trigger words like “war crimes” and “committing genocide” when referring to the Jewish people. His superficial charm masks extreme malice. Dullards who protest at synagogues and chant “Free Palestine” resonate deeply with Mamdani, and even more so with his wife, who shamelessly liked social media posts describing the horrors committed by terrorists against innocent people at a music festival on October 7th.
Unfortunately, the traditional Blue Dog Democrats of yore have been replaced by petulant, uninspiring candidates who enter the political arena for nefarious reasons with not-so-hidden agendas.
Take, for example, one of Mamdani’s explicitly endorsed candidates for New York’s 13th Congressional District, Darializa Avila Chevalier, who infamously stated that she decided to wipe her dirty hands on the American Flag when out of napkins.
But more than the Democrats despising our own country and trying to destroy it from within, anti-Jewish hostility has become a political loyalty test for them—ask Dan Goldman who lost his race for Congress in the 10th Congressional District because he dared to vocalize his support for Israel’s right to exist.
The Kew Forest Republican Club, co-founded by Ryan Walsh, Esq. and Kathryn Donnelly, Esq. invited Rafael Nektalov and Rabbi Kaziev to present them with certificates of appreciation for being the first in their community to take such a public step.
When the Club interviewed them, they described the kind of pressure some Democrats from their community exerted on them to rethink their decision. Given their uncompromising principles, religious sense and innate morality, there was nothing that could be said or given to them that would change their minds.
If we had more people of integrity like Rafael Nektalov and Rabbi Kaziev, we could change the direction of this city, and maybe even beyond.
Kathryn Donnelly is co-founder of the Kew Forest Republican Club.
By Kathryn Donnelly