Catherine Almonte Da Costa #

Introduction #

Catherine Almonte Da Costa is a former New York City mayoral appointee whose tenure in Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s incoming administration lasted a single day. Announced as director of appointments on December 17, 2025, she resigned on December 18, 2025, hours after decade-old social media posts containing antisemitic and anti-police statements were circulated online by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The episode became one of the first controversies of Mamdani’s mayoral transition and drew renewed scrutiny to questions of antisemitism and staff vetting within his team.

Background Information #

At the time of the controversy, Da Costa was reported by The New York Times to be 33 years old and married to a deputy city comptroller who is Jewish. She previously worked in the mayor’s office more than a decade ago, including during the administration of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, and more recently held positions at a private communications firm and at the auction house Sotheby’s, according to Mamdani’s office.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Da Costa had been selected to lead Mamdani’s office of appointments, a role responsible for shaping talent recruitment and staffing strategy for the new administration. The appointment was announced on December 17, 2025; one day later, the ADL’s New York and New Jersey chapter spotlighted posts made on her social media accounts in 2011 and 2012.

The resurfaced posts were described by news outlets as riddled with antisemitic and anti-police statements. They included references to “money-hungry jews” and to “the Far Rockaway train is the Jew train,” as well as a post from 2011 in which Da Costa, describing a promotion, said she would be “working alongside these rich Jewish peeps.” In a post from 2012 reported by the New York Post, she allegedly wrote that she would need “a couple of piggy banks” to pay off fines, adding, “no, I was referring to the NYPD piggies!!!!”

The ADL, which had shared three posts attributed to Da Costa, said in a statement: “Her social media footprint includes posts from more than a decade ago that echo classic antisemitic tropes and otherwise demean Jewish people.” The organization added, “Tweeting about ‘money hungry Jews’ is indefensible.” Shortly after the controversy broke, Da Costa’s X account was taken offline; when amNewYork later attempted to view the posts, a message appeared stating that they had been deleted by the author or that the account had been removed.

Da Costa announced her resignation late on the afternoon of December 18. “I spoke with the mayor-elect this afternoon, apologized, and expressed my deep regret for my past statements,” she said in a statement. “These statements are not indicative of who I am. As the mother of Jewish children, I feel a profound sense of sadness and remorse at the harm these words have caused. As this has become a distraction from the work at hand, I have offered my resignation.”

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Mamdani accepted the resignation the same day. “Catherine expressed her deep remorse over her past statements and tendered her resignation, and I accepted,” he said. The ADL declined to comment following the resignation, and sources close to the campaign told amNewYork that the antisemitic posts had never surfaced when Da Costa was vetted.

Jewish communal figures responded publicly to the episode. Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said: “Glad to see that Catherine Almonte Da Costa has resigned. The views she expressed are unacceptable and intolerable. Especially at a time of rising antisemitism, she had no place in the mayor’s office of the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.” Sara Forman, executive director of the New York Solidarity Network, praised Mamdani for “cutting ties” with Da Costa but cautioned that the response would likely have been different had she “said ‘Zionist’ instead of ‘Jew.’” David Friedman, the former United States Ambassador to Israel, expressed a more skeptical view, writing: “Seems like every Mamdani appointee has something in common — an intense dislike for Jews.”

The controversy unfolded against a backdrop of sustained scrutiny of Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who has faced questions from some Jewish groups and political opponents over whether his criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza crosses into antisemitism. He drew criticism during the campaign for declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” though he has since said he discourages its use and opposes antisemitism in all forms, and he sought to reassure Jewish New Yorkers during his campaign that he would serve as a “mayor for all New Yorkers.” A CNN poll released after his victory found that 63 percent of New York City Jewish voters backed Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral race, compared with 33 percent who voted for Mamdani.

Current Status #

As of the announcement of her resignation in December 2025, Da Costa was no longer part of the incoming Mamdani administration, with the mayor-elect due to take office the following month. Her X account remained offline. The incident was not the first time a Mamdani staffer had been called out for offensive social media remarks: the New York Post had previously reported that Hassaan Chaudhary, a Muslim outreach director for the mayor-elect, allegedly described Israel as a “barbaric nation,” comments a Mamdani spokesperson said were “reprehensible and in no way reflect the views of the mayor-elect.”

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The episode ended Da Costa’s prospective government role within roughly 24 hours of her appointment, in what was described as an early setback for Mamdani’s mayoral transition. The ADL also questioned how the remarks had not been uncovered during the vetting process for a senior role in the incoming administration, an issue that continued to shadow the transition team’s personnel decisions.

Jewish communal leaders said the incident underscored broader concerns about tolerance for antisemitic language within progressive political circles and the need for more rigorous screening of public officials and senior staff, at a time of rising antisemitism in the United States. For Da Costa, who had been poised to move from the private sector — most recently at Sotheby’s and a communications firm — into a senior government role, the appointment ended on the strength of posts she had made more than a decade earlier, which she disavowed in her resignation statement.