State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani held a tentative lead over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the rest of the crowded field in New York City’s mayoral primary, but the race’s outcome will be decided by a ranked choice count after neither Democrat got a clear majority in Tuesday’s vote.
With more than an estimated 80% of ballots counted, the race was headed to the ranked choice process.
Mamdani was several points shy of the 50% threshold needed to win outright and wasn’t winning any updates by enough of a margin to close that gap. At the same time, in second place with roughly 36% of the vote among ballots counted, Cuomo was also not gaining ground on Mamdani as counting continued.
It isn’t clear whether that lead will hold. The primary now enters the ranked choice phase, in which candidates with the least support are eliminated and votes cast for them are redistributed based on voter preference. That process won’t begin until July 1.
Mamdani is a 33-year-old democratic socialist who would be the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor if elected. Cuomo is trying to make a comeback from a sexual harassment scandal. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams skipped the primary. He’s running as an independent.
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The race's ultimate outcome could say something about what kind of leader Democrats are looking for during President Donald Trump's second term.
The vote takes place about four years after Cuomo, 67, resigned as governor following a sexual harassment scandal. Yet he has been the favorite throughout the race, with his deep experience, nearly universal name recognition, strong political connections and juggernaut fundraising apparatus.
The party's progressive wing, meanwhile, has coalesced behind Mamdani, 33, a self-described democratic socialist. A relatively unknown state legislator when the contest began, Mamdani gained momentum by running a sharp campaign laser-focused on the city's high cost of living and secured endorsements from two of the country's foremost progressives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The candidates made a final push out in the city earlier in the day, sweating it out with voters on a sizzling summer day in which temperatures reached the triple digits. While initial returns were being released after the polls closed at 9 p.m. Tuesday, a winner might not emerge for a week because of the city's ranked choice voting system, which allows voters to list up to five candidates in order of preference. If a candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters, they win outright. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the tabulation of the rankings wouldn’t begin until July 1.
The primary winner will go on to face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who decided to run as an independent amid a public uproar over his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent abandonment of the case by Trump's Justice Department. Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, will be on the ballot in the fall's general election. There is also a possibility that Cuomo runs on the November ballot as an independent candidate if he loses the primary.
The mayoral primary’s two leading candidates — one a fresh-faced progressive and the other an older moderate — could be stand-ins for the larger Democratic Party’s ideological divide, though Cuomo’s scandal-scarred past adds a unique tinge to the narrative.
The rest of the pack has struggled to gain recognition in a race where nearly every candidate has cast themselves as the person best positioned to challenge Trump's Republican agenda.
Comptroller Brad Lander, a liberal city government stalwart, made a splash last week when he was arrested after linking arms with a man federal agents were trying to detain at an immigration court in Manhattan. It was unclear if that episode was enough to jump-start a campaign that had been failing to pick up speed behind Lander.
Among the other candidates are City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, hedge fund executive Whitney Tilson and former city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Mamdani's energetic run has been hard not to notice.
His army of young canvassers relentlessly knocked on doors throughout the city seeking support. Posters of his grinning mug were up on shop windows. You couldn't get on social media without seeing one of his well-produced videos pitching his vision — free buses, free child care, new apartments, a higher minimum wage and more, paid for by new taxes on rich people. He would be the city's first Indian American and first Muslim mayor.
That youthful energy was apparent Tuesday evening, as both cautiously optimistic canvassers and ecstatic supporters lined the streets of Central Brooklyn, creating a party-like atmosphere that spread from poll sites into the surrounding neighborhoods.
Outside his family’s Caribbean apothecary, Amani Kojo, a 23-year-old first-time voter, passed out iced tea to Mamdani canvassers, encouraging them to stay hydrated.
“It’s 100 degrees outside and it's a vibe. New York City feels alive again,” Kojo said, raising a pile of Mamdani pamphlets. “It feels very electric seeing all the people around, the flyers, all the posts on my Instagram all day.”
Cuomo and some other Democrats have cast Mamdani as unqualified. They say he doesn't have the management chops to wrangle the city's sprawling bureaucracy or handle crises. Critics have also taken aim at Mamdani's support for Palestinian human rights.
In response, Mamdani has slammed Cuomo over his sexual harassment scandal and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
In one heated debate exchange, Cuomo rattled off a long list of what he saw as Mamdani's managerial shortcomings, arguing that his opponent, who has been in the state Assembly since 2021, has never dealt with Congress or unions and never overseen an infrastructure project. He added that Mamdani couldn't be relied upon to go toe-to-toe with Trump.
Mamdani had a counter ready.
“To Mr. Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace,” he said.
Cuomo resigned in 2021 after a report commissioned by the state attorney general concluded that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women. He has always maintained that he didn't intentionally harass the women, saying he had simply fallen behind what was considered appropriate workplace conduct.
During the campaign, he has become more aggressive in defending himself, framing the situation as a political hit job orchestrated by his enemies.
The fresh scandal at City Hall involving Mayor Eric Adams, though, gave Cuomo a path to end his exile.
