Mamdani formally wins Democratic primary for NYC mayor

New York state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani has officially won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor after the completion of the ranked choice tabulation, Decision Desk HQ projects. 

Mamdani’s stunning upset win over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and numerous other candidates in the field seemed all but certain following the primary last Tuesday as he led comfortably in the first round of counting by about 7 points. He also declared victory as Cuomo, who placed second in the first round, conceded defeat in the Democratic primary and congratulated Mamdani. 

But the additional rounds of ranked choice tabulations weren’t released until Tuesday. 

New York City allows mail-in ballots postmarked by primary day to be counted, so some outstanding ballots may be added to the total in the coming weeks. 

In the city’s ranked choice voting system, voters can choose up to five candidates in order of their preference. If no candidate receives a majority of voters’ first-choice votes, as happened last week, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed according to their supporters’ next preference. 

The process continues until one candidate receives a majority. 

All other candidates in the race were eliminated going into the third round because their vote totals were low enough that receiving votes from other candidates wouldn’t have made a difference. City Comptroller Brad Lander finished in third with 11.2 percent, while New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams came in fourth with 4.2 percent.

All other candidates received 2 percent or less.

Almost half of the votes for the eliminated candidates went to Mamdani in the third round, while just over a quarter went to Cuomo. A quarter were also exhausted, meaning those voters did not include Mamdani or Cuomo as any of their five preferences.

Mamdani said in a statement that Democrats spoke with a “clear voice” in the primary last week, giving him a mandate for “affordable city, a politics of the future, and a leader unafraid to fight back against rising authoritarianism.”

“I am humbled by the support of more than 545,000 New Yorkers who voted for our campaign and am excited to expand this coalition even further as we defeat Eric Adams and win a city government that puts working people first,” he said.

A state legislator since 2021 backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani pitched himself as the progressive alternative to Cuomo and sought to attract any voter looking for another candidate. He made a range of progressive policy proposals, including rent freezes, free buses and city-run grocery stores, and he received the backing of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). 

He also received a boost from some other candidates, most notably city Comptroller Brad Lander, with whom he cross-endorsed, encouraging their voters to rank the other candidate second to give themselves the best chance of defeating Cuomo.  

Going into the primary, only Cuomo or Mamdani appeared to be in a position to win. 

The race started out with Cuomo as the clear front-runner well ahead of the rest of the pack, but it gradually shifted into a two-person battle between him and Mamdani, as the other candidates struggled to gain traction.  

Cuomo led in most polls since before he even entered the race in March, but Mamdani closed the gap in recent weeks and enthused young voters, with whom he had a significant advantage. Cuomo’s strength came from older voters, particularly senior citizens. 

Cuomo emphasized his longtime experience serving in office at the state and federal levels. Before serving as governor for more than a decade, he led the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration and served as state attorney general. 

He also slammed left-wing rule for the problems facing the city and the Democratic Party as a whole, searching for an identity following former Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss in the November presidential election. 

But his net favorability rating was consistently worse than most of the other candidates, with as much as 40 percent of voters viewing him unfavorably. 

While governor, he became embattled over accusations that he intentionally underreported the number of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic and faced allegations from multiple women of sexual harassment. Cuomo has defended himself in arguing that he was following federal guidance in oversight of nursing homes and consistently denying the harassment claims. 

But Mamdani outperformed expectations across the board, performing well where he was expected to and decent with groups considered to be his weaknesses. He was expected to be strong with white voters and those with college degrees but also put up decent numbers with groups that Cuomo was expected to be stronger in like Black and Hispanic voters. 

He even won some mixed Black-Hispanic areas and wealthy older white areas. 

But the question remains as to whether Cuomo will continue his candidacy in the general election. 

Cuomo already secured a spot for himself on the ballot in November under the party line for the Fight and Deliver Party. He said after the primary that he would wait to see the final results of the ranked choice tabulation to determine whether to go forward with an independent bid. 

Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement that a “massive spike” in the number of voters under 30 and who never voted before changed the primary electorate, but Cuomo’s focus remains the same, to bring “real change” to New Yorkers through dealing with affordability, housing, education and public safety and bringing people together.

“Extremism, division and empty promises are not the answer to this city’s problems, and while this was a look at what motivates a slice of our primary electorate, it does not represent the majority,” Azzopardi said, leaning into another one of Cuomo’s criticisms of Mamdani. “The financial instability of our families is the priority here, which is why actionable solutions, results and outcomes matter so much.”

“We’ll be continuing conversations with people from all across the city while determining next steps,” Azzopardi said.

CNN has reported that Cuomo at least will remain on the ballot in November but hasn’t decided whether to actively campaign in the coming months.

Mamdani is already set to face sitting Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for reelection as an independent, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden. Unlike the primary, general elections in New York City don’t use ranked choice, only requiring the winner to receive more votes than any other candidate.

Updated at 1:11 p.m. EDT