Democratic socialist Mamdani defeats Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary

NEW YORK CITY – Enjoying a surge of support from progressive and younger voters, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is a big step closer to becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation’s most populous city.

While the Associated Press had yet to project a winner in New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary Tuesday night, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo saw the writing on the wall, telling supporters at an election night gathering that Mamdani “won.”

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assembly member from Queens who is originally from Uganda, topped the former three-term governor and nine other candidates in a crowded primary field in an election that was determined by ranked-choice voting. He will be considered the frontrunner in November’s general election in the heavily blue city.

“Tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night, and he put together a great campaign,” Cuomo said Tuesday in front of supporters. “He touched young people and inspired them and moved them and got them to come out and vote. He really ran a highly impactful campaign. I called him. I congratulated him. I applaud him sincerely for his effort.”

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Cuomo added that “tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won.”

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As the unofficial results of the first round of voting trickled in, in which Mamdani was leading as of Tuesday night, Cuomo told his supporters that his campaign would be “having conversations” about how to proceed to help both the Democratic Party and New York City moving forward. 

“Now I want to look at all the numbers, as they come in and this ranked choice voting and, what the numbers actually say and do,” Cuomo added.

A Cuomo campaign aide, following the former governor’s speech, said Cuomo was leaving the door open for a possible run as third party or independent candidate in November.

“I want to look at all the numbers as they come in and analyze the rank choice voting. I will then consult with my colleagues on what is the best path for me to help the City of New York, as I have already qualified to run for mayor on an independent line in November,” Cuomo said in a statement.. 

The presumptive Democratic nominee cross-endorsed with New York City Comptroller Brad Lander in a successful attempt to consolidate support against Cuomo within the ranked-choice voting style. Mamdani and Lander campaigned together in the weeks leading up to primary day. 

Their combined totals would be enough to topple Cuomo as ranked-choice voting rounds get underway, per the Board of Elections’ unofficial tally Tuesday night. According to The Associated Press, ranked-choice tabulations won’t start until July 1, so it could be some time before the results are finalized. 

Mamdani, who, among other things, proposed to eliminate fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, make CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freeze rents on municipal housing, and “free childcare” for children up to age five, was boosted recently after winning an endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The backing of the progressive rock star and New York City’s most prominent leader on the left was followed a week later by an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up.

With multiple candidates on the left running in the primary, the endorsements by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders helped to consolidate the support of progressive voters behind Mamdani.

Once far down in public opinion polls, Mamdami surged the past couple of months to second place as he narrowed the gap with Cuomo.

Cuomo’s campaign in the closing weeks of the primary criticized Mamdani as a “dangerously inexperienced legislator” while touting that the former governor “managed a state and managed crises, from COVID to Trump.”

“The mayor of the city of New York is the CEO of one of the largest corporations on the globe. This is not a job for a novice,” Cuomo said on the eve of the primary. “This is not a job… for on-the-job training. We need someone who knows what they’re doing on day one because your lives depend on it.”

Cuomo and his campaign also targeted Mamdani for his controversial and defiant stance against Israel, which critics suggested touched on antisemitism.

“We are against calls to globalize the intifada, declaring open season on Jewish people. We are against those who would glorify Hamas terrorists, who are destined to kill Jewish people,” Cuomo said on the eve of the primary as he took aim at Mamdani.

But the attacks apparently weren’t enough to dissuade New York City voters.

Mamdani now advances to November’s general election, where he’ll face Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels. Sliwa, for a second straight election cycle, is the Republican nominee for mayor.

Also on the ballot in November is incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a moderate Democrat elected in 2021, who is running for re-election as an independent. Adams earlier this year dropped his Democratic primary bid as his approval ratings sank to historic lows.

Adams’ poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged “long-running” scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials.

The mayor made repeated overtures to Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown.

New York City’s mayoral primary campaign played out as the Democratic Party works to escape from the political wilderness, following last year’s elections, when the party lost control of the White House, the Senate majority and failed to win back control of the House from the GOP. And it came as the party works to resist Trump’s sweeping and controversial second-term agenda.

Political analysts said the results of the primary would be seen as a barometer of which way the Democratic Party is headed, towards the center if Cuomo had won and towards the left if Mamdani was victorious.

“Zohran Mamdani’s likely victory shows that a new direction for the Democratic Party is possible – a future of dynamic candidates who appeal to young voters and working class voters with a platform that fights for people, not corporations,” Stephanie Taylor, co-founder, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

And pointing to endorsements of Cuomo earlier this month by former President Bill Clinton and former three-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, she charged that “the old guard establishment of the Democratic Party, fueled by billionaires, did everything they could to defeat Mamdani – and they failed. They continue being wrong about everything, and they need to get out of the way and let a new generation lead.”

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Ahead of the primary, the moderate Democrat-aligned group the Third Way said in a memo they were “deeply alarmed” over the prospect of a Mamdani victory.

“A Mamdani win for such a high-profile office would be a devastating blow in the fight to defeat Trumpism,” the group argued.

Republicans were quick to take aim at Mamdani and the Democrats.

The National Republican Congressional Committee argued that “the new face of the Democrat Party just dropped, and it’s straight out of a socialist nightmare.”