Topline
Zohran Mamdani claimed victory in the Democratic Party’s New York’s mayoral primary shortly after Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded the race on Tuesday night, after the progressive 33-year-old state assemblyman defied polling numbers and secured a seven-point lead in the first round of the primary’s ranked-choice voting.
New York mayoral candidate, State Rep. Zohran Mamdani, D-NY, greets voters in the South Bronx in New ... More
With 92% of the votes counted, Mamdani led the race, having received 43.5% of the first choice votes, under the primary’s ranked choice voting process, while Cuomo’s tally stood at 36.4%, according to the Associated Press.
The city’s Comptroller Brad Lander, who was cross-endorsed by Mamdani, was in third place with 11% of the vote.
Mamdani addressed his supporters shortly after midnight on Wednesday and said: “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”
In his concession speech, the former New York governor said “tonight was not our night,” and added Mamdani “deserved it...He won.”
Lander also congratulated Mamdani and told his supporters: “Andrew Cuomo is in the past, he’s not the present or future of New York City.”
The Democratic mayoral primary uses a ranked choice voting system, and since no candidate has received more than 50% of the vote, the final tally is likely to take several days. In this system, voters can rank up to five candidates in their order of preference instead of picking a single one. Rank 1 votes are tallied first, and if no one receives crosses the 50% mark the candidate with the lowest number is eliminated. Once a voter’s top-ranked choice is eliminated, their vote is transferred to the person who is ranked No. 2. The process of elimination continues until one candidate has secured 50%. Mamdani and Lander cross-endorsed each other and urged their supporters to rank each other in the top two spots on their ballots. If the cross-endorsement worked as intended, Mamdani could receive a large percentage of the Lander’s voters.
In his victory speech, Mamdani said: “I will be the mayor for every New Yorker, whether you voted for me, for governor Cuomo, or felt too disillusioned by a long-broken political system to vote at all.” He added: “We have won because New Yorkers have stood up for a city they can afford, a city where they can do more than just struggle, one where those who toil in the night can enjoy the fruits of their labor in the day, where hard work is repaid with a stable life.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who endorsed Mamdani, wrote on X, “Congratulations to Zohran Mamdani and his thousands of grassroots supporters for their extraordinary campaign. You took on the political, economic and media Establishment- and you beat them. Now it’s on to victory in the general election.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., another high profile Mamdani endorser, tweeted: “Your dedication to an affordable, welcoming, and safe New York City where working families can have a shot has inspired people across the city. Billionaires and lobbyists poured millions against you and our public finance system. And you won.”
New York City is using ranked choice voting in its Democratic mayoral primary. Here’s how it works (Associated Press)
Here’s How Much New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Is Worth (Forbes)