This week’s election board results reaffirmed Assemblymember Zohran K. Mamdani’s win in the June primary for the mayor’s race. Some in the Democratic party are hyped about getting behind the young Muslim socialist, while others are hesitant or outright hostile toward him.
The second round of ranked choice voting (RCV) results from July 1 showed that if former Governor Andrew Cuomo had not conceded, Mamdani would have still won the primary with 56% of the votes or 545,000 votes. Cuomo would have finished with 44% of the votes or 428,530 votes, according to the New York City Board of Elections (BOE).
“Democrats spoke in a clear voice, delivering a mandate for an affordable city, a politics of the future, and a leader unafraid to fight back against rising authoritarianism,” said Mamdani in a statement. “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.”
Pandemonium broke out as Mamdani took an early lead after the polls closed on Tuesday, June 24. He garnered 43.51% of the vote — a total of 432,305 votes — in the first round, according to the first round of RCV results posted by the BOE. Cuomo had a total of 36.42% of the votes at that point.
Mamdani supporters had braced themselves for a fight on Election Night, but Cuomo opted to concede the race stealthily and all smiles, with a contingency plan. He had already qualified in May to advance to the November election for mayor as an Independent candidate, essentially pulling the same move as incumbent Adams, who also officially announced he’s running as an Independent last week.
Mamdani went from being recognized locally in Queens and among the State Legislature to a frontrunner in the race in about four months, shocking “the establishment” and challenging preconceptions about the current state of the city’s usually uninterested voters. Where Cuomo’s legacy, Super PAC, name recognition, and attack ad blitz failed, Mamdani succeeded.
Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s campaign manager, attributed this to the campaign’s motto of authenticity in social media videos and traditional media appearances, his platform of affordability, key cross-endorsements, a strong stance on equal rights in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and an extensive ground game. The campaign boasts the largest volunteer field operation in city history, with 50,145 volunteers by Election Day, more than 1.5 million doors knocked, and 2.1 million phone calls made, according to Bisgaard-Church.
Almost immediately after the results, the political world started analyzing Mamdani’s campaign at the close of the polls and proselytizing to the national Democratic party that a new star was born.
Mamdani turned out historic numbers in traditionally progressive areas of the city, like Astoria in Queens; Greenpoint, Ridgewood, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn; and more gentrified neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy and Harlem. He won over working class neighborhoods like Jamaica and Forest Park, as well as majority Hispanic districts like Castle Hill in the Bronx and Woodhaven in Queens, according to electorate maps from the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY).
He received fewer votes throughout Staten Island; Borough Park, Canarsie, Brownsville, East New York in Brooklyn; Middle Village, southeast Jamaica, Laurelton, Rosedale, and St. Albans in Queens; and several Bronx neighborhoods. The electorate map showed that many majority Black neighborhoods stuck with Cuomo.
Mamdani’s campaign significantly engaged irregular and unaffiliated voters, first-time voters, and younger voters under 40 across the city. Amanda Litman, co-founder and President of Run for Something, didn’t work on Mamdani’s campaign for mayor but was delighted that more than 6,000 people have reached out expressing an interest in running for office because of his win, she said. Litman doesn’t think the “Democratic machine” exists anymore, or at least that it’s out of touch with everyday issues and voters — especially when it comes to the generational divide.
“I think party leaders would be foolish if they don’t show that they can respect primary voters,” said Litman. “If they don’t show that they’re behind who the voters have picked, they are really begging the question: Who is this party for?”
Former Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado is one of those Democrats happy to endorse Mamdani, probably because he is busy breaking away from the state’s “political machine” and Governor Kathy Hochul.
“While Zohran and I may not agree on every issue, we share a deep commitment to tackling the affordability crisis that’s hurting New Yorkers every day,” said Delgado in a statement. “From rising rents to unaffordable childcare and skyrocketing healthcare costs, too many families are being pushed to the brink. I believe Zohran understands the urgency of this moment — and I look forward to working with him to meet it head on.”
Republican candidate for mayor Curtis Sliwa was unopposed in the primary and will be the GOP nominee in November. The wider Republican party has slammed Mamdani for being Muslim and attacked his status as a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Uganda, which, considering President Donald Trump’s MAGA playbook of mass deportation, is somewhat expected.
Even Democrats who had backed Cuomo early in the race, like Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, rebuked Republicans for calling for Mamdani’s deportation and using racial slurs.
“New York City and our entire nation are built on the backs of immigrants,” she said in a statement. “Zohran Mamdani is an American citizen who won the primary election by being resoundingly elected by the voters of New York City in a democratic process, and is well on to become our first Muslim mayor in history after the general election. The disgraceful and disgusting calls from Republican lawmakers to deport Mamdani, who is currently a New York State Assemblymember, is a blatant continuation of their racist attacks on groups of legal immigrants. Our great city is currently undergoing threatening, unconstitutional, and illegal ICE raids — and this is a politically desperate attempt to weaponize the Assemblymember’s immigrant background.”
Bichotte Hermelyn has since said that she officially supports Mamdani in the general election in November. “To everyone who has reservations, I ask you to put them aside at this moment and come together for the future of our city and our party,” she said.
Less expected were comments from fellow New York Dems like U.S Senator Kristen Gillibrand’s interview on WNYC that characterized Mamdani as a threat to Jewish New Yorkers’ safety because of his understanding of “jihad” and “intifada” as Arabic terms. She has since apologized and walked back her statements.
Gillibrand wasn’t the only one struggling to support Mamdani out of the gate. Political consultants, who declined to comment on the record to the Amsterdam News, said there’s quite a bit of infighting among Democratic clubs that don’t want to support a “socialist” and would prefer a more traditional Democrat.
Quite a few members of the city’s Jewish community don’t think it’s okay that Mamdani is being painted in some spaces as an antisemite or a “Communist,” either.
Trump, who’s repeatedly called Mamdani a Communist, has publicly said that he’d strip Mamdani of his citizenship or arrest him if he interferes with federal agents’ deportation operations.
“That Trump included praise for Eric Adams in his authoritarian threats is unsurprising, but highlights the urgency of bringing an end to this mayor’s time in City Hall,” said Mamdani. “At the very moment when MAGA Republicans are attempting to destroy the social safety net, kick millions of New Yorkers off of healthcare, and enrich their billionaire donors at the expense of working families, it is a scandal that Eric Adams echoes this president’s division, distraction, and hate. Voters will resoundingly reject it in November.”
““If they don’t show that they’re behind who the voters have picked, they are really begging the question: Who is this party for?”
That’s the real issue here.
Excellent piece Ms. Long, as usual.