As Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani brings an ambitious agenda to City Hall, a post-election analysis reveals how Black and Brown voters, as well as youth, supported him at the ballot box.
Generally speaking, the 2025 mayor’s race in the primary and general elections raked in a huge number of voters, breaking records compared to previous years. The New York City Board of Elections (BOE) estimated that more than 2 million voters showed up to the polls; in 2021, about 1.1 million ballots were cast in the entire election.
“It reminds me a lot of what happened with David Dinkins in 1989, where you had a very bitter primary against someone who — Ed Koch — who had been around for a very long time. He was a third-term incumbent,” said Michael Lange, writer and political analyst, in a roundtable about the election hosted by Vital City and the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. “And then an equally bitter, if not more fraught, general election, where the winning coalition gets over 50% — has all this enthusiasm, gets the most votes in X number of years.”
Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, appealed to working- and middle-class New Yorkers with a labor-led coalition that included renters, immigrants, and racial and ethnic groups asserting their political power, said Lange. Similarly, Eric Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, had huge support from Black and Latino voters, unions and labor coalitions, moderate voters, and police groups during his run for office in 2021’s mayoral race.
A key demographic that showed up to the polls for Mamdani this year across the board were younger voters. According to the Associated Press (AP) voter poll, about 75% of New York City voters under 30 cast a ballot for Mamdani. Voters between the ages of 30 and 44 also skewed more toward Mamdani, while former Governor Andrew Cuomo did better with voters 45 and older.
“I also think Cuomo’s flirtation/truce with Trump — whatever you want to call it — certainly did him no favors,” said Lange.
To break down ballots cast by borough, Mamdani earned votes in the Bronx, Manhattan, parts of Queens and Brooklyn, and Staten Island’s North Shore, according to the Center for Urban Research at The CUNY Graduate Center election map. Adams had a similar demographic breakdown in 2021.
Cuomo scored with most of Staten Island, large areas of Brooklyn and Queens, and scattered parts of the Bronx and Manhattan.
“The three most robust Democratic constituencies are young, college-educated, more ideological voters — these kind of older voters who consider themselves to be very liberal or even progressive, in places like Brownsville, Brooklyn, or the Upper West side,” continued Lange. “And then it’s also the Black electorate — staunchly anti-Trump. Those three coalitions really came together … and that is, I would say, not only the heart of the Mamdani coalition, but also the heart of the Democratic Party.”
In the 2025 June primary, Mamdani dominated in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and parts of Queens. Taking criticism to heart, he campaigned in Black and Latino communities harder as the Democratic nominee over the summer. He won over many supporters who had initially backed Cuomo or Adams out of the gate, as well as working-class immigrant neighborhoods that had “swung dramatically for Trump” during the presidential election in 2024, said Lange.
In census areas of the Five Boroughs with predominantly Black voters for the general election, Mamdani won big. These individual neighborhoods showed significant support for him.
- South Jamaica, Hollis, Baisley Park, St. Albans, Springfield Gardens, Laurelton, Brookville, Rosedale, Cambria Heights, Far Rockaway, Edgemere, Somerville, Arverne, and parts of Holliswood, Queens Village, Lefrak City, Queensbridge, and East Elmshurst in Queens.
- Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill, Crown Heights, Brownsville, East New York, New Lots, East Flatbush, Starrett City, Canarsie, Flatlands, Flatbush, Wingate, and parts of East Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Red Hook, and Coney Island in Brooklyn.
- Wakefield, Eastchester, Edenwald, Williamsbridge, Olinville, Baychester, Parkchester, parts of Co-op City, Fordham, Belmont, Mount Hope, Morris Heights, Tremont, Claremont, Castle Hill, Soundview, Crotona Park, Concourse, Highbridge, Morrisania, Mott Haven, and Melrose in the Bronx.
- East Harlem, Washington Heights, Morningside Heights, Hamilton Heights, Sugar Hill, Central Harlem, and West Harlem in Manhattan.
- Mariner’s Harbor and Arlington, Port Richmond, West Brighton, St. George, Tompkinsville, and Stapleton on the North Shore.
Areas with predominantly Hispanic voters had some overlap but were mostly concentrated in neighborhoods such as:
- Sunset Park, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, and Highland Park in Brooklyn.
- Arlington, Port Richmond, Tompkinsville, and Stapleton on SI.
- The Lower East Side, Upper West Side, Manhattanville, East Harlem, Inwood, Marble Hill, and Washington Heights in Manhattan.
- Woodhaven, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Kew Gardens, Ridgewood, Jackson Heights, Corona, East Elmshurst, Elmhurst, and parts of Sunnyside, and Astoria in Queens.
- Mott Haven, Huntspoint, Melrose, Longwood, Concourse, Highbridge, Morrisania, Mount Hope, Mount Eden, Morris Heights, Tremont, East Tremont, Fordham, Kingsbridge, Bedford Park, Norwood, Belmont, Soundview, Bruckner, Castle Hill, Clason Point, Morris Park, Pelham Parkway, Van Nest, Allerton, Woodlawn, and Olinville in the Bronx.
Among predominantly Asian voters in Staten Island, southern Brooklyn, lower Manhattan, and northern Queens, Cuomo did very well. However, Mamdani did get Asian voters in Chinatown in Manhattan, Castle Hill in the Bronx, Sunset Park and Kensington in Brooklyn; in his state assembly district (36) of Long Island City, as well as Woodside, Jamaica, and Richmond Hill in Queens.
As the city’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani naturally won the vast majority of Muslim voters in the general election. About 90% of Muslim voters supported Mamdani, said the AP Voter Poll, although they make up about 4% of the city’s overall eligible voters.
Many of these Muslim New Yorkers live in neighborhoods like Parkchester, Norwood, and Westchester in the Bronx; Graniteville, Arlington, and Park Hill on Staten Island; Kensington, Ditmas Park, Bay Ridge, Bath and Brighton Beach, East New York, and a small part of BedStuy. The majority are located in Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Jamaica, Briarwood, South Jamaica, Jamaica Hills, Holliswood, Queens Village, Bellerose, Glen Oaks, Fresh Meadows, Sunnyside, Queensbridge, Elmhurst, Woodside, and Jackson Heights in Queens.