By Arit John, Edward-Isaac Dovere and Gloria Pazmino for CNN
New York mayoral candidate State Rep. Zohran Mamdani, out on the campaign trail. Photo: AFP / MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO
New York state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is on the brink of a stunning Democratic primary win for New York City mayor, with his top challenger former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo conceding the race.
CNN projects Mamdani's initial support will remain below 50 percent, meaning the race will formally be decided by ranked-choice votes that will be announced starting 1 July.
Mamdani's strong performance will reverberate beyond America's largest city, catapulting both Mamdani and his policy ideas into the national spotlight.
A three-term state assemblyman who represents parts of Queens, one the most diverse areas in the nation, Mamdani vaulted from being a virtual unknown with a mix of viral videos and proposals appealing to younger progressives.
His detractors have argued his limited legislative experience, progressive policies and criticisms of Israel make him too extreme for the city.
Cuomo was attempting a comeback less than four years after he resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment and mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. He has denied the allegations against him.
"Tonight was not our night; tonight was Assemblyman's Mamdani's night," Cuomo told supporters. His spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, confirmed that Cuomo was conceding the primary race while leaving the door open for a November run on a different party's line.
Mamdani was leading each of the city's three largest boroughs, including in Queens where Cuomo grew up.
Besides Mamdani and Cuomo, the only candidate getting more than 5 percent of the vote was city Comptroller Brad Lander. While not all of Lander's voters will go to Mamdani when their candidate is eliminated, the two had told their supporters to rank the other on their ballots.
Mamdani is positioned to face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent after he bypassed the primary he won four years ago, as well as Republican Curtis Sliwa and at least one of his rivals running on a separate ballot line.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (left) and Andrew Cuomo. Photo: AFP
A fast rise for Mamdani
If Mamdani remains ahead, it would be a stunning result for a 33-year-old assemblyman with less than five years in government who just months ago was running a fledgling campaign relying on creative online videos.
It would also be the biggest win to date for the Democratic Socialists of America: Mamdani is a proud DSA member and geared his volunteer-driven campaign around talking up the affordability crisis in New York through moves that include proposals to freeze rents, make buses free and open government-owned grocery stores, all paid for by a massive tax hike on the rich he will need to convince the state government to pass.
Many Democrats in New York are adamantly opposed to Mamdani, both due to those socialist proposals and anger over his positions related to antisemitism and support for Israel.
Mamdani refused to say he believed Israel had the right to exist as a Jewish state or to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," referencing an Arabic term used by Palestinians to describe their uprising against Israel.
Cuomo repeatedly accused Mamdani of fueling antisemitic hate, a charge Mamdani denied.
Mamdani will have his own work to do on the left too, including other candidates and their supporters who may like him personally but oppose his socialist politics.
And he will have to convince sceptics that he is the right manager for a city facing compounding crises of affordability, crime rates, overall dysfunction, along with a massive influx of migrants that has complicated all three, all while being able to stand up to Trump.
Plus, Mamdani could have a rematch against Cuomo ahead, with the former governor potentially running on his own ballot line, making the case that he is the person speaking to the mainstream of where Democrats and New Yorkers overall are as they grapple with the crises facing the city and the incoming pressure from Trump.
Cuomo's comeback stopped
For Cuomo, losing to Mamdani marks an embarrassing end to his attempted political comeback.
Many Democrats still criticize him for the combination of the sexual misconduct and nursing home death scandals that led him to resign in 2021. He has a record of long, bitter fights with progressives that haunted him through the campaign - even as he accomplished long-held liberal goals while governor, including the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Cuomo positioned himself as an antidote to both President Donald Trump - with whom he has allied and feuded for decades - and more progressive politics amid growing concerns about crime and immigration in liberal-led cities.
He argued that he had the brand of politics to reconnect disillusioned Democrats to their party and the stature to push back on Trump, while also being the right manager for a city facing compounding crises of affordability, crime rates, overall dysfunction and a massive influx of migrants that has complicated all three.
To an extent, it worked. Many of those same critics who called for him to leave office four years ago backed his run for mayor, citing his experience. Among them was state Sen. Jessica Ramos, a fellow mayoral candidate who made a surprising endorsement of the former governor earlier this month.
Other high-profile Democrats from outside the city have also weighed in to support Cuomo, including South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn and former President Bill Clinton, under whom Cuomo served as housing secretary.
But other Democratic primary opponents didn't look past his sexual harassment allegations. During one debate, former state Rep. Michael Blake quipped that the people who feel unsafe in the city are "young women, mothers and grandmothers around Andrew Cuomo." Lander, who cross-endorsed Mamdani, appeared with two of Cuomo's accusers in the final days of the race.
"The votes are still being counted, and the ranked-choice tabulations will take a few days. But this much is clear: together, we are sending Andrew Cuomo back to the suburbs," Lander told his supporters. "With our help, Zohran Mamdani will be the Democratic nominee for the mayor of the city of New York. And we are on a path to win a city that all New Yorkers can afford, and where everyone belongs."
- CNN
