Most of the ballots have been tallied after last night’s contentious and historic primary election, and the results are in.
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Queens assemblymember, pulled off a stunning upset and claimed victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo, earning 43.5% of the Democratic primary votes. It doesn’t meet the 51% threshold needed to officially qualify as the nominee, but Mamdani commands enough of a lead that no other candidate likely has a path to overtake it. Cuomo already called and conceded—whether he mounts an independent campaign in November remains the question on everyone’s lips.
Mamdani’s campaign energized voters and mobilized a veritable army of volunteers. In contrast, Cuomo kept a low profile and hoped to cruise to victory on name recognition and heavy PAC spending. In the end, Cuomo’s hands-off approach (perhaps the only thing a man credibly accused of sexual harassment has kept his hands off of) failed to curry favor with New Yorkers.
Mamdani will face off against incumbent mayor Eric Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in the general election later this year.
How did your friends and neighbors in Greenpoint and Williamsburg vote? Unsurprisingly, Mamdani cleaned up in the democratic socialist stronghold of Greenpoint, capturing 72% of the vote. He fared even better in East Williamsburg (74%) though slightly worse in Williamsburg (56%, however, hardly something to sneeze at).
City Council Member Lincoln Restler handily won reelection in District 33 and will serve a third term. City Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez ran unopposed.
The votes will take some time to be certified. The City’s Board of Elections said they will officially be done tallying votes on July 1.
For better or worse, the democrats are sending a message to the leaders, get rid of the old guard and bring in the new guard. Ironically this guy is even far left than the other candidates but he resonated with the public re things like more housing, taxing the rich, etc. etc. not saying one thing and kissing both Trump’ backside and big RE like the rest of the candidates.
Another key factor that people overlook. He was the only candidate to condemn both Hamas and Israel leaders for war crimes ie all the other democrats said our war criminals do not stink.
Time will tell whether if elected he will change NYC for the better or turn it into a welfare state a la 1960s that almost destroyed it.