In one of the most stunning results in Democratic politics in years, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is poised to come from nowhere and pull off a major victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the establishment’s overwhelming choice for the job. With 90 percent of the results in, Mamdani had captured 43.5 percent of the vote to Cuomo’s 36.3 percent. The final results with all allocations in the ranked-choice process will be announced next Tuesday.
The win is a shock considering what Cuomo and his deep-pocketed allies threw at Mamdani in the late stages of the race, including tens of millions of dollars in Super PAC ads, endorsements from former president Bill Clinton and kingmaker former House leader Jim Clyburn, and a flurry of media rage. But as Mamdani said on Stephen Colbert’s show this week, while Cuomo had organized money, he had organized people.
Cuomo conceded that late Tuesday evening with a de facto concession speech in which he praised Mamdani’s campaign.
The margin, which virtually no pollster predicted, matches the excitement that canvassers have seen throughout New York for weeks and saw again on Tuesday. A near-record heat wave had some convinced voters would stay home, especially after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a state of emergency for 32 counties on Sunday, including for all five New York City boroughs. But the results speak for themselves.
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As the temperature climbed towards 100 yesterday morning, election volunteer Jessica Roff stood in the lone square of shade outside Public School 130 in Brooklyn’s Kensington neighborhood, a shadow cast by a street sign.
Though no one else was lingering outside for long, there was still a steady stream of voters walking swiftly to and from the polling site. They didn’t want to talk, but they did take her flyers, which urged people to rank Mamdani first for mayor. A woman in a long white dress and a sunhat slowed down momentarily. “I just wanted to tell you that I ranked Zohran first,” she said, adding as she walked away, “I think we can win.”
That was similar to the responses Roff said she’s encountered canvassing with Jews for Racial & Economic Justice for New York’s primary election, which endorsed Mamdani and Comptroller Brad Lander for mayor. The group sent about 75 canvassers across New York City for a last-minute push.
“This is too important of an election to be determined by the heat,” Roff said.
Cuomo is “morally bankrupt,” she said, and she’s tired of Democrats preferring “moneyed, white interests” and constantly tacking to the right and center. “That has been disastrous,” she said. “It’s not serving us in the U.S. In fact, It’s killing us.” Mamdani’s policies offer an antidote, she said. “He is more where the party should be moving and where the country should be moving.”
Roff and other canvassers and poll workers yesterday said they didn’t notice a dropoff among any of their voter demographics.
Voter turnout is always a major concern for incumbent City Council member Pierina Sanchez, who beat two challengers to win reelection by a wide margin, results last night showed.
Earlier in the day, she stood outside The Kingsbridge Heights School in the Bronx to speak with voters and described how getting people to the polls is always a slog, regardless of the weather. By mid-afternoon, 710,858 people across New York City had voted, according to the Board of Election. The Bronx had the second-lowest turnout, just 68,872 voters (Staten Island had the lowest, 21,681).
Sometimes, Sanchez said, she tells people to just vote for someone, anyone. “I use that as a point,” she said, “Just vote. We have to get our numbers up.” She wants voters to understand that city and elected officials tend to focus their attention and resources on areas where there’s significant turnout, even after an election season.
“The numbers are very low. It’s very hot, so we’re advising people to come after 6 p.m.,” Sanchez said. ‘In a community like ours, we have an uphill battle anyway.”
First elected in 2022 and endorsed by multiple unions and The Working Families Party, Sanchez said she wanted to hold onto her seat so she can continue working on affordable housing, holding awful landlords to account and redeveloping the abandoned Kingsbridge Armory, which has sat unused for three decades. She also wants to make sure street vendors have training and permits “so no one will hassle them when they’re just trying to make ends meet.”
Sanchez also said that while voters in her district tend to be more conservative than elsewhere in town, with many preferring Cuomo, they’re excited about Mamdani and state senator Zellnor Myrie, too, who was campaigning nearby. Like virtually all neighborhoods in New York, this one shifted to the right in 2024. While voters still preferred Kamala Harris overall, the share that went to Trump increased by 15 percentage points.
Myrie, who is also endorsed by the Working Families Party, said he too had seen a considerable number of voters. “Even at 6 a.m. there were people” out voting, and that he felt “heartened by voting numbers.” Then he headed off to a different polling site because “we’re chasing every vote till the polls close.”
Inside the polling place was cool and full of people. A line had formed at the front table and a supervisor said that the number of voters was about the same as previous elections. She expected more to show up once the sun went down.
Back outside, the block was alive with candidates’ tents and volunteers and music. A woman was selling sliced mangos and snacks; a man walked by with shaved ice and one of Sanchez’s fliers displayed on his cart. Some of the drivers who passed honked and called out their support.
“Come to the Bronx,” she said, gesturing to her neighborhood, “this is how we do it!”
A volunteer for another campaign had crossed the street to introduce himself to Sanchez. A guy on a bike rode by, blasting a montuno. Four kids carrying musical instruments walked by, two with cello cases bigger than they were. By 6 p.m., the temperature was inching downward and another 120,000 New Yorkers had voted. Polls closed three hours later.
