Mamdani widens lead over Cuomo for NYC Democratic mayoral nominee in ranked-choice voting rounds

Yahoo

01-07-2025

NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani widened his lead as New York City's Democratic nominee for mayor against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in ranked-choice rounds of voting, according to results released Tuesday by the Board of Elections.
The democratic socialist won 56% of the vote, compared to Cuomo's 44% in the third and final round, the ranked-choice results show.
Mamdani had already been the presumptive winner after his upset victory in the first round of voting last week.
'Last Tuesday, 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,' Mamdani said of the results 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.'
Cuomo's spokesman Rich Azzopardi attributed Mamdani's win to a turnout spike especially among younger voters, and also pointed out that Cuomo had garnered more votes than Mayor Eric Adams in 2021.
'Extremism, division and empty promises are not the answer to this city's problems, and while this was a look at what motivates a slice of our primary electorate, it does not represent the majority,' Azzopardi said in a statement. 'The financial instability of our families is the priority here, which is why actionable solutions, results and outcomes matter so much.'
Despite the loss, Azzopardi did not rule out the possibility of Cuomo running in the November general election on an independent line.
Other candidates were mass eliminated after the second round because the votes for them were too low.
Just over a million voters cast their ballots in the primary election this year.
The city's Board of Election released just the first round of results on election day last week. On Tuesday, a week later, the BOE ran through the other rounds.
Mamdani benefited more from ranked-choice voting than Cuomo did. The democratic socialist leaned into the model, securing cross-endorsements with Brad Lander and Michael Blake and campaigning alongside other candidates on the Working Families Party ranked slate.
Cuomo, on the other hand, largely rejected ranked-choice strategies. Despite collecting the endorsements of state Sen. Jessica Ramos and former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, the former governor did not endorse anyone himself. When he cast his vote on election day, he told reporters the only name he had marked on the ballot was his own.
In a ranked choice race, voters can select up to five candidates in order of preference, with the candidates receiving the fewest votes getting eliminated each round. If voters' first choice gets eliminated, their vote is transferred to the next highest ranking candidate.
Mamdani picked up a total of 99,171 votes in the second and third rounds. Cuomo netted 53,712.
Around 53,000 ballots were declared inactive, meaning that voters had ranked neither Mamdani nor Cuomo.
Mamdani won the first-round vote with 43.5% of the vote to Andrew Cuomo's 36.4%. Comptroller Brad Lander came in third with over 11%.
The BOE will continue to tally ballots, including absentee ballots, and release updated numbers every Tuesday until all votes are counted and the final results certified, which is not expected until mid-July.
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