Cuomo's lead shrinks with under one week until New York City mayoral primary: poll
The 2025 race for New York City mayor is tightening, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's lead shrinking with less than a week to go until the crucial June 24 Democratic Party mayoral primary, a new poll indicates.
A Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll released Wednesday shows that Cuomo – the former three-term governor – is the top choice for 38% of likely Democratic primary voters in New York City.
Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid multiple scandals, is now eyeing a political comeback and working to redeem his image.
Zorhan Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist state assemblyman from Queens, stands in second place in the poll, with 27% support in the primary, which is conducted using a ranked-choice voting system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots.
Mamdani, who is originally from Uganda, cut Cuomo's lead by nearly half from a Marist poll conducted a month ago, thanks in part to consolidating progressive support in the 11-candidate mayoral primary field.
Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City's most prominent leader on the left, endorsed Mamdani earlier this month. Earlier this week, longtime progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up Sen. Bernie Sanders backed Mamdani.
With multiple candidates on the left running in the primary, the endorsements by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders aimed to consolidate the support of progressive voters behind Mamdani.
"Mamdani is clearly in Cuomo's rearview mirror," Marist polling director Lee M. Miringoff told Fox News.
The poll indicates that New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is a distant third in the primary battle.
The survey was conducted June 9-12, before the final debate between the candidates and ahead of Lander's arrest on Tuesday by Department of Homeland Security agents in Manhattan, after allegedly assaulting a federal officer as Lander tried to escort a defendant out of an immigration court.
The poll was also conducted before the launch of an ad blitz questioning Mamdani's experience leading a city of more than 8 million people.
"Zohran Mamdani's a 33-year-old dangerously inexperienced legislator who's passed just three bills with a staff you can fit inside a New York elevator," the narrator in a Cuomo campaign ad said. "We need someone ready to roll. Andrew Cuomo managed a state and managed crises, from COVID to Trump."
Cuomo adviser and spokesperson Rich Azzopardi, when asked by Fox News about the new Marist survey, said, "This is the second poll in two days that showed Andrew Cuomo beginning and ending rank choice voting with a double-digit lead in a crowded multi-candidate race. These are serious times and New Yorkers know that Andrew Cuomo is the only candidate with the experience and the real record of results to fix what's broken and put the city back on the right track."
The 67-year-old Cuomo has spent the past four years fighting to clear his name after 11 sexual harassment accusations, which he has repeatedly denied, forced his resignation. He was also under investigation at the time for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic amid allegations his administration vastly understated COVID-related deaths at state nursing homes.
Last month, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Cuomo after Republicans accused him of lying to Congress about the decisions he made as governor during the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 130,000 Democrats have already cast ballots in early voting in the Democratic primary, ahead of next Tuesday's election.
The winner of the Democratic Party primary is traditionally seen as the overwhelming frontrunner in the November general election in the heavily blue city.
However, this year, the general election campaign may be a bit more unpredictable.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a moderate Democrat elected in 2021, is running for re-election as an independent. Adams earlier this year dropped his Democratic primary bid as his approval ratings sank to historic lows.
While he is not on the ballot, President Donald Trump has taken center stage on the campaign trail in the closing weeks of the New York City primary battle.
Cuomo and many of the other candidates in the race have heavily criticized Trump's recent move to place National Guard troops and U.S. Marines in Los Angeles in an effort to quell unrest sparked by an increase in ICE arrests of illegal immigrants orchestrated by the administration.
The candidates are vowing to protect the city from what they suggest is a possible future federal crackdown against immigration protests in New York City.
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Politico
36 minutes ago
- Politico
DraftKings bets on politics
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New York Post
36 minutes ago
- New York Post
Pair of Dems ICE-d out of immigration court where Brad Lander was taken into custody in chaotic arrest
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New York Post
36 minutes ago
- New York Post
Wealthy Hamptons exec stole $141 in fish, sandwiches: cops
Now she's on the hook! The wealthy founder of a posh Hamptons concierge service was busted for stealing salmon and fluke from a beloved local market — after a fishy history of allegedly swiping other culinary goodies, cops said Wednesday. Jenene Ronick, 52, who runs the high-end firm Luxury Attache, allegedly stuffed her bag to the gills with a $74 wild salmon steak, a $67 cut of fresh fluke and two deli sandwiches at the upscale Red Horse Market in East Hampton on June 10, police said. 8 Jenene Ronick, the founder of a Hamptons concierge service, was caught stealing fish from an East Hampton market. Getty Images for Hamptons Magazine Ronick — who lives in a palatial $7 million, seven-bedroom abode in nearby Amagansett — allegedly then dumped the seafood haul in her electric pickup truck and went back for more, according to police and a shop worker. The sticky-fingered foodie — whose concierge company boasts swanky clients such as Dior, Sotheby's and Cartier — was then spotted by a worker allegedly trying to snatch a $100 porter steak, the employee said. 'She was acting dumb,' Anthony Pineda, whose dad owns the market, told The Post. 'She was pretending she was on the phone, and I see her with a giant bag of groceries.' 'I asked everyone, did you, did you ring her up? And everyone's like, 'no.'' 8 Ronick's 2024 Ford F-150 electric pickup during the April incident. Obtained by NY Post Cops tracked down Ronick, using a description of her 2024 Ford F-150 electric pickup and license plate, and charged her with petit larceny. The alleged seafood snatcher has been in a sea of trouble in recent months for allegedly making off with items from at least two other businesses, police said. 'It's part of a pattern,' East Hampton Village police Detective Sgt. Jennifer Dunn told The Post. 8 Ronick allegedly swiped $141 in merchandise from the Red Horse Market in East Hampton on June 10. Tom McMorrow for the NYPost 8 Police claims Ronick stole items including wild salmon steak and fresh fluke form the market's fish counter. Tom McMorrow for the NYPost Ronick was accused of stealing dozens of eggs from a roadside stand in East Hampton Town on several occasions last year, according to cops. She was also accused of swiping household items in from a CVS in February. Her company, which boasts an office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, provides concierge service, travel planning and destination management to well-heeled New Yorkers and companies. The firm serves residents of luxury condos by assisting them with a 'wide range of lifestyle requests,' according to its website. It also helps commercial properties recruit 'top talent,' and has provided 'high-end' corporate travel planning to firms ranging from Adidas to UBS. Luxury Attache bills itself as 'redefining the hospitality industry' with 'sophistication and bespoke service that is unrivaled.' 8 Ronick allegedly stiffed a Hamptons egg stand in April. Obtained by NY Post 8 Ronick driving her Porsche in 2023 during another alleged theft at the egg stand. Obtained by NY Post During the other incidents of alleged theft, Ronick repeatedly stiffed the egg stand — which uses a box for cash and the honor system — before zipping off in her late-model Porsche convertible sports car, according to police. The egg-stand owners began tracking her after-hours visits early this year, using surveillance cameras, and determined she had cheated them out of at least $30, cops said. The owners told police they just wanted the eggs paid for — and for Ronick to never come back — but ultimately didn't press charges, according to police. 8 Ronick started the high-end firm Luxury Attache. Kevin Czopek/ / Shutterstock 'They paid. They apologized. It's not like she's going to do it again,' one of the stand's owners said at the time. When police visited the address connected to the vehicle caught on camera by the farm stand, they were greeted by Ronick's husband, author and entrepreneur David Ronick, at the couple's sprawling seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate with a pool on Bluff Road. He immediately forked over the $30 for the eggs, when cops told them why they were there, according to police. 8 Ronick also allegedly stole from a local CVS in February. Google Maps Ronick was also accused of stealing items, including toilet paper, cough drops and dish detergent, from a CVS near Red Horse Market on Feb. 10, according to police. She was later forbidden from returning to the store. Ronick, who is scheduled to be arraigned June 25, told The Post she took the items from Red Horse Market because the store's Apple Pay wasn't working. 'It was a misunderstanding and it was taken care of the next day,' she said. She claimed the egg theft and CVS incidents were also both misunderstandings that 'never turned into anything.' Asked about the alleged pattern of theft, she said, 'None of that is true.'
