5 days ago
In NYC mayor's race, Andrew Cuomo, State Sen. Jessica Ramos expected to unveil ranked choice voting alliance
As the race for New York City mayor heats up, Andrew Cuomo and fellow Democratic candidate New York State Sen. Jessica Ramos are expected to announce Friday a ranked choice voting alliance for the June primary election.
Cuomo and Ramos are holding a news conference Friday morning where they are expected to make the announcement.
Neither candidate is expected to leave the race.
The purpose of asking primary voters to choose someone else as their second choice is to boost that person's chances as the rounds of voting progress, until someone reaches 50%.
Cuomo is the overwhelming frontrunner in the Democratic race, followed in most polls by socialist Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
Cuomo was the favorite punching bag during the first debate earlier this week. His fellow democratic candidates attacked him over the sexual harassment and nursing home scandals that forced him from the governor's office four years ago.
Andrew Cuomo greets Jessica Ramos before participating in the New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary Debate on June 4, 2025 in New York City.
Yuki Iwamura / Getty Images
The morning after the debate, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her support behind Mamdani with a formal endorsement.
"This is our most effective tool to protect NYC institutions from being molded to maximize impunity for Cuomo's bully politics," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement accompanying her top five rankings: Zohran Mamdani, Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Scott Stringer and Zellnor Myrie.
Cuomo brushed off the news, and his campaign pointed to his recent endorsement from the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance saying this is "why he leads in every poll and why, when he's mayor, he's going to get this city back on the right track and make it more affordable and safer for all."
Absent from Wednesday's debate stage was New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for reelection on the independent ticket.
Early voting in the primary election starts June 14 ahead of Election Day on June 24. Like the last mayoral primary, voters will use ranked choice voting to select up to five candidates.
contributed to this report.
