5 takeaways from the New York City mayoral primary

By Nicholas Fandos

Zohran Mamdani, a state Assembly member who campaigned relentlessly against New York’s spiraling affordability crisis, was on the verge of a seismic upset in the Democratic primary for mayor Tuesday, powered by a diverse coalition from brownstone Brooklyn to the immigrant enclaves of Queens.

The result was not final. But Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, declared victory, and Andrew Cuomo, his rival and the former governor, conceded defeat.

Mamdani’s success in one of the first major Democratic primaries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House reverberated across the country and offered a potential road map for Democrats searching for a path back to power.

The Democratic primary winner would typically be considered the front-runner in November’s general election. Yet this fall’s contest promises to be unusually volatile. It will include Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent. Cuomo also still has the option of running on a third-party ballot line, though he has not committed to continuing his campaign.

Here are five takeaways from the primary:

Mamdani’s exuberant optimism attracted disaffected New Yorkers.

Mamdani, a third-term lawmaker from Queens, entered the race last fall with a thin resume, virtually no citywide profile and views well to the left of many Democrats. He ended Tuesday as a breakout national figure.

He distinguished himself from a field of 10 rivals by offering an unapologetically progressive economic platform that was as memorable as it was ambitious. He proposed making city buses free, offering free child care and freezing the rent on rent-stabilized apartments — all financed by a large tax hike on the city’s wealthiest residents.

But his success also owed much to his exuberant style, demonstrative love for New York and mastery of social media that seemed to embody the kind of generational change many Democrats say they are hungry for. He filmed himself running into the icy waters of Coney Island in January and speaking with voters in the Bronx who swung to Trump last fall.

It was a stark contrast to Cuomo’s joyless campaign, which featured heavily staged events and a candidate who repeatedly warned voters that the city was in deep trouble that only he could fix.

“Together we have shown the power of the politics of the future, one of partnership and sincerity,” Mamdani said in a speech declaring victory.

The Cuomo brand seems to have lost its shine.

For four years since resigning as governor in a sexual harassment scandal, Cuomo, 67, has pined for a path back to power.

He thought he had found it in the New York City mayoralty, and campaigned with an air of inevitability. He locked up key labor endorsements, benefited from a $25 million super PAC and witheringly attacked Mamdani as dangerously unqualified for the job, all while making no apology for his past conduct.

In the end, it appears voters were simply not interested in a Cuomo restoration.

He must now decide whether to keep running in November on a third-party ballot line, or accept defeat and the likely end of a political career that included stints as the federal housing secretary, New York attorney general and governor.

“Tonight was not our night,” a deflated-looking Cuomo told supporters Tuesday night. He added, of Mamdani: “Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won.”

Mamdani built a novel coalition.

Initial results suggested that Mamdani was succeeding by stitching together a novel Democratic coalition across the city, largely consisting of white, Asian and Latino voters in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

While Mamdani campaigned on helping working-class New Yorkers, he ran up large margins in the affluent, brownstone-lined streets of Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, as well as wealthy Manhattan enclaves like the East Village and swaths of Midtown.

Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, was also the top vote-getter in predominantly Asian and Latino communities in Queens. They included economically and racial diverse areas like Woodside, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Richmond Hill, home to a large South Asian population.

Notably, he struggled more in middle-class, predominantly Black areas in the Bronx and Southeast Queens, where Cuomo retained strong support from his years as governor. Cuomo also won islands of support on affluent Democratic strongholds like the Upper West and East Sides of Manhattan, and in Orthodox Jewish enclaves in Brooklyn, where Mamdani’s views on Israel alienated some voters.

Mayor Adams gets the opponents he hoped for.

He may be down — way down — but Adams insists he is not yet on his way out.

Even before Tuesday’s primary, the incumbent mayor was preparing a scrape-and-claw reelection campaign in November’s general election, which will not use ranked-choice voting. He has gathered petitions to run on one of two ballot lines, EndAntiSemitism and Safe&Affordable, and plans to relaunch his campaign Thursday on the steps of City Hall.

He has long made clear he sees Mamdani as a perfect foil.

The mayor’s allies believe he could pull back together pieces of his scattered coalition, including older Black voters and Orthodox Jewish New Yorkers. He has also inched closer to Trump and his circle, raising the possibility that he could try to claim support from Republicans as well.

But Adams enters the race with profound baggage. His approval ratings from New Yorkers were abysmal even before he was indicted last fall on federal corruption charges. He arguably alienated Democrats more, though, when he successfully urged the Trump administration to drop the charges against him earlier this year.

Progressives generally had a good night.

Mamdani’s surge captured the city’s attention, but progressives also won some consequential down-ballot races.

Jumaane Williams, the city’s left-leaning public advocate, easily cruised past a challenge from Jenifer Rajkumar, a state assemblywoman who had allied herself with Adams.

In Brooklyn near Prospect Park, Shahana Hanif, the first Muslim woman to elected to the City Council and an unsparing critic of the Israeli government, fended off a fierce challenge that centered on her views of the war in the Gaza Strip.

In a neighboring district to the south, Alexa Avilés, a democratic socialist, also easily fended off a spirited challenge to her right from Ling Ye, a Chinese immigrant who previously worked for Rep. Dan Goldman, the area’s moderate Democratic lawmaker.

One progressive who appeared to be losing was Justin Brannan, a City Council member from Brooklyn who was trailing Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president and a liberal Democrat, in the race to replace Brad Lander as city comptroller. Levine led by a wide margin, though the race had not been called.