The New York City Mayoral Primary is in nine weeks. with a 7-1 registration margin, the Democratic nominee will almost certainly be the next Mayor (Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams has announced plans to run for re-election as an independent, but is sufficiently unpopular that he won’t be able to run a successful GE campaign. There are 8 serious Democratic candidates, but polling has consistently shown that one candidate is running away with the race: former Governor Andrew Cuomo. For weeks, only two candidates have shown polling support in the double digits: Cuomo and State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist. And Cuomo, despite the sexual harassment scandal which drove him from office, is actually approaching the 51% measure that would eliminate the need for ranked-choice voting (Democrats can vote for up to 5 candidates in order of preference). Cuomo is currently at 45%, Mamdani is at 22% and City Comptroller Brad Lander is at 8%. Everyone else is at 4% or less.
Winning a Mayor’s race in NYC is dependent on two factors. First, either a large enough political coalition (Black, Hispanic, Jewish, etc), or a larger-than-life persona that can play in the NYC media environment (think Fiorello LaGuardia or the early Rudy Giuliani); and second, a mainstream political message. Zohran is very well-spoken, and his agenda would resonate well here (free bus service, publicly-owned grocery stores, residential rent freezes), but the reality is that while NYC is heavily Democratic, its not heavily liberal (think about Eric Adams getting elected on an anti-crime platform four years ago). Cuomo is bad for a lot of issues liberals care about, and he can be pushy and obnoxious, but he’s perceived as “tough” and some people see him as someone who can stand up to Trump.
There had been discussions about tactical cross-endorsements by the lower-polling candidates, but so far nothing has been announced. I won’t vote for Zohran because of the risk of throwing the election to the Republican (self-styled vigilante and Trump supporter Curtis Sliwa). The best strategy at this point would be for everyone below Lander to drop out and hopefully craft a single mainstream candidate to support.
Prepare to welcome back…Andrew Cuomo
April 21, 2025 | By Cbastian | Original Article
The New York City Mayoral Primary is in nine weeks. with a 7-1 registration margin, the Democratic nominee will almost certainly be the next Mayor (Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams has announced plans to run for re-election as an independent, but is sufficiently unpopular that he won’t be able to run a successful GE campaign. There are 8 serious Democratic candidates, but polling has consistently shown that one candidate is running away with the race: former Governor Andrew Cuomo. For weeks, only two candidates have shown polling support in the double digits: Cuomo and State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist. And Cuomo, despite the sexual harassment scandal which drove him from office, is actually approaching the 51% measure that would eliminate the need for ranked-choice voting (Democrats can vote for up to 5 candidates in order of preference). Cuomo is currently at 45%, Mamdani is at 22% and City Comptroller Brad Lander is at 8%. Everyone else is at 4% or less.
Winning a Mayor’s race in NYC is dependent on two factors. First, either a large enough political coalition (Black, Hispanic, Jewish, etc), or a larger-than-life persona that can play in the NYC media environment (think Fiorello LaGuardia or the early Rudy Giuliani); and second, a mainstream political message. Zohran is very well-spoken, and his agenda would resonate well here (free bus service, publicly-owned grocery stores, residential rent freezes), but the reality is that while NYC is heavily Democratic, its not heavily liberal (think about Eric Adams getting elected on an anti-crime platform four years ago). Cuomo is bad for a lot of issues liberals care about, and he can be pushy and obnoxious, but he’s perceived as “tough” and some people see him as someone who can stand up to Trump.
There had been discussions about tactical cross-endorsements by the lower-polling candidates, but so far nothing has been announced. I won’t vote for Zohran because of the risk of throwing the election to the Republican (self-styled vigilante and Trump supporter Curtis Sliwa). The best strategy at this point would be for everyone below Lander to drop out and hopefully craft a single mainstream candidate to support.
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