NEW YORK—Young and progressive New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won the city’s Democratic primary for mayor on June 24. His top foe, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, called him to concede the election in a race whose results may have surprised the corporations and the establishment political circles, but not the coalition backing Mamdani.
Volunteers knocked on tens of thousands of doors as they supported their candidate’s call for a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments and for slashing money for war that they said drains big cities of needed resources. They said the stress on affordability and peace, and the door-to-door campaigning, not a miracle or surprise, yielded the victory. The win is a lesson for the Democratic Party, too, many in the campaign say, that it must step up its challenges to the Trump agenda.
The coalition backing Mamdani included Brooklyn brownstoners, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, immigrant communities in Queens and elsewhere, and working-class voters of all backgrounds in this multiethnic and multinational city.
Normally, the victor in the Democratic primary goes on to win the final race in November. When ranked-choice voting totals are tabulated in full next week, it is expected that Mamdani will comfortably pass the required 50%+1 as he gets crossover support from other candidates who opposed Cuomo.
In order to win in November, though, Mamdani will have to strengthen his coalition even further by increasing support in both the African American and Latino communities, where early data suggest he won large votes but not majorities.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who did not back Mamdani in the primary, nevertheless came out strong for him on election night when she declared, “They said he could not win because they did not know his name. Well, now they know his name.”
In New York’s rank-choiced voting system, Mandami and third-place finisher Brad Lander, the city comptroller whom Donald Trump’s ICE agents arrested the week before Election Day, cross-endorsed each other. Lander got 11% of the first-place votes, so his totals are expected to put Mamdani over the top next week when they are factored in.
With the building trades unions and some others having backed Cuomo, New York City and state unions had no immediate reaction to the win. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, the lieutenant governor who took over several years ago when scandal-scarred Cuomo was forced to resign, immediately pledged to meet and work with Mamdani.
“Today, voters made their voices heard, demanding a more affordable, more livable New York City. I hear them loud and clear,” Hochul tweeted. “@ZohranKMamdani built a formidable grassroots coalition, and I look forward to speaking with him in the days ahead about his ideas on how to ensure a safe, affordable, and livable New York City.”
A list of New York City election endorsements, posted by the state AFL-CIO, omitted the mayoral race, even as it listed labor-backed candidates for other citywide offices—such as City Council President and Comptroller—and all but a few council seats.
One big and influential union, the United Federation of Teachers, was split and thus decided on no endorsement, President Michael Mulgrew reported on June 13.
UFT is the largest and most influential local in the Teachers/AFT, and Mulgrew succeeded current AFT President Randi Weingarten as UFT’s chief. On her X feed, Weingarten reposted Politico’s lead paragraph about Mamdani’s win. A New York City civics teacher on leave, Weingarten didn’t say how she voted.
“Zohran Mamdani is on track to become Dems’ candidate for NYC mayor—toppling Andrew Cuomo’s comeback dreams and putting incumbent Eric Adams on notice,” she wrote.
Weingarten’s tweet pointed out other factors to consider for November after Mamdani’s win in the heavily Democratic city: Scandal-scarred incumbent Mayor Adams dropped out of the party primary and plans to run as an independent. Cuomo also still has a minor-party line available to him. The Republicans, meanwhile, nominated Curtis Sliwa, 71, a talk show host and former head of the Guardian Angels. He was unopposed in their primary.
Coalition tightens around Mamdani
Mamdani’s message of more and better city services—rent freezes, housing subsidies, free buses, more money for schools, and taxing the rich—resonated. Cuomo’s message of competence, tarnished by scandals in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, did not.
Mamdani led in three of the five boroughs of the city. The boroughs where Cuomo held a lead were in Staten Island, where only a little under 30,000 votes were cast, and the Bronx, where around 100,000 votes were cast.
Turnout in other boroughs was above 200,000, with an impressive 332,000 voting in Brooklyn. True to the monied interests backing Cuomo’s campaign, his main strongholds were the Upper West and East Sides of Manhattan
Displays of progressive unity against Cuomo were evident at the election night watch party. Lander took Mamdani’s win as his own. “Andrew Cuomo is in the past,” he said to supporters at his own watch party, as he congratulated Mamdani on his win. “[Cuomo] is not the present or future of New York City. Good f–ing riddance!”
A tactic of the Cuomo campaign was to paint Mamdani, a supporter of Palestine and advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza, as an antisemite. One mailer went out specifically saying that Mamdani raised “serious concerns for Jewish New Yorkers.” Another ad issued by one of the PACs backing Cuomo alleged Mamdani “rejects Jewish rights.” The flyer featured an altered photo of Mamdani with his beard artificially darkened and thickened as part of a blatantly Islamophobic appeal.
Lander, who came up in the city as an activist with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and as City Councilmember for New York’s 39th District before becoming Comptroller, played a key role in challenging these smears, culminating with his concession speech on Election Night. “We are not going to let anyone divide Muslim New Yorkers and Jewish New Yorkers,” he told supporters.
The New York Working Families Party, which has been the target of Cuomo’s personal animus for over a decade, as he tried to abolish it completely from New York politics, released a statement in celebration. “New York City showed the country it’s time to usher in a new era of leadership—one that puts working families at the center of their vision,” it read. “The Working Families Party is ready to roll up our sleeves and support Zohran all the way to City Hall.”
One of the tens of thousands of volunteers for Mamdani is Carly Fuglei, who lives in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and began volunteering for the campaign in February. Clocking in for more than 70 hours of volunteer labor, she rose from being a canvasser to leading whole canvasses in Brooklyn, Queens, and even Staten Island.
Fuglei gathered with other volunteers at a Mamdani watch party in Prospect Park while the results came in. “I think this sets an example nationally and demonstrates to the Democratic Party that they need to de-link from the billionaire class in order to win,” she told People’s World.
“I don’t know what to expect for November because I’m relatively new to the city. I know these establishment politicians are tenacious. I know an avalanche of money is about to be poured into the race against Mamdani, but still I’m hopeful, and I will continue to dedicate as much energy as I can spare to advancing the cause.”
Fighting for working people without apology
Tens of thousands of supporters waited into early Wednesday morning for Mamdani to take the stage. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (N.Y.-7), and Attorney General James, who had previously endorsed Adrienne Adams, both delivered laudatory remarks to introduce the candidate, who took the stage after midnight in front of a banner that read “Afford to Live and Afford to Dream.”
“In the words of Nelson Mandela: It always seems impossible until it is done,” he said to cheers. “We have done it. I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”
Mamdani confirmed to the crowd that Cuomo had called him personally to concede the race. He then pulled Lander on stage to personally thank him. “Together we have shown the politics of the future: one of partnership and sincerity.”
He proposed that New York City’s success could become “a model for the Democratic Party, where we fight for working people with no apology.”
“Together, New York, we have renewed our democracy. We have given our city permission to believe again,” he said. “We will remake this city in the image of every New Yorker who has only known struggle. In our New York, the power belongs to the people.”
It remains to be seen if Cuomo will step away from the race. The money that was poured into his anti-Mamdani, anti-progressive campaign will still need somewhere to go, and there is no ranked-choice, coalition-style voting in the general election.
But the morning after seems to have been reserved for celebrating and firming up the anti-Cuomo coalition into something that will see the city through what is certain to be a hotly contested election in November.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
