Zohran Mamdani declared winner of NYC Democratic mayoral primary with 56% of vote, defeating Andrew Cuomo, who may still run as an independent in November
It was never in doubt following his stunning victory last week, but Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday was officially declared the winner of New York City’s Democratic Party primary for mayor.
But the big question remains: Will the 33-year-old democratic socialist from Queens — who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — face Cuomo again in November’s general election?
The New York City Board of Elections posted the official results of three rounds of the ranked choice voting from last week’s mayoral primary, and Mamdani grabbed a majority in the third round, with 56% of the vote.
Cuomo, the three-term governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals and who was aiming for a political comeback, won 44% of the vote. Cuomo was the frontrunner in the mayoral primary race for months until Mamdani closed the gap in the closing weeks of the campaign.
MAMDANI’S POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE ROCKS DEMOCRATS
With his victory over Cuomo and nine other candidates – officially called by the Associated Press – Mamdani is now one major step closer to becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation’s most populous city.
Mamdani, whose showing last week sent political shock waves across the nation, grabbed more than 545,000 votes, the highest total for a New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner in nearly four decades. And more than 1 million ballots were cast in the primary, the largest total since 1989.
« I am humbled by the support », Mamdani wrote in a social media post. And he vowed: « This is just the beginning of our expanding coalition to make New York City affordable. And we will do it together. »
Mamdani is now considered the favorite in the general election in heavily blue New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly a six-to-one margin.
He will face off in November against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams – a Democrat who’s running for re-election as an independent after his poll numbers plummeted.
