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Coffee Break: 2025 New York Mayoral Primary, Mamdani Vs. Cuomo

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This is a news round up of the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary. The race seems to be narrowing to a contest between disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislator Zohran Mamdani.

Early voting has begun as of June 14 and will conclude on June 24.

Why This Race Matters

This is hands-down THE most important political contest currently taking place in the U.S. for five reasons:

  1. New York City is the media and financial capital of the U.S. and what happens in the Big Apple will influence the course of national politics.
  2. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s run for New York Mayor is an attempt to revive a political career that seemingly died in disgrace when he resigned from office in 2021. If Cuomo wins, the sclerotic Democratic establishment will write off the insurgent, younger branch of the part off as sure losers in the 2028 contest and Cuomo will be an instant front-runner in the presidential primary.
  3. The surging challenger Zohran Mamdani has already far exceeded expectations in a multi-candidate field and has a chance to win outright. Mamdani has shown himself to be the most charismatic and talented representative of the Bernie Sanders-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pseudo-socialist wing of the Democratic party to emerge since AOC herself and would be an instant national figure.
  4. The billionaire funded “Abundance” counter-revolutionary movement led by Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Matt Yglesias, and other Democratic pundits has found its messaging being cleverly co-opted by Mumdani and might be rendered instantly obsolete only months after its launch.
  5. There is a significant aspect of MSM and AIPAC-driven Israel-first politics in this race. AIPAC virtually cleared the field of insurgent Democrats in the 2024 cycle, particularly in New York where incumbent progressive congressmen Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones where beaten by lavishly funded Israel-first candidates George Lattimer and Ritchie Torres.

The Official Version of the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary

The New York Times editorial board summarizes the race from their point of view:

Eleven candidates are competing for the Democratic nomination, and many New Yorkers are understandably disappointed by the field. It lacks any candidate who seems likely to be the city’s next great mayor. For that reason, we are not endorsing a candidate. That said, several candidates have substantial strengths. This editorial — which follows our publication of The Choice, a feature that shared the insights of a diverse mix of New Yorkers — is meant to offer guidance for New York voters trying to think through their imperfect options.

The polls indicate that two candidates have emerged as the frontrunners: Andrew Cuomo, a former governor and federal housing secretary, and Zohran Mamdani, a state legislator who represents a Queens district. Mr. Mamdani, a charismatic 33-year-old, is running a joyful campaign full of viral videos in which he talks with voters. He offers the kind of fresh political style for which many people are hungry during the angry era of President Trump.

They make a three paragraph case against Mamdani in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary:

Unfortunately, Mr. Mamdani is running on an agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges. He is a democratic socialist who too often ignores the unavoidable trade-offs of governance. He favors rent freezes that could restrict housing supply and make it harder for younger New Yorkers and new arrivals to afford housing. He wants the government to operate grocery stores, as if customer service and retail sales were strengths of the public sector. He minimizes the importance of policing.

Most worrisome, he shows little concern about the disorder of the past decade, even though its costs have fallen hardest on the city’s working-class and poor residents. Mr. Mamdani, who has called Mr. de Blasio the best New York mayor of his lifetime, offers an agenda that remains alluring among elite progressives but has proved damaging to city life.

Mr. Mamdani would also bring less relevant experience than perhaps any mayor in New York history. He has never run a government department or private organization of any size. As a state legislator, he has struggled to execute his own agenda. A telling example came last year. Given an opportunity to expand a pilot program offering free bus rides, one of his signature issues, he instead engaged in a performative protest that doomed the policy, New York magazine reported. He seems to lack the political savvy and instinct for compromise that has made Senator Bernie Sanders, his fellow democratic socialist, an effective legislator.

And spare one paragraph to condemn Cuomo:

The other front-runner, Mr. Cuomo, has his own significant shortcomings. He resigned as governor in 2021, during his third term, because of allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate touching from at least 11 women. This board called for his resignation at the time because of the disturbing, credible nature of the accusations. We noted that his treatment of women was part of a larger pattern of bullying, self-serving behavior.

Matt Stoller rounds up some of the responses:

Against the Process In The 2025 New York Mayoral Primary

Annie Lowrey, Ezra “Abundance” Klein’s wife, makes a process argument against ranked choice voting for The Atlantic:

Instead of picking one person to lead the city, voters will rank up to five candidates. This process is wonkish and confusing. But it ensures that similar candidates do not split a constituency. This, proponents of ranked-choice voting say, is the most democratic form of democracy.

Cuomo is likely to get more first-choice votes than any other candidate. But he’s not projected to win an outright majority, meaning that the ranked-choice system would kick in. Candidate after candidate would get knocked out, and their supporters’ votes reapportioned. In the end, the political scion with a multimillion-dollar war chest and blanket name recognition could lose to the young Millennial whom few New Yorkers had heard of as of last year. One new survey, by Data for Progress, shows Cuomo ultimately defeating Mamdani by two points, within the margin of error. Another poll shows Mamdani with more support than Cuomo.

Seeing a no-name upstart attempt to upset a brand-name heavyweight is thrilling. But the system has warped the political calculus of the mayoral campaign. Candidates who might have dropped out are staying in. Candidates who might be attacking one another on their platforms or records are instead considering cross-endorsing. Voters used to choosing one contender are plotting out how to rank their choices. Moreover, they are doing so in a closed primary held in the June of an odd year, meaning most city residents will not show up at the polls anyway. If this is democracy, it’s a funny form of it.

There is more to the “Abundance” angle on this campaign that I’ll address below.

Mamdani’s Polling Surge in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary
Mamdani earned this passive-aggressive show of establishment opposition by surging in the polls. Mamdani had been gaining on Cuomo in the polls for weeks, but he has now he taken pole position, per Politico:

The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling for Democrat Justin Brannan’s city comptroller campaign, found Mamdani beating Cuomo 35 percent to 31 percent — a difference that is narrowly within the 4.1 percent margin of error.

The poll of 573 likely Democratic voters was conducted between June 6 and June 7 — after nine candidates faced off in the first televised debate. The following day, June 5, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Mamdani, lending political star power to his campaign.

Thirty-nine percent of the poll’s responses came from landlines and 61 percent from text messages — a methodology that favored Mamdani given his strength with those responding via text, according to the results.

Mamdani’s Debate Performance
Mamdani further impressed with this debate performance on the 12th:

Zohran Mamdani: To Mr Cuomo: I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA. I have neve hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. I have never sued for their gynecological records and I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr Cuomo and furthermore the name is Mamdani. M -A-M-D-A-N-I. You should learn how to say it because we got to get it right.

AOC Endorses Mamdani in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary

Mamdani supporters were impatiently awaiting an endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY 14th), but it came when he showed sufficient strength:

AOC spoke at a Mamdani rally over the weekend and made the case against Cuomo:

I think a lot about what has happened leading up to this political moment. Because when I think about our current leadership, this race is not just symbolic about the future of New York City but this race is symbolic about the future of our country.

For so long we have had political leadership including in the Democratic Party that has just wanted to play it safe that has just wanted to be neutral. Where so many people are motivated by their own individual political careers.

I cannot tell you how shocked I have been to see so many of the individuals who called on Andrew Cuomo to resign in disgrace after after so many details of harassment against women, and for those same people who called on him to resign to stand behind him and endorse him for mayor of New York City…

I will tell you as a survivor of sexual assault I will never unsee that ever again.

We have to have a politics of integrity not a politics of cowardice. We have to stand up for what is right in this country and when I say that this is not just about New York City but that this is about the United States I mean that literally.

Andrew Cuomo has made clear that if he wins this race he wants to run for president of the United States of America.

In a world and a nation that is crying to end the gerontocracy of our leadership, that wants a new day, that wants to see a new generation ascend it is unconscionable to send Andrew Cuomo to Gracie Mansion once again.

New York City we need a new day. We deserve a chance. We deserve a New York City that centers working people.

Mamdani’s Grassroots Tactics in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary
Via Jacobin:

There are many reasons why Mamdani has taken off, including his unflagging focus on affordability in a city amid a crushing cost-of-living crisis. But one of the most important is the campaign’s army of thousands of volunteers.

In the midst of a rising authoritarian federal government in the United States, the Mamdani campaign is feeding a hunger for participation through old-school campaign practices of talking with and persuading neighbors. If part of the remedy for rising authoritarianism is more small-d democratic engagement, Mamdani is delivering it.

One week in late May, from Monday through Sunday, the campaign knocked on 95,321 doors, up from about 40,000 per week throughout April. As of late last week, the campaign had knocked on 644,755 doors and called 261,051 people. A single canvass in Bedford-Stuyvesant this weekend knocked on more than 9,000 doors. A joint canvass with socialist city councilor Alexa Avilés on Sunday in Sunset Park knocked on more than 3,800 doors. Canvasses have also been impressive not only in politically active Brooklyn and Mamdani’s home turf of Queens, but in the Bronx and on Staten Island.

Public Financing’s Role in Mamdani’s Surge in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary

Mamdani Picking Up Cross-Endorsements in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary
In a ranked-choice context, candidates can cross-endorse one another, publicly encouraging their supporters to vote for another candidate as their second choice.

Mamdani and Brad Lander announced their x-endorsements via this ad:

The NY Times provided some context:

The partnership, which was announced one day before early voting begins, effectively turns Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman, and Mr. Lander, the city comptroller, into something of a joint entry. They said at a news conference in Manhattan on Friday that they would campaign together and that they were proud to endorse each other because they had integrity and Mr. Cuomo did not.

Mamdani today picked up another key cross-endorsement:

Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and a democratic socialist, and Michael Blake, a former state assemblyman who also served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, will formally announce their cross-endorsement on Monday.

One of Mr. Blake’s main campaign ideas is eliminating credit scores for rent and homeownership applications. He has also highlighted his role at the White House during the Obama administration

Mr. Blake, who is the son of Jamaican immigrants, said he shared much in common with Mr. Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent.

Mamdani Reviving The Sanders Vibe
Luke Savage:

Among other political strengths, Mamdani possesses that ineffable ability to communicate social democratic policies in a manner that makes them sound like practical common sense. He is running on rent freezes, universal childcare, free bus service, the creation of a city-owned discount grocery store, and the new taxes on wealthy New Yorkers that will be necessary to finance them. Like Bernie Sanders, from whom Mamdani is clearly drawing inspiration, he is able to stay laser-focused on affordability issues without coming across as purely transactional or lacking in social vision.

I’m certainly no media determinist and think politics today is often too communications focused. But watching Mamdani’s much-discussed videos you can really see a deeper subtext of joy and possibility operating alongside a slickly-delivered message about better governance. I think one of the under-discussed elements of Sanders’ presidential campaigns was the extent to which they allowed people to glimpse the possibility of a better, less barren future while making it seem genuinely within reach. My own passionate support for Sanders was partly about the policies he was campaigning on. But it had as much to do with the democratic horizons he seemed able to open up, and the same can be said of Mamdani.

Cuomo Picks Up A Cross-Endorsement, Doesn’t Reciprocate

Via The NYT

Another candidate, Jessica Ramos, a state senator, endorsed Mr. Cuomo; he did not endorse her in return.

More IdPol in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary
Adam Johnson from In These Times:

(A recent NY Times article by Nicholas Fandos) included a typical grimy New York Times pot shot that’s worth further analysis, namely because it’s not the first — and likely won’t be the last — time the New York Times tries to sneak in this particular falsehood. It reads:

“Mr. Mamdani, for example, has alienated parts of the city’s large Jewish community with his outspoken support for the Palestinian cause and accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”

The reader would likely come away from reading this section with the distinct impression Mamdani is uniquely struggling with Jewish New York voters. ​“Parts” could mean anything, but clearly his support among Jewish New Yorkers must be a major barrier or else the publication wouldn’t have gone out of their way to note this, right? But there’s only one problem: It’s entirely false.

According to the latest poll of Jewish New Yorkers by Honan Strategy Group survey, and featured in Jewish magazine The Forward, Mamdani is in a strong second position in the race and is polling with Jewish New Yorkers roughly the same as his overall support. Indeed, relative to his overall numbers, among Jewish voters Mamdani is outperforming former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who the Times never says has ​“alienated” any part of the Jewish community.

Cuomo Pessimism
Ross Barkan at New York Magazine points out how much Cuomo is already damaged just by the race tightening:

But the real story is a tightening race — and one, if it narrows even further, that all but erases the best-case scenario for Cuomo’s comeback. (Disclosure: In 2018, when I ran for office, Mamdani was my campaign manager.) If polling trends are to be believed — and the anecdotal evidence of Mamdani’s surge translates to enough raw votes — Cuomo is not going to demolish Mamdani and the rest of the Democrats. The days of the 25-point polling leads are gone. If, for example, Cuomo’s own polling is accurate, this will have meant a former governor who ruled New York State with an iron fist for nearly 11 years will have struggled to defeat a 33-year-old state lawmaker who only entered office four years ago. Cuomo, bloodied, will have done this with the assistance of a $10 million super-PAC that swamped the airwaves for months.

Mandate talk will be dead. For Mayor Cuomo, there might not even be much of a honeymoon.

Cuomo Still Has One Friend in the 2025 New York Mayoral Primary
From Politico

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg was no fan of Andrew Cuomo when the two served overlapping tenures as mayor and governor. But on Friday all appeared forgiven, with Bloomberg’s $5 million donation to a super PAC boosting Cuomo’s mayoral bid.

It’s the largest cash infusion yet to the entity and comes in the final 10 days of the Democratic primary to oust Mayor Eric Adams, once a Bloomberg ally. The former mayor — a party hopscotcher who is now a Democrat — is jumping in as Cuomo faces a threat from democratic socialist challenger Zohran Mamdani, whose views on hiking taxes on the rich and criticisms of Israel are anathema to Bloomberg.

Cuomo’s Legal Jeopardy
Zephyr Teachout points out that Cuomo’s various legal issues makes him vulnerable to blackmail from Trump just like incumbent mayor Eric Adams:

Let me paint you a picture.

Donald Trump wants to engage in more of his terrifying ICE raids in NYC. Cuomo, who told us not to “overreact” to ICE abuses, is Mayor.

Trump threatens Cuomo with prosecuting him for lying to Congress, opening all the Covid books to the public.
He also has several more prosecutions in his pocket that are dangerous to Cuomo–all the Buffalo Billion retrials, that the Supreme Court just gave the green light to.

Cuomo softens his already soft stance on ICE, and opens the school doors.

We know Cuomo. He will absolutely make that deal. His own hide is the only thing that matters.

The notion that a disgraced Governor extremely exposed to federal prosecutions would be tough with Trump is ridiculous. Cuomo has a weak underbelly, a weak flank, a weak back, he’s all exposed, he’s all open for business.

Potential Ramifications of a Mamdani Win

Mamdani Co-Opts ‘Abundance’ Lingo, Splits the Team


The IDC: Cuomo’s Crypto-Republicans
For those who’ve forgotten how Cuomo functioned as governor, here’s the underhanded trick that especially sickened many people by Ross Barkan:

for nearly decade, Andrew Cuomo directly helped Republicans hold power in New York State.

Politico’s Blake Zeff would definitively report what all close watchers of New York government suspected for a long time: Cuomo actively encouraged the IDC to form a coalition to keep Republicans in power. “The governor’s interest, say knowledgeable sources, was ensuring that Republicans had control over the agenda in the Senate, so that he wouldn’t be handing over power to New York City Democrats,” Zeff reported.

Republicans would retain control of the State Senate from 2013 through 2018, despite the fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2:1 in New York. Their majority would span the Obama and Trump eras, aided by gerrymandered districts and their IDC alliance. Cuomo, meanwhile, would repeatedly refuse to actively campaign for or fund Senate Democrats. In 2014, the year he won re-election, he ended his campaign with more than $9 million in the bank as Republicans outspent Democrats to expand their majority. The IDC-GOP alliance would only end when progressive challengers ran primaries, unsanctioned by Cuomo who tried desperately to ward them off, against all the IDC members, defeating most of them.

It’s important to remember Senate Republicans, for much of their tenure, could not have kept their slim majority without the IDC’s help. Had the IDC partnered with Democrats in 2013, Republican rule in New York would have been history.

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48 comments

  1. Terry Flynn

    Those criticisms of ranked choice voting are right but for completely the wrong reasons.

    Ranked choice single member elections are usually better than FPTP. Full stop. That’s the best you can say about them. If in doubt check Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem and the math psych work by my late colleague Anthony Marley whose “side interest” during Tenure was the mathematics of various voting systems.

    In practice, ranked choice usually makes party 3 the kingmaker (no pun intended). As at least one of our on the ground Aussies (Rev Kev?) has said about Australian Labor and Albanese in particular, to paraphrase, WTF? Not remotely progressive party. Just like Labour in UK and Democrats in USA. Quit enabling the metaphorical alcoholic.

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    1. alrhundi

      Would you be able to point us to some information on your late colleague’s work? I’m having trouble finding it and am really interested.

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      1. Terry Flynn

        Pay walled but someone clever might be able to get around….. this was one of Tony’s last publications on voting but the bibliography might be fruitful place to move back towards his earlier work.

        https://www.jstor.org/stable/41108064

        I wrote an at the time ludicrous stylised example of how a 3 candidate race could give victory to 1 candidate under FPTP, another under ranked choice, and the third under best-worst voting. Then, just to prove real life is stupider than fiction, it happened! 2016 Iowa Democrat caucus. OK caucus not a proper primary election but the votes reproduced my “stupid” example. I have it saved (possibly private at moment) as a blog piece.

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    2. Lefty Godot

      In multi-candidate races, I think Approval Voting makes more sense than Ranked Choice. Easier to comprehend, basically just vote for every candidate you like (or can tolerate), and the person with the most votes wins. Simple. Gives third party candidates and independents a boost, since you’re not “wasting” your vote by giving them the okay along with the usual “lesser evil” candidate.

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      1. Terry Flynn

        Unfortunately Approval Voting result typically breaks down to give FPTP or at best ranked choice result in polarised societies like ours.

        However you raise a good point about how easy (or not) ranking is. I’ll do my best to give lay interpretation of why the mathematical requirements of ranking typically are not satisfied. The ranking model actually requires a voter to be equally certain about all ranking depths. Thus for 5 candidates they must be equally sure about their underlying preference for 1st rank, 2nd rank, 3rd rank, 4th rank & 5th rank. Neither I nor my two late collaborators ever found a study where this was tested and passed.

        The general rule of voting is that the more choices a voter has to make, the higher the bar to be crossed to ensure the empirical solution actually properly aggregates preferences with correct weights.

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    3. fjallstrom

      I think the Lowrey’s criticisms are silly. Not that you can’t have reasonable criticism of ranked choice voting, but her arguments are not serious, and boils down to it being unfamiliar and therefore can be scaremongered about.

      “Candidates who might have dropped out are staying in.” – How is it a democratic problem that voters instead of pollsters decide the election?

      “Candidates who might be attacking one another on their platforms or records are instead considering cross-endorsing.” – Why is it a democratic problem that candidates are highlighting commonlities with other candidates rather then taking out attack ads?

      “Voters used to choosing one contender are plotting out how to rank their choices.” – How is it a democratic problem that “wasted votes” is not a thing?

      Speaking of ranked choice, is that also used in the general? With Adams running as an independent and Cuomo having a ballot line for “Fight and deliver” (according to wikipedia), if Mamdani wins the primary there might be a crowded field in the general, in particular if Cuomo runs for “Fight and deliver”. And as you point out, the election system can have a large effect on who wins.

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      1. Terry Flynn

        Thanks for spotting all the weird criticisms, too. Though I pay a lot of attention to US politics (and have made public my piece about the Iowa 2016 debacle since upon reflection I don’t think it needs editing), I confess I don’t have enough knowledge about to what degree those 2 or 3 states that use it actually use it in the General.

        Therefore I have tried to stay in my lane and think about primaries (or caucuses where the percentages are good enough proxies for “if they’d done a primary”) when dissecting how US elections might have gone very differently under different electoral systems.

        Tony had triple nationality (born in UK, obtained US citizenship when poached by UPenn, then Canadian when really got into the big league at two Canadian universities) so things like voting probably got his interest naturally…..but because Tenure still required him to “do his day job”, he kept his voting stuff as a side interest, publishing sporadically. But he knew the maths of all these systems backwards…..discussions with him quite quickly could get into areas that were above my paygrade – my maths was good but not “theoretical physics type level good” ;-)

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  2. mrsyk

    Thank you for the roundup.
    I’d wager one reason the NYC dem establishment heads are exploding is because they don’t have a “fix” in place. Brad Lander is popular amongst the true blues. As noted, dem primary is closed (only registered dems can participate). Mamdani wins the primary.
    Cuomo will then adopt the Byron Brown strategy and hope to win the general as a write in. Maybe. Rubber stamps to be provided.
    Oh look. They say Bloomberg.

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      1. AG

        Yes, much appreciated.
        Sitting in the FRG this is “gold” knowledge on the subject.

        As Patrick Lawrence has pointed out often reporting from abroad is in a sharp decline.
        (His latest book just came out in German translation.)
        True not only for the American sphere but for Germany and I dare suggest all of Europe, too.

        In Germany this deterioration vis a vis USA however is of special significance due to that allegedly “special relationship” with the US. Eventually the public believes they know what is going on, but in truth, they frankly know shit.
        (Sorry but things ought to be called by their proper name especially when times are as dire as now.)
        This is extremely tricky with places such as NYC where one must assume every single German has visited at least once. In that case the contradictions between reality on the ground and fiction in the minds of Germans and their German media sources are especially noteworthy.

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  3. IMOR

    Perhaps this race is “the death kneel” of ranked choice voting, then? [See the Orejel ‘endorsement’ tweet above. Can’t decide whether to mock it or steal it.]

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  4. ambrit

    The money flow is revealing. Cuomo gets a lot of ‘private’ money for his campaign while Mamdani has mostly “public” money. Still, add it all together and so far I see over 31 million dollars budgeted for a City election! No wonder I’m not alone in the Cynics’ Bunker.
    Stay safe.

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  5. Pat

    I so love that Cuomo being driven out of office has been reduced to sexual harassment./s For those who weren’t paying attention the claims came only after he was drowning from the drip drip drip of information about his questionable and deadly handling of Covid and how corrupt so many of those decisions were. (Andy is the epitome smoke/fire adage, so much so it could almost be bonfire regarding corruption.) The sexual misconduct was clearly the lesser evil distraction and the fix was in from the beginning on it. Anyone who pays attention had to know that Letitia James was going to be clearing him of those charges. I am afraid that I am black humor impaired sometimes so that the seemingly endless commercials that lauded him and his leadership keeping NYers safe during the pandemic made me nauseous, and angry that they could count on short memories. Well except for Teachout apparently.

    Leaving that behind I can say as someone who lived through both Bloomberg and Cuomo, that the city (and state) are still suffering from the damage both inflicted on education and affordable housing. And not for nothing but DeBlasio was better than either of them or his successor on both of those issues. His biggest limitation came from Cuomo’s big foot. IOW liking Bill is never going to be a red flag for me. Liking either Andy or Mike on the other hand is a “warning, Will Robinson” imminent deadly attack moment.

    One of the best things that could happen for this country would be the extermination of Andrew Cuomo’s higher office chances. And while I know Cuomo ultimately aims for President, keeping him out of Congress is important as well. I don’t trust Mamdani, call it the AOC effect, but quite honestly I will be ranking him first. I might have considered Ramos but her endorsement of Cuomo also wiped her from possible ranking. I know it will be hard, but I will be praying that this voting style has enough elasticity to move Andrew Cuomo far down in the rankings as things play out.

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    1. Nat Wilson Turner

      Agree completely re Cuomo’s litany of scandals going far beyond sexual harassment I just didn’t have the time or space to find a comprehensive roundup of his nearly endless perfidy. I referenced it at the top because it was the proximate cause of his resignation.

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      1. Pat

        I’m sorry. My rant was never meant to be directed at you, but more at the Cuomo support team, including The NY Times. They have been burying the lead on his other greater problems with the harassment issues since that diversion was started. Your piece was about the state of the race and its importance, and I think you covered it very well.

        The fault lies not with you, but with the NY press and the other candidates… ;-)

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        1. Nat Wilson Turner Post author

          no worries at all. I was agreeing with you and apologizing for repeating the meme in my own small way. Cuomo is a Rahm Emanuel level criminal — which is why they’re the likely #1 and #2 for the 2028 Dem nomination!

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    2. mrsyk

      Yes! And for those newer to the site may recommend a site search for “ratface”? Cuomo is unfit for office.

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    3. nycTerrierist

      Agreed re: the ‘AOC effect’ – curbed my enthusiasm for Mamdani, tho of course
      I ranked him first. I’m a constituent and have had some good interactions with him
      and his team. But AOC — yikes — wish I could un-vote for her that one time.

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  6. Alice X

    Anyone but Cuomo? Almost exactly but (in my mind) Mamdani by a country mile. I’m in flyover and a ****ie to boot so who am I.
    Did anyone ever try to shame the NYT, only to find that they have no shame?

    If Mamdani were to win he might actually achieve some beneficial things for the NYC many, though of course in Amerika there are great headwinds. He won’t be a front runner for prez in 2028, he was born in Uganda, perhaps yet another reason the DemRats are aghast.

    Did Adams drop out? He should have.

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      1. Nat Wilson Turner

        You misread what I said. Coumo becomes an immediate presidential front runner if he wins. Mamdani becomes a “national figure” if he wins. Major difference.

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          1. ambrit

            Thanks. I did get confused.
            In the circles I interact with, “national figure” can also mean “Satrap of Idaho.”
            Is there any subliminal meaning to the fact that New York is known as the “Empire State?”
            Stay safe.

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            1. Nat Wilson Turner Post author

              I don’t know about subliminal but the coinage coincided with the construction of the Erie Canal in the early 1800s which connected the Great Lakes to the New York Harbor and ensured that NYC surpassed Philly as the dominant east coast port.

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              1. ambrit

                Ah. Back in the days when being an Empire was considered a good thing.
                Now, one could argue that Wall Street is the capitol of the American Financial Empire.
                I often forget that America is large enough to have distinct socio-economic regions.
                Be safe.

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    3. Pat

      Yes and no on Adams. He dropped out of the Democratic primary, but he plans on running as an independent in the general.

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  7. thoughtfulperson

    31milion per capita I suspect it’s not that high, and NYC, while a city, has way more people than say WY or AK.

    Of course, ideally, we’d not have any funding of politicians by anyone, and limits on what any candidate can spend.

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  8. mrsyk

    The video of him dressing down Cuomo is Mamdani’s first gift. I imagine that last part got to Andy, because I imagine he thinks he has good manners.
    Adams should leave politics for his true calling, playing the villain in Marvel themed Netflix adventures.

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  9. schmoe

    The fundraising chart is quite surprising since my YouTube ad feed is at least 20:1 Cuumo:Mamdani ads. The difference is likely due to recent large pto-Cuomo real estate sponsor donations. That said, the Cuomo ad blitz is being broken up by Netanyahoo ads as of today.

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    1. fjallstrom

      Social media ads are often sorted not just on geographics but aslo demographics. So it depends on what demographic the surveilliance algorithms place you in.

      Fun thing to try out: open a private browsing window in Firefox (or Chorme, or Edge, Safari or whatever you use). Go to Youtube, don’t sign in, find a video you have seen recently. See what ads and what recommended videos come when the system knows less about you.

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  10. Tim N

    So, in 2018 AOC “shocked the world and changed our politics”? I get you have to flatter her a bit, but wow, is he wrong. Anyway, who’s controlling the voting machines? That’s the question you want to ask. Remember that you’re dealing with a gang of ruthless NY right-wing Dems.

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    1. Yves Smith

      Um, did you miss this was from the guy she endorsed? Go back and see what machine Dems said about Harris. Or better yet, Thomas Frank in Listen, Liberal. Over the top praise has become normal, even expected.

      And her winning was a big deol. Our headline was: Earthquake in the Bronx: Ocasio-Cortez Beat 10 Term Establishment Dem Crowley in Primary.

      Shame she hasn’t done much with her new-found power.

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    2. Nat Wilson Turner Post author

      she not only won her own seat but organized an effort in the next cycle that wiped out Cuomo’s gang of crypto Republicans.
      She has stumbled many times since but came out of the gate strong.

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  11. timotheus

    The Mamdani canvassing teams are a sight to behold. I saw one near Astor Place on a weekday that had assembled 40 volunteers. He gains support steadily as people start to learn who he is. (Incidentally, I suspect Cuomo’s negative ads may be accidentally helping him by putting his face and name in front of low-info voters.) He is a gifted politician, quick on his feet, never gets rattled, and never hesitated to take a strong position on Palestine despite the cost (and personal warnings). He has accomplished a lot in just 4 years in the state assembly. His answer to the lack of experience accusation says it all.

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    1. Jonathan Holland Becnel

      I’m also very impressed.

      Since he’s a former campaign manager I’m assuming he’s ultimately in charge of this?

      Fuck, I wanna turn out 40 people to canvass on a weekday!

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  12. timotheus

    I agree that if Mamdani wins, Cuomo will be back running as an independent in November with a billion dollars of real estate-developer-Israel lobby money.

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  13. Michael Fiorillo

    I’m putting Mamdani somewhere among my top three choices, but have no illusions that, if elected and serious about implementing his program, he will not be allowed to govern. Recall how De Blasio, whose proposals were far less ambitious than Mamdani’s and who was elected at a seemingly more auspicious moment, was knee-capped – by Cuomo, the Post, the PBA, et al -from the moment he took office

    Mamdani seems to be a very nimble and attractive figure, but I’ve grown leery of shiny new objects/candidates who generate excitement but don’t deliver much of anything.

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  14. Safety First

    Couple of notes.

    1. I forget which recent poll I saw – Emerson? – of about 700 “likely democratic voters”, but they did a breakdown of support by demographics. In very brief: women, hispanics and african americans prever Cuomo over Mamdani; men, whites and asians Mamdani over Cuomo. I just found that split interesting for some reason.

    2. I have now seen several mailers Cuomo’s campaign is distributing to the voters in NYC. You know what the main pitch is, in big bold lettering? “Mamdani will raise your taxes,” end quote. It’s literally the old Republican playbook, “the liberal” will raise “your” taxes (because everyone in NYC makes a million a year, don’t you know). I just found that ironic.

    3. If the Democratic Party were a) competent and b) controlled by an evil cabal co-chaired by Mr. Burns, Eric Cartman and Edmund Blackadder, they surely would let Mamdani win, and then do everything possible to sabotage and invalidate his mayoralcy. You know, so that they could point to him and say – see, these “socialist” leftist pinko hippies cannot possibly govern, their ideas cannot possibly work, and so on.

    Clearly this is not the timeline we live in.

    4. I have a hard time believing that, notwithstanding what the polls say, Mamdani will be allowed to win out, in the end. Remember, this is the Democratic Party that “erased” ~120 thousand voters during the 2016 primary, handing New York to Clinton (and then a Republican election official got fired for the “mistake”), and that invalidated post-facto about 2 thousand pro-Tiffany Caban votes in the Queens DA race to hand the job to party hack with no legal experience of any kind, Melinda Katz. I usually scoff at election conspiracy theories and the like, but this has literally been a New York City thing for at least a decade now. And with a stupidly complicated ranked choice system, the possibilities for shenanigans multiply.

    5. To me, the biggest indicator of Cuomo trying to leverage this comeback run into “something” in 2028 – I doubt they’ll let him anywhere near the presidential candidate slot, especially with Newsom and the like in the mix, but maybe a veep or a cabinet member of some description – is that NOW on his campaign website, and in the last debate, he went hard on the Zionist angle. He formally calls now for adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, “curriculum reforms” in schools to address “antisemitic incidents”, cracking down on protesters, etc. That’s not a NYC issue to any stretch, in fact I would argue the city has one of the most significant concentrations of anti-zionist jewish voters anywhere in the US. That has to be a national aspirations nod, given where the Democratic Party is these days.

    Separately, I wonder about the following part of his platform: “Enforce state laws which allow people who appear to be incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs, and may be a danger to themselves or others, to be taken to treatment facilities for emergency services.” Has this guy walked by an average Manhattan bar in, say, Hell’s Kitchen, where I used to live for some number of years, at any time between 11 PM and 2 AM?? Sounds like an anti-homeless sweep using fancy words, if you ask me…

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  17. AG

    LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS

    Mayor of New York
    Christian Lorentzen
    26 June 2025
    https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n11/christian-lorentzen/mayor-of-new-york

    JACOBIN

    The New York Times Is Wrong on Zohran Mamdani
    There is so much off base in yesterday’s New York Times editorial on New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo. Let us count the ways.
    By Nick French
    06.17.2025
    https://jacobin.com/2025/06/new-york-times-mayoral-mamdani

    Reply ↓
    1. Nat Wilson Turner Post author

      dang it, I meant to use that Lorentzen piece from the LRB. thanks for linking to it.

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  18. Pat

    I realize this is a past thread but two things belong here.
    First Eric Adams is suing the election board because as an independent candidate he is only allowed on one ballot line in the general.

    Second is a frightening aspect of Cuomo’s massive robocalling campaign. I have been robocalled repeatedly by his campaign this week, and for the last few days I get the special “you haven’t voted, why haven’t you voted?” calls. Election Day is Tuesday, during early voting they should get vague numbers and nothing else. If I had unlimited funds I would be suing the election board myself, the Cuomo campaign has no business knowing whether I or any other voted has voted while voting is goin on. Afterwards it is ostensibly public record, during voting it shouldn’t be.

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    1. Nat Wilson Turner Post author

      I’ve never worked a NY election, but it’s commonplace in most states for who has early voted to be publicly available info, and to get daily updates.

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