Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, who was ousted four years ago and replaced by former Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul after 11 women accused him of sexual misconduct, has been the front-runner. In the final days before the primary, however, he has faced a sudden surge from far less well-known challengers. Because of New York’s leftward tilt, the primary winner typically emerges as the heavy favorite in the fall general election.
Chief among the upstarts is Zohran Mamdani, a two-term state Assemblyman from Queens who has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The 33-year-old Democratic Socialist has seen his message resonate widely due to his digital savvy and sophisticated social media approach. Cuomo, the son of late New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and brother of NewsNation host and former CNN personality Chris Cuomo, is backed by established political figures like President Bill Clinton. Mamdani, though, has gained notable traction in entertainment circles, perhaps in no small part because he is the son of filmmaker Mira Nair, of Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding fame.
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While polls have indicated Cuomo has long enjoyed double-digit advantages over his rivals, a new one issued over the weekend by Emerson College, WPIX-TV and The Hill gave the edge to Mamdani. The polls have had to not only try to gauge the sentiment of the electorate, but also the impact of New York’s ranked-choice voting system. The Oscar-esque setup could result in a multi-day process to determine the winner.
In recent days, Mamdani has been under pressure connected to his support of Palestine and criticism of Israel. Mamdani was asked during a podcast interview about the phrase “globalize the intifada” and said it meant “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” The response prompted a wave of condemnation. New York has about 1.4 million Jewish residents, or about 12% of the total population, making it the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.
Other notable contenders include the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, who gained national attention earlier this month when he was arrested by ICE officials at a federal immigration court in Lower Manhattan. Adrienne Adams, the current City Council speaker (and no relation to Mayor Eric Adams), has won support with a fairly straightforward campaign based on her depth of experience in city government.
Mayor Adams, meanwhile, has announced he is skipping the primary and running in the fall election as an independent. The former Brooklyn borough president and police officer has been tarnished by numerous scandals. The biggest saw him indicted last fall by the Department of Justice and charged with conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud and other alleged crimes stemming from donations Adams collected from Turkish nationals. A new Turkish consulate building was undergoing review by city inspectors at the time of the gifts.
After the charges were brought by former President Joe Biden’s DOJ, a reconstituted department under Donald Trump decided to drop the charges earlier this year. The abrupt change came after the parties reportedly struck a deal with Adams to commit city resources to the Trump Administration’s immigration policy enforcement efforts. Adams has denied a quid pro quo. A federal judge last spring dismissed the case with prejudice. “Everything here smacks of a bargain,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
Adams was the first mayor in the city’s history to be criminally charged while in office. Hochul declined to exercise her right to remove him, but even after that stay Adams has entered a kind of limbo state, with city officials and residents alike eagerly looking forward to New Year’s Eve, when the next mayor will be sworn in at midnight. Depending on how things turn out, Hochul could find herself trying to manage the famously fraught city-state relationship between the mayor and governor with the man she succeeded after his historic fall from grace.
