BY ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
NEW YORK (AP) — Zohran Mamdani has claimed victory over a wounded, but still formidable former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
Now he faces an equally tough task: Defeating Mayor Eric Adams and a Republican opponent — and maybe even Cuomo again — in the general election, while fending off critics who argue the 33-year-old democratic socialist is too far to the left.
While the results have yet to be finalized, Mamdani had a commanding lead that will be exceedingly difficult for Cuomo to overcome when the vote count resumes July 1 in New York City’s ranked choice voting system.
Mamdani’s likely win was a political lightning bolt — partly because of the stunning upset of New York’s once all-powerful former governor, but also for the signals it sent about what kind of leader Democrats are gravitating toward following the party’s bruising loss to Republican President Donald Trump last year.
But Mamdani still has a ways to go.
In a normal New York City election year, the winner of the Democratic primary might be all but assured to sail through the general election and become the next mayor. But this is not a normal election year.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is a Democrat, pulled out of the primary to instead run as an independent in the general election, a decision he made after it was clear the public uproar over his now-dismissed federal corruption case had severely damaged his chances of winning the party’s nomination.
Adams had not done much campaigning, but now appears eager to take on Mamdani, who is still relatively new to politics, having served in the state Assembly only since 2021.
“What NYC deserves is a mayor who’s proud to run on his record — not one who ran from his record, or one who has no record,” Adams said in a statement. “We deserve a mayor who will keep driving down crime, support our police, fight antisemitism, and stand up for working-class New Yorkers.”
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