Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll analyze Zohran Mamdani’s upset in the Democratic primary and whether his progressive message will resonate beyond New York.
The results are not official. Not yet. Under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, the Board of Elections still has to do elimination-round tabulations. But Zohran Mamdani’s all-but-certain upset reshaped the political landscape locally and perhaps nationally.
How did he do it? Mamdani, a democratic socialist, ran up large vote tallies in gentrifying neighborhoods. But he also did well in brownstone-lined blocks of Brooklyn, on diverse blocks in Upper Manhattan and in neighborhoods with substantial South Asian populations in Queens. His apparent defeat of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had led in many polls since he entered the race in March, showed why it’s hard to poll before a primary.
The aftermath? Cuomo told The New York Times shortly after his concession speech that he was still considering whether to run in November as an independent. He told WCBS-TV on Wednesday that before making a decision, he would take a hard look and see “what President Trump is going to do. Who knows how he would choose to get involved.”
The national implications of a local election
“It’s a national election, not just a New York City election,” the Democratic strategist James Carville said.
Can a progressive message resonate nationally, as Mamdani’s did in New York?
Democrats appeared to be divided on what to make of Mamdani. Some saw his success in emphasizing affordability as a blueprint for a party struggling to find its way. That focused attention on whether moderate Democrats would line up behind a left-wing candidate in November. Here, too, Carville put it crisply: “Everybody will have to weigh in one way or another. Everybody is going to be asked, do they support him?”
And so the endorsements began, and with them, a sense that Democrats were adjusting to a tectonic shift that had delivered another shock to a party still wobbling after the 2025 elections. Representative Jerrold Nadler endorsed Mamdani. That could help Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor if he wins in November, bring Jewish voters into his coalition. He has countered repeated attacks about his criticism of Israel by promising to protect Jewish New Yorkers and increase funding to address hate crimes.
Cuomo — who had been considered the front-runner almost as soon as he entered the race in March, five months after Mamdani announced his candidacy — had racked up endorsements from former President Bill Clinton and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Cuomo also had near-universal name recognition in New York, and money. Bloomberg gave $8 million to a super PAC that supported him.
One Democrat who did not endorse anyone in the primary was the House minority leader, Representative Hakeem Jefferies of Brooklyn. He said on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC that Mamdani had “clearly outworked, out-organized and out-communicated the opposition.”
“And when someone is successful in being able to do all three things at the same time,” Jefferies said, “it’s usually going to work out for them.”
Jefferies’s opposite number in the Senate, Charles Schumer, did not endorse Mamdani or commit to campaigning with him but said that they would meet soon. “He ran an impressive campaign that connected with New Yorkers about affordability, fairness, & opportunity,” he said on social media.
Generational change?
Cuomo’s campaign followed a so-called rose garden strategy that held his appearances to orchestrated events. Mamdani, by contrast, seemed to be everywhere. And it became clear on Tuesday that he had generated excitement, especially among young voters, a segment that Democratic leaders desperately want to mobilize.
Mamdani told my colleague Emma G. Fitzsimmons that he had not anticipated “the scale of support that we saw, and yet it is a reflection of a hunger across New York City — across neighborhoods that are described as progressive and ones that are not — for a different kind of politics and for a new generation of leadership.”
To some, Mamdani’s success recalled generational change of the kind that Andrew Cuomo’s father, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, referenced when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 1992, the convention that nominated Bill Clinton. He called Clinton “a new voice for a new America.”
Andrew Cuomo was 34 then, one year older than Mamdani is now. Mario Cuomo was 60 in 1992, seven years younger than his son is now.
Mamdani was unabashedly New York-centric during his campaign. He posted videos of himself running into the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island in January. And, with early voting underway in the primary, he posted a video on TikTok that began with him announcing “I just voted.”
Then, after a knowing pause: “For me.”
What about Adams?
Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, is getting the opponents he had hoped for — Mamdani, assuming the ranked-choice tabulations go as expected, and Curtis Sliwa as the Republican candidate. The mayor “may be down — way down,” my colleague Nicholas Fandos writes, “but Adams insists he is not on his way out.”
An email from his campaign said he would make “a major announcement about the future of his re-election campaign” today. What he says won’t be a surprise: The email was headed “Mayor Adams to Formally Announce.” He has gathered petitions to run on one of two ballot lines, EndAntiSemitism and Safe&Affordable, and his allies believe that he can reconstitute elements of the coalition that he assembled to win four years ago.
Weather
Temperatures are expected to fall today, with a high of 83, amid mostly cloudy conditions and possible showers and thunderstorms. Tonight, cloudy conditions continue with a low around 64 and a chance of rain or thunderstorms.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until the Fourth of July.
The latest Metro news
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A not-guilty plea: Representative LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, pleaded not guilty to assaulting federal agents at a migrant detention center in Newark. McIver, who has publicly opposed Trump’s immigration policies, is among several public officials charged in altercations with ICE agents.
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A graduate who wasn’t there: Dylan Lopez Contreras was arrested by the immigration authorities and taken to a detention center in Pennsylvania. He was remembered during the commencement for the Ellis Preparatory Academy, a Bronx high school dedicated to recently arrived immigrants.
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A hall made for art: A festival aimed at breaking down cultural, physical and ideological barriers will debut in Brooklyn this fall. Powerhouse: International will feature artists from different disciplines worldwide, to reintroduce international artistry into the city and complement the work of local organizations.
Other primary news
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Brannan concedes to Levine: In the race for New York City comptroller, Mark Levine, declared victory after Justin Brannan conceded. Levine will face Peter Kefalas, the Republican candidate, in November.
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Fourth in a field of five: Former Representative Anthony Weiner’s comeback attempt faltered. With 85 percent of the votes counted, Weiner trailed three other candidates in a contest for a City Council seat in Manhattan.
METROPOLITAN diary
Gardening at night
Dear Diary:
My first solo apartment in Manhattan was a tiny place on Avenue A. I used a hot plate because there was no kitchen. The bathtub was in the living room, and my sofa pressed up against a huge, 1920s-style sink.
A tank near the ceiling had a dangling chain that was pulled to flush the toilet. The bathroom had no door. The floor was slanted. But the rent, in 1990, was $358.
When my parents came to help me settle in, there was an unsightly plastic bag snagged on a tree branch outside the window. My father repeatedly threw rocks at it from the fire escape, and we cheered when he finally got it down.
My mother planted a patch of impatiens to brighten the drab dirt lot a few flights below. I picked up trash from the hard, weed-filled ground. A few weeks later, on a lark, I bought some seeds and sowed rows of nicotiana and radishes.
One night, I saw a man from another building drenching my plants with a hose.
“Hey,” I yelled down. “Don’t water my plants! Getting watered in the dark is bad for them!”
He looked up.
“What do you think happens when it rains at night?” he bellowed.
— Margaret Bowen
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.
Davaughnia Wilson and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
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James Barron writes the New York Today newsletter, a morning roundup of what’s happening in the city.
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