In July, Jim Walden, an independent candidate for mayor of New York City, announced a proposal that he said would help defeat Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and front-runner. A poll should be taken to determine which of Mr. Mamdani’s opponents has the best chance of beating him, Mr. Walden said, and everyone else should drop out.
Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who was in second place, backed the plan. Mr. Walden, after continuing to poll far behind the other candidates, followed through last week, suspending his campaign and seeking to have his name removed from the November ballot.
But it’s not that simple. At a city Board of Elections meeting on Tuesday, the board told Mr. Walden that his request came too late, and his name would still appear. On Thursday, a state judge affirmed the board’s decision. That all but ensures that even if other candidates were to stop campaigning, their names would stay on the ballot, too, and votes for them would still count.
Business leaders and advisers to President Trump have recently discussed ways to consolidate support behind Mr. Cuomo, possibly by finding jobs for Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate. (Mr. Adams has privately expressed openness to such an offer, while Mr. Sliwa has vowed to stay in the race.) Here’s what to know about what might happen if any of them decided to quit.
Why did the Board of Elections say Mr. Walden had to remain on the ballot?
Mr. Walden told the board’s commissioners that he had the right to decide not to run for mayor, and that he didn’t want to confuse voters with a fifth candidate on an already crowded ballot.
But the commissioners told him they could not accept his resignation. Any independent candidates wishing to decline a ballot line faced a strict deadline, which is long past — May 30, or three days after the last day to file a nominating petition for candidacy. The election board is an administrative board, not a legal authority, and the commissioners said they would follow the deadlines put forth by election law.
Is the decision final?
It appears so. Mr. Walden, who is a lawyer, filed an emergency petition in court on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning, he appeared before a State Supreme Court justice in Manhattan, calling the board’s rejection “arbitrary and capricious.”
On Thursday afternoon, the judge, Jeffrey H. Pearlman, rejected that argument and issued a decision in the board’s favor, writing that the court “only has the authority to review whether the Board of Elections enforced the law reasonably, not whether the law itself is reasonable.”
Justice Pearlman determined that the board had “followed the law precisely as written,” and dismissed Mr. Walden’s case.
Even if Mr. Walden had succeeded, it would have been virtually impossible to make changes to the ballots, which were set to be finalized on Thursday.
Is there any way a candidate could be removed from the ballot?
It would be very difficult. After the deadline, only three legal circumstances would allow for a candidate’s removal: death, nomination for a judicial position or a move out of the city. And even if a candidate was officially removed, that person’s name would most likely still appear on the ballot, although votes for them wouldn’t be counted.
The process is slightly different for party-affiliated candidates like Mr. Sliwa. The Republican Party could choose to replace him with another candidate, but at this point in the race, such a change seems unlikely.
What are the implications for the race?
If both Mr. Adams and Mr. Sliwa dropped out, the race could become much closer. On Tuesday, a New York Times/Siena University poll showed Mr. Mamdani with a 22-point lead over Mr. Cuomo in the current four-way contest. But if votes were split only between Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Mamdani would be ahead by only four percentage points, the poll suggested. (Given Mr. Adams’s relatively low level of support, if only he dropped out, Mr. Mamdani would most likely maintain a comfortable lead.)
Legal experts said, though, that even if a candidate announced his withdrawal from the race, some of his supporters would be likely to vote for him anyway as long as his name remained on the ballot.
“Candidates whose names are on the ballot after they have dropped out usually get some votes,” said Jerry Goldfeder, an election law expert. But, he added, “I can’t think of an example when it’s made any difference whatsoever.”
Mr. Goldfeder noted that in 2002, Mr. Cuomo withdrew from the Democratic primary for governor of New York a week before the election. His name stayed on the ballot, and he received about 15 percent of the vote. And in this year’s Democratic mayoral primary, Jessica Ramos, a state senator, effectively dropped out by announcing she would endorse Mr. Cuomo, but remained on the ballot. She received 0.4 percent of the vote.
Tim Balk contributed reporting.
Taylor Robinson is a Times reporter covering the New York City metro area.
The post He Dropped Out of the Mayor’s Race. His Name Is Still on the Ballot. appeared first on New York Times.
