cross-endorsing each other, Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander are attempting to use ranked choice voting as a tool against Andrew Cuomo. On Tuesday, Mamdani and Lander campaigned together and asked voters to leave Cuomo off the ballot.
“Goal number one, add our votes together to block Andrew Cuomo,” Lander said.
Lander also started using robocalls by Attorney General Letitia James and Jewish activist Ruth Messinger to urge voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots.
“So when you vote today, please rank five candidates for mayor. But do not make Andrew Cuomo one of them,” one call says.
On the other side, many voters reportedly ranked Cuomo first and left the rest of their ballots blank.
ranked choice voting to their advantage, Mamdani and Lander cross-endorsed each other by urging their biggest supporters to rank the other second.
Mamdani and Lander believe it can prevent Cuomo from winning and would have blocked Mayor Adams from winning the primary four years ago. Cuomo has consistently led in polling since entering the mayor’s race.
New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and NYC Comptroller and Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander speak with members of the press as they greet voters on Broadway on June 24, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
“Andrew Cuomo’s campaign is a house of cards. The two strongest progressive campaigns can topple him, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Mamdani said.
“I’m proud to cross-endorse Zohran, because of his strong commitment to a more affordable New York, and to stop the corrupt, morally bankrupt, unacceptable Andrew Cuomo from becoming mayor of a city he doesn’t even like,” Lander said.
Mamdani and Blake also have a cross-endorsement.
his independent campaign for reelection later in the week, offered a pox on the houses of all his opponents on Tuesday, including Republican Curtis Sliwa.
“All four of us should be defined by the word ‘record.’ One person doesn’t have a record, one person is running from their record, and I have a record,” Adams said, referring to Mamdani and Cuomo. “Curtis does a good job with cats, but he doesn’t do a good job in making sure our city is functioning.”
The mayor was asked who he voted for. He said he put “Eric Adams” on every line.
reminds her of two recent Democratic congressional primary races.
First, there was then-unknown Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the insurgent, defeating long-time Rep. Joe Crowley in a stunning upset back in 2018. The other happened last year when then-Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a moderate, defeated Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who was at the time one of the most progressive lawmakers in Congress.
Kramer says the question on Election Day is if Mamdani will become this season’s AOC, or if Cuomo will show that a moderate voice is what New York City voters really want.
No matter how it plays out, a winner won’t be known for several days. The New York City Board of Elections has to wait until the absentee and affidavit ballots are in.
The standard wisdom is that if Cuomo is ahead by 10 points or more, he will prevail. However, if he is ahead by five points or less, Mamdani has a leg up.
What’s unclear is whether the campaign waged by Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander to not rank Cuomo will have an impact. Kramer says a lot of people “bullet voted,” meaning they did not use rank choice voting, opting instead to vote for only one candidate. That candidate, Kramer reported, was Cuomo.
NYC Board of Elections.
Here’s the breakdown by borough:
Manhattan: 122,642
Bronx: 30,816
Brooklyn: 142,735
Queens: 75,778
Staten Island: 12,367
Total: 384,338 (unofficial)
Early voting went from June 14-22.
went out to vote Tuesday morning and afternoon, even as temperatures reached 100 degrees in the city.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order days before the election ensuring people waiting in line to vote can receive water and other refreshments.
It was historically hot across the Tri-State Area. Kennedy Airport hit 100 degrees for the first time since 2013 and Newark Airport reached 103 degrees, a new record for June.
Mamdani defeating him.
The Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll released Monday had the two leading candidates neck and neck, with Mamdani ultimately winning the ranked choice voting simulation after eight rounds.
Lander was the only other candidate with double digit support in the first round in the poll.
To read more, click here.
Click here for more about the top candidates.
Click here to use the NYC Board of Elections tool and find your polling place.
You need to be in line by 9 p.m. to vote.
Vote pens are seen during the New York Primary elections at the Brooklyn Museum on June 17, 2025 in the Prospect Heights neighborhood.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank candidates from their first choice to their fifth. Advocates of ranked choice voting say it gives more diverse candidates a chance in competitive races.
Voters can rank up to five candidates, but they’re not required to. Ranking just one, two, three or four candidates is fine.
When votes are tabulated, all first-choice votes are counted initially. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, they win. If no candidate receives more than 50%, the counting continues in rounds until there is a winner.
At the end of each round without a winner, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Anyone who voted for that candidate will have their next choice counted in the following round. That means your second choice is only counted if your first is eliminated. If your first and second choices get eliminated, your third choice is counted, and so on.
A voting sign is seen during the New York Primary elections at the Brooklyn Museum on June 17, 2025 in the Prospect Heights neighborhood.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
This process can continue until only two candidates are left. At that point, the one with the most votes wins.
This is the city’s second mayoral primary election with ranked choice voting. Mayor Adams won the 2021 Democratic primary after several rounds.
Ranked choice will not be used in the November general election, where a simple majority is needed to win.
