New Yorkers cast their ballots in critical Democratic primary for mayor

New York: After months of campaigning, caustic debates and a deluge of attack ads, the consequential Democratic primary for mayor of New York City is coming to a close Tuesday with one final sprint to turn out voters out in blistering heat.

The primary has narrowed into a two-man contest between Andrew Cuomo, the state's scandal-plagued former governor, and Zohran Mamdani, an Assembly member and democratic socialist with a short track record. A crowded field of nine others is trailing behind. Polls suggest the outcome is a toss-up.

By Tuesday night, the city is certain to know which candidate is in the lead. But because New Yorkers will be voting under a ranked-choice system, unless one candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes outright, the final result will not be determined until July 1. That is when voters' backup choices are scheduled to be tabulated.

Whoever prevails will become the front-runner in the general election to lead a city at an inflection point. New York is confronting a cost-of-living crisis and President Donald Trump's increasingly aggressive tactics to impose his agenda on immigration and transportation, issues that dominated the race.

The primary contest has been one of New York City's most chaotic in recent years. It effectively began in the fall with the federal corruption indictment of the current mayor, Eric Adams, a Democrat. The Trump administration later dropped the charges, but Adams opted out of the primary to run for reelection as an independent.

Since then, Cuomo began a comeback attempt four years after resigning as governor in a sexual harassment scandal; Mamdani, 33, emerged from near obscurity to become a breakout star; and, just last week, another leading candidate, City Comptroller Brad Lander, 55, was arrested by federal agents at an immigration courthouse in lower Manhattan.

All the campaigns were confronting temperatures expected to top out around 100 degrees Tuesday.

Mamdani began crisscrossing the city, starting at dawn, and appeared alongside Lander on the Upper West Side, saying, "this kind of collaboration, this kind of sincerity, this could be the tonic to the politics of the Trump administration."

Cuomo cast a ballot for himself on the East Side of Manhattan but otherwise had not announced any public appearances. On a private call Monday night with a major union supporting him, Cuomo issued an uncharacteristically urgent plea to one of the largest unions backing him to "please, please, please make a special effort" to turn out voters.

-- Final days: The contest was especially fierce in the final days. Cuomo, 67, who has campaigned far less than his opponents, is relying on labor unions and a record-setting super political action committee burying voters in anti-Mamdani ads to push him across the finish line. Mamdani has amassed tens of thousands of mostly young volunteers and linked arms with fellow progressive candidates including Lander in an eleventh-hour bid to stop Cuomo's return.

-- Who's running for mayor: The wide field of candidates includes Cuomo; Mamdani; Lander; Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker; Scott Stringer, a former comptroller; state Sen. Zellnor Myrie; former Assembly member Michael Blake; and financier Whitney Tilson, among others.

-- What else is on the ballot: New York Democrats will also be voting in a competitive primary to replace Lander as comptroller, a contested primary for public advocate and a smattering of key City Council races. Republicans do not have a mayoral primary this year; Curtis Sliwa, their 2021 nominee, will reprise that role in the fall. Republicans will select a nominee for comptroller.

-- A question of turnout: By noon, just over 600,000 New Yorkers had voted across the city on Election Day and during an early voting period, the Board of Elections said. More than 380,000 votes were cast before Tuesday, a significant increase over early voting in 2021, especially among younger voters, who polls show favor Mamdani. Cuomo has been counting on stronger Election Day turnout among his supporters, who skew older. Thousands more mail-in ballots have yet to be counted.

-- What do I need to know about voting today? Polls will be open across the city until 9 p.m.