Andrew Cuomo concedes as Zohran Mamdani wins NYC Democratic mayoral primary in stunning upset
Former Gov.Andrew Cuomo shockingly conceded the Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday night as dark-horse socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani surged to overtake the longtime frontrunner.“Tonight is his night.
He deserved it, he won,” a seemingly shell-shocked Cuomo, 67, said of the 33-year-old Queens assemblyman.In a stunning upset, Mamdani defied polls and expectations as he notched a likely insurmountable 7-point lead over Cuomo, who hoped to make a political comeback after resigning in disgrace in 2021.The first round of the ranked-choice voting contest had Mamdani ahead with 43.53% of votes, followed by Cuomo’s 36.3% and City Comptroller Brad Lander’s 11.41%, Board of Elections unofficial results show.Mamdani carried roughly 424,000 votes to Cuomo’s 354,000, the results show.The state lawmaker — elected in 2021 after a couple of stints on other local political campaigns — didn’t crack 50% of votes, so the contest will still be decided July 1 once the other rounds of ranked-choice votes are calculated.But the first-round totals still put the avowed Democratic socialist within sight of becoming New York City’s next mayor.Cuomo conceded he lost the primary as he addressed his campaign’s watch party — and signaled he may not run in the November general election on an independent line, as widely assumed.“Tonight was not our night,” Cuomo said, as he praised Mamdani’s grassroots campaign, which mobilized young, far-left voters with catchy campaign promises and slogans focusing on affordability.“It’s affordability, stupid,” quipped longtime New York City political operative Kevin McCabe, in a reference to Bill Clinton, about the issue that decided the race.A win by Mamdani is bound to have sweeping impacts beyond the Big Apple and signal the rising power of the Democrats’ progressive wing, especially over aging party stalwarts such as Cuomo.His near-insurmountable lead hints he could be replicating what his backer and fellow progressive...