By Victoria Albert

Zohran Mamdani cemented his win over Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, notching a 12-point victory in ranked-choice voting results released Tuesday.

Mamdani prevailed in the third round of the city's ranked-choice voting system, according to unofficial results from the city's board of elections. His victory vastly outpaced pre-election forecasts that he and Cuomo would battle it out until the eighth and final round. He wrapped the third round with 56% of the vote to Cuomo's 44%.

The elections board has not yet certified the results, but the unofficial tally solidifies what has been widely expected since last week's election: a dominant victory over Cuomo. The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman stunned the party's aging establishment last Tuesday by charging ahead of Cuomo in unofficial initial results, racking up a seven-point lead. Cuomo, 67, conceded less than two hours after polls closed.

Under the city's ranked-choice system, voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference. A candidate must get more than 50% support to win. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to voters' second choices.

In this instance, all but Mamdani and Cuomo were eliminated in the third round in a process called batch elimination, which allows for the quick removal of candidates whose victory is not mathematically possible.

Mamdani, a self-described socialist, campaigned on a simple message: affordability. He pledged to make city buses free, invest $70 billion in subsidized housing and freeze the rents on rent-stabilized apartments. A strong grassroots ground game and buzzy social-media presence helped propel the previously little-known assemblyman to victory, political observers said.

Cuomo, a moderate, said he would make subways safer and hire more police officers.

It's not yet clear whether Cuomo will return for the general election in November, which will include Mamdani, Republican Curtis Sliwa, independent Jim Walden and current mayor Eric Adams. Cuomo has the option to do so under his Fight and Deliver party line, though strategists have said it will be hard for him to secure backing after suffering such a defining loss.

Write to Victoria Albert at victoria.albert@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 01, 2025 12:42 ET (16:42 GMT)

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