(NewsNation) — NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ has called the New York City mayoral race in favor of Zohran Mamdani.
The high-profile, three-way contest featured Democratic Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — running as an independent — and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, entered Tuesday’s election as the favorite to succeed Mayor Eric Adams after winning the Democratic primary over the summer.
Adams, who won in 2021 as a moderate, tough-on-crime Democrat, ended his reelection campaign in September after his chances of winning dimmed.
The outgoing mayor later endorsed Cuomo, in a race that came to symbolize a divided Democratic Party still searching for its identity in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.
Mamdani represented the party’s progressive wing, running on a cost-of-living platform that promised sweeping structural changes to help working-class New Yorkers.
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He vowed to freeze rents on stabilized apartments and provide free, universal child care. He also wants to create city-owned grocery stores to rein in food costs and hike taxes on the wealthiest 1%.
Critics cast Mamdani as an idealistic and inexperienced agitator — someone unlikely to deliver on his most ambitious promises and ill-equipped to oversee the nation’s largest police force and public school system. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman warned Mamdani’s policies would “kill NYC jobs” and “cause companies to flee.” Mamdani also faced scrutiny for earlier calls to defund the police — a position he has since walked back.
Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, positioned himself as a practical moderate with experience managing the challenges that come with leading the nation’s largest city.
The 67-year-old served as New York governor from 2011 to 2021 before resigning amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations. His mayoral bid marked a return to politics — this time, as an underdog.
Cuomo made public safety the centerpiece of his campaign, pledging to add 5,000 new police officers to the force and boost patrols across the city’s subway system. He pushed for a collaborative, rather than combative, relationship with the city’s business community and opposed Mamdani’s proposed tax increases.
But for many, Cuomo’s decades in public life — and the controversies surrounding his final years as governor — made him synonymous with the Democratic Party’s establishment, a legacy, business-as-usual candidate in contrast to Mamdani’s outsider status. He earned 36.4% of the vote in the Democratic primary to Mamdani’s 43.5%.
Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and the GOP nominee for the second consecutive election, was considered a long shot in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 6 to 1.
Still, Sliwa was seen as a potential spoiler, capable of dividing the anti-Mamdani vote, thus propelling the progressive to victory. Sliwa refused to drop out even as Trump suggested he would not win.
Mamdani earned endorsements from prominent Democrats on the party’s left flank, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also backed Mamdani.
In addition to Adams, Cuomo picked up endorsements from former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi and former New York Gov. David Paterson.
Sliwa had the support of Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
