“On to Victory”: A Stunning Upset Rocks New York — Supporters Can’t Contain Their Joy

New York City woke to a “political earthquake” this morning as progressive residents celebrated the apparent victory of the 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani over his political establishment rival Andrew Cuomo for the Democrat mayoral nomination.

Supporters poured in to offer their well-wishes after the news broke that Mamdani, the self-described democratic socialist who if elected would become New York’s first Muslim mayor, was on track to win the city’s Democratic primary on Tuesday night.

Although it could still be several days before the final result is known, Mamdani nabbed more than 43.5% of the vote with 93% of the votes counted while his biggest competitor, Cuomo, the former New York governor and previous favorite, was at 36.4%.

Mamdani declared victory late on Tuesday, telling supporters “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”

Cuomo, who had been the frontrunner throughout a race that was his comeback bid after a sexual harassment scandal forced him from the governor’s office in 2021, conceded the election.

“Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won,” Cuomo told supporters, and addressed the possibility that he might run as an independent in November’s election: “We are going to take a look and make some decisions.”

Mandami’s win over a candidate with far greater name recognition and deeper pockets, evokes the win of representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against longtime Democratic incumbent Joseph Crowley of New York in 2018.

Ocasio-Cortez heartily congratulated Mamdani on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday night.

“Your dedication to an affordable, welcoming, and safe New York City where working families can have a shot has inspired people across the city. Billionaires and lobbyists poured millions against you and our public finance system. And you won,” she wrote.

“This is the biggest upset in modern New York City history,” Trip Yang, a Democratic consultant, told the New York Times. Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York state Democratic party, told the New York Post it was “an important moment in political history”.

“It’s a political earthquake,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist University Institute for Public Opinion, told the Post. “An unknown defeating Andrew Cuomo is a changing of the guard. More Democratic voters are younger, and their views have to be taken into account.”

Both outlets had warned against Mamdani in editorials ahead of the primary. On Wednesday, the conservative-leaning Post printed an edition with the headline: “NYC SOS. Who will save city after radical socialist batters Cuomo in Dem mayoral primary?”.

Most reaction centered on the sense of generational change, with Mamdani vowing to bring “a politics of the future, and that means a politics of collaboration, a politics of sincerity, and a politics of principle”.

Democrat strategist Hank Sheinkopf told Spectrum News “there’s a demographic shift going on in the city that is very, very significant” and younger voters felt that they had not had their say in national elections in November.

“Had they had their choices in the last election they would have opted not for Kamala Harris but for Bernie Sanders,” Sheinkopf said. “He’s not young, but he represents a point of view that young people are interested in hearing.”

“What we proved tonight is that organized people can beat organized money,” Working Families party co-director Jasmine Gripper at Mamdani’s celebration party, told City & State.

Map of voting patterns appeared to bear out that trend. Mamdani voters carried upper and lower Manhattan, and parts of Brooklyn like Williamsburg. Cuomo carried wealthier areas like the upper east and west side of Manhattan and the outer edges of Brooklyn and Queens.

Fellow democratic socialist and senator Bernie Sanders congratulated Mamdani’s “thousands of grassroots supporters for their extraordinary campaign. You took on the political, economic and media Establishment- and you beat them. Now it’s on to victory in the general election.”

Brad Lander, one of Mamdani and Cuomo’s competitors and New York City’s comptroller, notably cross-endorsed Mamdani earlier this month in a now-viral, upbeat joint campaign to rank one another; Lander’s post about Mamdani leading echoed that initial message: “Hope and solidarity won tonight, and will win again in November.”

The current mayor, Eric Adams, who said he will run as an independent candidate in November after failing to mount a Democrat primary challenge while being mired in a fundraising scandal, posted on X after Mamdani declared victory:

“This is it. The fight for New York’s future begins tonight. Join us–knock doors, make calls, chip in. We’re continuing to build a city that works for everyone. And we are not turning back.”

Adams later blasted Mamdani, telling Fox News he was a “snake oil salesman” who “was saying anything to get elected” and had run on a platform of promises he won’t be able to keep, including raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers.