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Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander are cross-endorsing in race for New York City mayor
NEW YORK — After months of Andrew Cuomo topping the New York City mayor's race while the organized left scrambled, progressive candidates are finally using ranked-choice voting to fight back. Whether there's enough time to capitalize on Cuomo's negatives remains to be seen — he continues to dominate most polls and is funded by a multimillion-dollar super PAC, with just 11 days until the Democratic primary. Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, the highest-ranking progressive candidates in the race, endorsed each other Friday, one day after the final Democratic primary debate during which both attacked Cuomo. The former governor saved most of his fire for Mamdani, who is nipping at his heels in the final stretch of the race. In backing each other, the two candidates each urged his supporters to rank the other second as they seek every advantage before early voting begins Saturday. And it comes as the Working Families Party encourages its other endorsed candidates to formally combine forces — something the campaigns have avoided until now. 'Today's cross-endorsement is probably the most impactful,' Ana María Archila, New York Working Families Party co-director, told POLITICO in an interview Friday. She sidestepped criticism of two other party-backed candidates — state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — for not joining in the cross-endorsement. 'I know that Zellnor really cares about how to guide his voters. I know that the speaker really cares about how to guide her voters,' Archila said. 'It's really a candidate-to-candidate conversation, and because of that, it's very particular to the dynamics between the candidates.' When asked about the possibility of a cross-endorsement, Adams told PIX11 News this week, 'I am still considering all of the options available.' Cuomo, until recently appeared locked in a two-person race with Mamdani, a democratic socialist state lawmaker. But Lander, the city comptroller, had a good week with a strong debate performance. An internal poll conducted by the Working Families Party showed a majority of respondents said an endorsement from their first-choice candidate would greatly impact who they rank second. The party endorsed a four-person slate in March, and placed Mamdani first, Adams second, Lander third and Myrie fourth two weeks ago. The process of getting candidates to more formally support each other has been tortured ahead of the June 24 primary to unseat Mayor Eric Adams, who is forgoing the primary to run as an independent in November. Questions about strategizing more forcefully against Cuomo have frustrated contenders behind the scenes, though they've said publicly voters are just beginning to tune in. Time is running out. This primary is New York City's second citywide use of ranked-choice voting, which allows New Yorkers to rank up to five candidates in order of preference, rather than rely on a plurality vote in a crowded field. The contenders with the fewest votes are eliminated round by round, with their support redistributed until one of them surpasses the 50 percent threshold. Until the Mamdani-Lander cross-endorsement, the most consistent guidance among non-Cuomo candidates and their surrogates had been for voters to fill their ballots with five candidates and exclude the former governor entirely. In the 2021 mayoral primary, Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia formed a partnership to boost each other, though Eric Adams ultimately won. Yang's one-way support of the political neophyte was viewed as a last-minute boost to her surprisingly strong candidacy. 'Four years ago, we wound up with one of the worst mayors in our history, largely because the two top alternatives in the race did not come together and join forces to cross-endorse each other,' Lander said Friday in a statement, referring to Garcia and Maya Wiley, who placed second in the first round that year. 'We can't afford to make that mistake again.' The city comptroller has been lagging Mamdani in the polls for much of the race, but he was the top overall pick for a New York Times panel of experts and he stepped up his game at Thursday's debate. Still, Mamdani has been the surging candidate throughout the cycle and he's ranked No. 1 by the Working Families Party as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). 'As Brad and I exposed the ex-Governor's record of corruption and scandal on last night's debate stage, New Yorkers could see Cuomo for what he really is: a relic of the broken politics of the past,' Mamdani said in a statement. 'His campaign has always been a house of cards, and with Brad and I cross-endorsing on the eve of early voting, we will topple it together.' The two are set to appear together Friday, as first reported by the Times. 'We have been encouraging this level of coalescence from the beginning,' Archila said. 'Honestly, it's been a year of showing candidates how other places that have ranked-choice voting organized, and how candidates themselves sort of deliver the final punch by doing precisely what Brad and Zohran have done today.' Cuomo has campaigned as an experienced manager ready on Day 1, drawing a contrast with the 33-year-old Mamdani. 'No surprise here — the two have been attached at the hip for months, but it won't move the needle,' Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement of Lander and Mamdani. 'The public is clamoring for leadership to take real action to make the city safer and more affordable and to protect New Yorkers from Trump.' In a twist last Friday, long-shot left-leaning candidate state Sen. Jessica Ramos had endorsed Cuomo, though he made brutally clear he wasn't returning the favor. And at the Thursday debate, moderate candidate Whitney Tilson said he is ranking Cuomo second, though the governor didn't respond in kind. Mamdani has tried publicly to nudge other candidates to cross-endorse. 'Don't just rank me — fill out the rest of your ballot. Here are three others you should rank,' he said in a video tutorial posted last week, pointing to graphics of Lander, Adams and Myrie. He delivered the guidance in Hindi and used glasses of mango lassi to demonstrate how votes are distributed in the city's ranked method.
Politico
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander are cross-endorsing in race for New York City mayor
NEW YORK — After months of Andrew Cuomo topping the New York City mayor's race while the organized left scrambled, progressive candidates are finally using ranked-choice voting to fight back. Whether there's enough time to capitalize on Cuomo's negatives remains to be seen — he continues to dominate most polls and is funded by a multimillion-dollar super PAC, with just 11 days until the Democratic primary. Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, the highest-ranking progressive candidates in the race, endorsed each other Friday, one day after the final Democratic primary debate during which both attacked Cuomo. The former governor saved most of his fire for Mamdani, who is nipping at his heels in the final stretch of the race. In backing each other, the two candidates each urged his supporters to rank the other second as they seek every advantage before early voting begins Saturday. And it comes as the Working Families Party encourages its other endorsed candidates to formally combine forces — something the campaigns have avoided until now. 'Today's cross-endorsement is probably the most impactful,' Ana María Archila, New York Working Families Party co-director, told POLITICO in an interview Friday. She sidestepped criticism of two other party-backed candidates — state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — for not joining in the cross-endorsement. 'I know that Zellnor really cares about how to guide his voters. I know that the speaker really cares about how to guide her voters,' Archila said. 'It's really a candidate-to-candidate conversation, and because of that, it's very particular to the dynamics between the candidates.' When asked about the possibility of a cross-endorsement, Adams told PIX11 News this week, 'I am still considering all of the options available.' Cuomo, until recently appeared locked in a two-person race with Mamdani, a democratic socialist state lawmaker. But Lander, the city comptroller, had a good week with a strong debate performance. An internal poll conducted by the Working Families Party showed a majority of respondents said an endorsement from their first-choice candidate would greatly impact who they rank second. The party endorsed a four-person slate in March, and placed Mamdani first, Adams second, Lander third and Myrie fourth two weeks ago. The process of getting candidates to more formally support each other has been tortured ahead of the June 24 primary to unseat Mayor Eric Adams, who is forgoing the primary to run as an independent in November. Questions about strategizing more forcefully against Cuomo have frustrated contenders behind the scenes, though they've said publicly voters are just beginning to tune in. Time is running out. This primary is New York City's second citywide use of ranked-choice voting, which allows New Yorkers to rank up to five candidates in order of preference, rather than rely on a plurality vote in a crowded field. The contenders with the fewest votes are eliminated round by round, with their support redistributed until one of them surpasses the 50 percent threshold. Until the Mamdani-Lander cross-endorsement, the most consistent guidance among non-Cuomo candidates and their surrogates had been for voters to fill their ballots with five candidates and exclude the former governor entirely. In the 2021 mayoral primary, Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia formed a partnership to boost each other, though Eric Adams ultimately won. Yang's one-way support of the political neophyte was viewed as a last-minute boost to her surprisingly strong candidacy. 'Four years ago, we wound up with one of the worst mayors in our history, largely because the two top alternatives in the race did not come together and join forces to cross-endorse each other,' Lander said Friday in a statement, referring to Garcia and Maya Wiley, who placed second in the first round that year. 'We can't afford to make that mistake again.' The city comptroller has been lagging Mamdani in the polls for much of the race, but he was the top overall pick for a New York Times panel of experts and he stepped up his game at Thursday's debate. Still, Mamdani has been the surging candidate throughout the cycle and he's ranked No. 1 by the Working Families Party as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). 'As Brad and I exposed the ex-Governor's record of corruption and scandal on last night's debate stage, New Yorkers could see Cuomo for what he really is: a relic of the broken politics of the past,' Mamdani said in a statement. 'His campaign has always been a house of cards, and with Brad and I cross-endorsing on the eve of early voting, we will topple it together.' The two are set to appear together Friday, as first reported by the Times. 'We have been encouraging this level of coalescence from the beginning,' Archila said. 'Honestly, it's been a year of showing candidates how other places that have ranked-choice voting organized, and how candidates themselves sort of deliver the final punch by doing precisely what Brad and Zohran have done today.' Cuomo has campaigned as an experienced manager ready on Day 1, drawing a contrast with the 33-year-old Mamdani. 'No surprise here — the two have been attached at the hip for months, but it won't move the needle,' Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement of Lander and Mamdani. 'The public is clamoring for leadership to take real action to make the city safer and more affordable and to protect New Yorkers from Trump.' In a twist last Friday, long-shot left-leaning candidate state Sen. Jessica Ramos had endorsed Cuomo, though he made brutally clear he wasn't returning the favor. And at the Thursday debate, moderate candidate Whitney Tilson said he is ranking Cuomo second, though the governor didn't respond in kind. Mamdani has tried publicly to nudge other candidates to cross-endorse. 'Don't just rank me — fill out the rest of your ballot. Here are three others you should rank,' he said in a video tutorial posted last week, pointing to graphics of Lander, Adams and Myrie. He delivered the guidance in Hindi and used glasses of mango lassi to demonstrate how votes are distributed in the city's ranked method.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ranked-Choice Voting in NYC Faces Its Make-or-Break Moment
Four years ago, ranked-choice voting made its debut in New York City's mayoral primary. As the city ramps up toward what's looking to be a closely contested Democratic nomination fight, candidates and outside political organizations have found that there remains much to learn about the still-novel system. In these final weeks, the mayoral hopefuls are working to tailor their campaigns to train voters on what they need to do when they enter their voting booths. The city adopted ranked-choice voting for municipal primaries in 2019, allowing voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate earns more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, the candidate earning the lowest vote share is eliminated, with their ballots redistributed to the voters' next choices. This continues for several rounds, until one candidate earns a majority threshold of support. If a voter does not rank five candidates, there is a chance their ballot will become 'exhausted': If they only choose two candidates, and both of their options are eliminated, their ballot will not count toward the final result. After the 2021 mayoral election, exit polling by Common Cause and Rank the Vote NYC—campaigns that backed ranked-choice voting—found that 83 percent of Democratic voters ranked at least two candidates on their ballot, while 42 percent ranked five candidates. In an effort to understand the victory of moderate Democrat Eric Adams, who has been embroiled in multiple scandals during his four years as mayor, the New York Working Families Party—a powerful progressive party organization in the city—began analyzing how they might ensure a candidate more favorable to its ideals could win in 2025. 'Despite the skepticism at the time of ranked-choice voting and how voters would understand and engage in it, the fact is that most voters gave it a try. But the political ecosystem of candidates, of endorsing organizations, press, and elected officials, for the most part, didn't actually try to guide voters how to use ranked-choice voting,' said Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party. Archila said that her organization had learned a lesson from the actions of two of the 2021 candidates. One week before the Democratic mayoral primary, candidates Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia formed a late-breaking alliance, appearing together on the campaign trail. Yang encouraged his supporters to rank Garcia second, in an effort to stymie the momentum of the leading candidate, Adams. The show of unity between Garcia and Yang indicated a new type of strategy, one where the would-be nominees recognized that their chances of winning would increase if their rivals' supporters ranked them second or third on the ballot. The tactic worked, but only to an extent: In the eighth round of voting, after Yang had been eliminated, Garcia was boosted to second place behind Adams, as enough Yang voters had ranked her second. However, it wasn't enough to push her across the finish line, and she narrowly lost the primary contest to Adams, who was then elected as mayor in November of that year. The eighth round of counting ended with more than 140,000 exhausted ballots—nearly 20 times Adams's margin of victory. If even a small percentage had ranked Garcia in any position, she would have defeated Adams. 'We spent a lot of time looking at that to understand, what are the pieces that need to be in place?' said Archila. 'We need to create an ecosystem that supports collaboration instead of just competition. We need to endorse a slate of candidates and help them work together. And we need to make sure that voters are told, very explicitly, not to rank the candidate of the opposition, which in this case now is Andrew Cuomo.' The entrance of Cuomo, the former governor who resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment in 2021, further galvanized progressive candidates and groups in particular, hoping to stave off his headwinds due to name recognition. Recent polling has shown a surge in support for Zohran Mamdani, a progressive state lawmaker who appears to be closing in on overtaking Cuomo's lead. The Working Families Party has put Mamdani at the top of its slate of preferred candidates. (The party originally only endorsed four candidates, but has since encouraged voters to fill out all five options.) This is also a strategy employed by prominent supporters of candidates. When Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Mamdani, she released her entire ballot ranking her preferred candidates. Representative Nydia Velazquez did the same, listing City Council President Adrienne Adams, City Comptroller Brad Lander, and Mamdani as her top three choices. Both Ocasio-Cortez and Velazquez explicitly framed their endorsements in terms of stopping Cuomo's momentum. (DREAM, a small but influential super PAC, has aided these efforts by blanketing the city with its message: 'Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.') Some candidates seem to be pleased with earning support from a prominent endorser, even if they're lower on the ballot. Lander, whom Ocasio-Cortez said she would rank third on her ballot, said in a press conference that he was 'grateful to have her support now running for mayor.' Scott Stringer, another candidate, whom Ocasio-Cortez ranked fourth, said that her mention of him on her ballot was 'going to help me tremendously.' Archila said that when Working Families Party volunteers engage in canvassing and phone banking efforts, they are encouraging voters to rank their entire slate of preferred candidates, instead of focusing solely on Mamdani. 'This time around, we are much more explicitly trying to establish that connection, saying, 'If you like this person, then you'll also like this other person and this one and this one, and you won't like this person,'' she said. Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York and chair of the board of Rank the Vote NYC—which led the campaign to introduce ranked-choice voting to New York City—said that she was expecting voters to employ ranked-choice voting in an even more effective and 'nuanced' method in 2025, having learned from 2021. She also argued that candidates were more aware of how to effectively campaign for ranked-choice voting. 'We are seeing more mayoral candidates talk about ranked-choice voting earlier,' she said. 'It's more of a dialog with the voters. It also means the candidates themselves reach out and take the time to appear at events in parts of the community that previously they have not bothered to talk to.' But the political dynamics of this election are complicated. Because New York City is so heavily Democratic, the primary outcomes often determine the result of the general election. Moreover, New York's primaries are closed, meaning that only voters registered as Democrats will be able to vote on Tuesday. But this year, the general election may be actually competitive, with a larger universe of voters determining the outcome. Adams is running as an independent, and there is a good chance that, if Mamdani is the runner-up in the Democratic primary, the Working Families Party will put him on its party line. (The Working Families Party currently has a 'placeholder' candidate as its nominee, who can be swapped out after the Democratic primary.) Harry Siegel, a columnist for the Daily News, said that the focus on Cuomo and Mamdani was edging out consideration of other candidates who do not have the baggage of the former, and the relative inexperience of the latter. 'The choice that both Cuomo and Mamdani have promoted to this day is that 'this is what you have to decide between,'' Siegel said. 'That is remarkably distinct from what New Yorkers seem to want, which is someone who's not exhausting, scandal-prone, and difficult in the vein of Adams or Cuomo, and who has something more to offer in terms of actually delivering things than, I would say, Mamdani.' Because Mamdani is seen as the most credible alternative to Cuomo in terms of polling, it may have inspired the more moderate candidates to carve out their own lane—but they could find it hard to leverage that strategy into success. In an interview with the New York Editorial Board, Adrienne Adams said that the system 'makes things different for sure.' 'I'm not really critical of it because I think that it has helped for folks to exercise their vote even wider, in a wider perspective, even in a more democratic perspective, if we want to look at it that way also,' said Adams. 'I'm not going to really be critical of it, but it is challenging for some folks like me.' Siegel also argued that this system makes the entire process unnecessarily complicated, particularly for low-information voters. There will be state elections on the same ballot that are not subject to ranked-choice voting, which Siegel said could cause confusion. 'It takes many charts and a lot of thinking that tons of people will be doing from the ballot booth while desperately googling things or texting friends to figure out how to strategize and vote in this phase of the election,' Siegel argued. 'It is too much to think about. It is too much to explain. It demands complicated sentences.' Moreover, unlike the municipal primary elections, the general election does not use ranked-choice voting. There will be multiple candidates on the general election ballot, including the Republican and Conservative Party nominees, but voters will only choose one candidate, and the top vote-getter will win. 'The issue here is not the ranked-choice [voting] by itself. It's the partial ranked-choice system with different rules applying at different phases,' Siegel said. But Lerner argued that voters needed more experience with ranked-choice voting before the city could consider making even broader changes to the process, either with open primaries or adjusting how the general election is run. 'It's been our general feeling that it's important to run with two large mayoral campaigns—the full slate of municipal elections with ranked-choice voting—through at least two cycles. And then let's examine how it's working in New York, and if there are changes we want to make,' she said.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New York Working Families Party supporting Miles Burnett for Binghamton Mayor
UPDATE: Broome County Republican Party responds below. BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Progressive activists from across New York State are making Democrat Miles Burnett's campaign for Binghamton Mayor a priority. Burnett has received the endorsement of the New York Working Families Party. The Southside native got his start in politics working as an organizer for the party in 2014. The party says Burnett will work for fair wages, stronger tenant protections and push back against the policies of the Trump administration. In addition to the ballot line, the Working Families Party plans to provide Burnett's campaign with additional volunteers and paid staff to assist with get out the vote efforts and serve as consultants to the campaign. Co-Director for Working Families, Jasmine Gripper, says Binghamton is a target because it's one of the largest cities in New York with a Republican mayor. 'The party is all-in and excited to help him get elected. We will do what we have to do. We know how to run and win elections. We will talk to voters, we will knock on doors, we will make phone calls, and we will make sure people know that there is a champion for working families running in this election and they need to come out to vote to get our candidate elected,' said Gripper. In 2023, Working Families staff and volunteers campaigned for Democrat Lea Webb in her successful run for New York State Senate. Current Mayor Jared Kraham is running for re-election and plans a campaign kickoff event in the near future. Benji Federman, Chairman of the Broome County Republican Party, released the following statement in response: 'Miles Burnett is an unqualified and now dangerous candidate, signing on to defund the police and champion the fringe policies of the Working Families Party. Miles Burnett should immediately release the questionnaire he filed with the WFP, to receive their endorsement, so Binghamton residents can learn exactly what extreme policies he supports.' Amici Pub and Pizzeria closes after 14 years in business WATCH: DOCCS strike update Business of the Week: American Red Cross New York Working Families Party supporting Miles Burnett for Binghamton Mayor Binghamton University under investigation for antisemitism Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYC mayoral race 2025: Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes first campaign stop
The Brief In front of a crowd of hundreds of union members, former Governor Andrew Cuomo officially mounted his political comeback in his first public campaign stop. Cuomo focused his speech on public safety and affordability. "We will do everything we can to fight to save this city," Cuomo said. NEW YORK CITY - In front of a crowd of hundreds of union members, former Governor Andrew Cuomo officially mounted his political comeback in his first public campaign stop. What they're saying "We will do everything we can to fight to save this city," Cuomo said. "We are not going to let it go down." Cuomo focused his speech on public safety and affordability – also nabbing the endorsement of both the carpenter's union and the painter's union. "This is working man and women's movement to take back the city, and we are with Andrew Cuomo all the way," Paul Capurso, President of the district council of carpenters, said. The other side However, outside the carpenters' union headquarters where Cuomo was speaking, dozens of women were chanting "hell no to Andrew Cuomo." Multiple groups have been forming to remind voters of the scandals that encompassed Cuomo's final years in office. "We believe the women," Jasmine Gripper, Co-Director of the New York Working Families Party, said. Cuomo shot to national fame when the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the state in 2020, with the entire country tuning in to Cuomo's daily press briefings. But it wasn't long before his administration came under scrutiny, after Cuomo ordered that nursing homes not turn away COVID-positive nursing home patients. It was also later found out, through numerous investigations and audits, that Cuomo's administration undercounted the number of long-term care facility residents who died during the pandemic. Then in 2021, after numerous women accused Cuomo of sexual harassment, Attorney General Leitita James released a report supporting 11 women's claims. The New York State Assembly announced they were going to start impeachment proceedings against him and even President Joe Biden was calling on Cuomo to resign. Cuomo announced his resignation in August of 2021, handing over control to his Lieutenant Governor at the time, Kathy Hochul. "The best way I can help now is if I step aside," Cuomo said at the time. Cuomo has not taken questions since announcing his bid for mayor and avoided them again on Sunday. Some of those attending the rally were in full support of the governor's mayoral bid. "I like Cuomo," one union member told FOX 5. "I like what he stands for, he keeps us informed." But some people told FOX 5 that they were told by the union they needed to attend the rally and were not given details on what it was about. One rank and file member with more than 15 years on the job, told FOX 5 that some members were under the impression this was a union rally and were caught off guard when they were bombarded with campaign volunteers asking them to sign Cuomo's petition. Another union member at the rally told FOX 5 on the record that he's still deciding who he's going to vote for. "I'm waiting to see – I want to see what the options are," the union member said. Local perspective Mayoral candidates - Mayor Eric Adams and City Comptroller Brad Lander- both reacting to Cuomo officially in the race. "We can't hide in the shadows," Adams said. "We have to come out and give our real positions and I'm looking forward to it. This Is campaign season." MORE: Who is running for NYC mayor? "What we did not hear was serious solutions for the problems New Yorkers are actually facing," Lander said. Cuomo is jumping into a packed field of candidates running in the democratic primary. Other mayoral candidates include former Comptroller Scott Stringer, Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake, Senator Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn, and State Senator Jessica Ramos of Queens. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is also seriously a run for mayor, filing paperwork this past week to open a campaign is 67 years old and, if elected, he would be the oldest person ever elected to a first New York City mayoral term. The mayoral primary is on June 24.
