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How opponents on the left are banding together to try to stop Andrew Cuomo in New York City

The city's ranked choice voting system has become a key piece of the campaign for mayor, with Zohran Mamdani and other candidates building alliances against Cuomo.

As high-profile longtime New York Democrats flock to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and high-powered progressives join forces to block his comeback tour, the city’s relatively recent adoption of ranked choice voting looms large over the closely watched Democratic mayoral primary. 

Unlike more typical primaries, in which the candidate with the most votes wins, ranked choice systems have voters rank multiple candidates (in this case, five) on their ballots. The votes of the lowest-finishing candidates are redistributed to voters' preferred alternatives until one candidate wins a majority. 

Cuomo, the far-and-away favorite of the moderates, with years of built-up name recognition, is giving his supporters simple directions: Rank him first. And in a city with a first-past-the-post voting system, his first-choice support might already have closed out the race, even if it doesn't add up to a majority in the public polling.

State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the leading progressive in the race, has made a series of mutual endorsements with other like-minded candidates, directing their supporters to include both on their ballots — such as with city Comptroller Brad Lander, whose high-profile arrest in a federal immigration court in the race’s final days has shined new light on his mayoral bid. Both are rallying behind a slogan and strategy made possible by the unique quirk of ranked choice voting: “Don’t rank Cuomo.” 

With just days to go before primary day, the complicated crosscurrents are coming together to create a climactic finish in the race to lead America’s biggest city — a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party mixed with a redemption tour for a front-runner once seen as a Democratic darling before accusations of sexual harassment forced his resignation as governor.

While Cuomo’s comeback tour may have been heading for all-but-certain victory in a plurality-wins primary, ranked choice has injected significant uncertainty into the race and provided an opportunity for the anti-Cuomo forces. 

“He’s running what probably feels a lot like any other race that’s not ranked choice — he’s trying to get people to vote for him, and his name ID is a huge value for him,” said Maya Rupert, who managed progressive Maya Wiley’s mayoral campaign in 2021, when she secured the third-most votes in the crowded field. 

“Mamdani, he has been building and has captured so much attention — I think he’s possibly the most perfect test case for why ranked choice voting is so important. You can see a candidate like him capture imaginations,” she said. 

 
 
 
 
 
Debate.
Candidates at the New York Democratic mayoral primary debate on June 12.Vincent Alban / AFP - Getty Images 

Cuomo has loomed over the field since before he even jumped in, the clear front-runner thanks to his near-unanimous name recognition, his decadeslong relationships with key communities and leaders across the city and the fundraising prowess that comes with being a national Democratic figure once seen as a possible presidential hopeful before he resigned. 

His support comes not just from longtime allies but also from those who haven’t always been on his side. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed him in a statement that acknowledged their past “differences.” (Bloomberg has since given $8.3 million to a pro-Cuomo super PAC.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other prominent Democrats who called on Cuomo to resign in 2021 are back in his corner, including Rep. Gregory Meeks, who is also the powerful chair of the Queens Democratic Party, and progressive state Sen. Jessica Ramos, who just months ago panned Cuomo’s "mental acuity."

And while the New York Times editorial board didn’t officially endorse a candidate, it gave Cuomo a bump by telling New Yorkers not to rank Mamdani while adding that Cuomo “would be better for New York’s future."

The throughline for many of the politicians backing Cuomo comes right from the songbook he has sung on the stump and TV ads have tried to hammer home — that Donald Trump’s presidency represents a unique crisis for the city, one that only Cuomo has the experience to navigate. 

In an address at a rally at the National Action Network, a group led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, the longtime civil rights activist and MSNBC host, Cuomo warned that Trump is an "existential threat" and "worse than he was in his first term." (MSNBC and NBC News have the same parent company, NBCUniversal.) 

Inside the campaign strategy

Part of Cuomo's pitch also takes on Mamdani directly, an implicit nod to Mamdani's status as his top foil. Cuomo's allied super PAC has spent millions of dollars framing Mamdani as too liberal on issues like policing, calling him "a risk New York can’t afford." Cuomo has also criticized him for comments he has made about Gaza and Israel's war with Hamas

Mamdani, who would be the city's first Muslim mayor, argued that Cuomo is trying to divide by trying to weaponize allegations of antisemitism, and he has accused his rivals of trying to characterize him as a "monster."

Sharpton, who hasn't yet endorsed but praised Cuomo at his recent rally, told NBC News that Cuomo has a structural advantage of being able to lean on strong support among Black and Latino voters.

“When Hillary beat Bernie, Bernie was packing stadiums, and she beat him using that base,” Sharpton said of Hillary Clinton’s strong support among voters of color in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries against Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “Is it possible to turn that around? Yes, but there hasn’t been any sign yet.” 

Mamdani, 33, a legislator running the biggest race of his career, has surged by capturing progressives' attention with his direct-to-camera, energetic appeals, along with a platform that includes free city buses, rent freezes and other progressive proposals.

"This victory will be historic not just because of who I am — a Muslim immigrant and a proud democratic socialist — but for what we will do: make this city affordable for everyone," he said at a rally this month. 

Public polling continues to show Mamdani as Cuomo’s main challenger, and he has tried to leverage cross-endorsement deals with other candidates to urge supporters to include them all on their ranked-choice ballots in hopes of picking up steam if progressive voters’ first choices are eliminated — appearing with Lander and former Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman Michael Blake to ask their supporters to rank them both on their ballots.

Those deals embody the “don’t rank Cuomo” rallying cry that has cut across supporters of multiple candidates, a dynamic Lander directly called out when he announced the deal with Mamdani: “We both know what we need to do to save our city from Andrew Cuomo.” 

Rupert, the former Wiley campaign manager, told NBC News that while the anti-Cuomo field has the extra challenge of having to explain the intricacies of the ranked choice system (and how supporters can use it to their benefit), the rules provide progressives with an opportunity. 

She pointed back to the city’s first ranked choice election in 2021, when Wiley came less than 2 percentage points from making the final round and former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia fell short of Mayor Eric Adams by a similar margin. 

“If some of Maya’s voters, a small percentage, had not ranked Adams, it may have gone to Garcia — that could have made the difference,” Rupert said. 

"There are people who are going to hear a message now and be more inclined to respond to it in real time," she said.

It’s all another reason that even as prominent progressives throw their weight behind candidates, they're careful to include endorsements for other slots on the ballot and quick to emphasize opposition to Cuomo as big parts of their endorsements. 

“It does not help the election of Zohran if you just fill out a No. 1 rank and not the rest of your ballot. We have to fill out the entire ballot — and do not rank Andrew Cuomo anywhere,” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said at a Mamdani rally this month

“Not ranking Andrew Cuomo is the right thing to do in solidarity with survivors of sexual harassment and assault. It is the right thing to do to turn the page on the future of a Democratic Party that does not continue to repeat the mistakes that have landed us here,” she continued.

How Lander's late arrest could affect the race

While much of the attention down the stretch has focused on Cuomo and Mamdani, Lander’s arrest while he was advocating for defendants in immigration court could play into the race, Democrats say. 

Sharpton called Lander a “political martyr” in the interview with NBC News, adding that his blend of experience and progressive chops could lead to a rise. And while Rupert “strongly” condemned the arrest, she added that "the way it will reflect on the campaign will be a net positive.” 

The result will almost certainly not be clear Tuesday night, unless one candidate shocks the city by winning the majority of first-place votes outright. It's more likely that the result will become clear in the coming weeks, as all the votes are counted and the bottom rungs of candidates fall off and their votes are re-allocated during the ranked choice tabulation. 

As in 2021, Democrats across the country will be looking to the city as an early indicator of what their voters want from them. 

A longtime New York Democratic strategist who requested anonymity to discuss the dynamics among the crowded field called the race an "interesting microcosm of what's transpiring nationally among Democrats."

"Centrist versus progressive, moderate versus liberal, these are not just currents here in the city, which are obviously being reflected front and center in the mayoral. They are the political crosscurrents in the party nationally,” the strategist said.

"Is there a potential for surprise?" the person continued. "Absolutely."

Author: Ben Kamisar National Politics Reporter

Source: NBC News

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