Abstract: There is a lot on the line in the rank choice selection June 24, Democratic mayoral primary where the two favored candidates are former governor Andrew Cuomo and Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani. The election of Mamdani would drastically alter economic policies in New York, the position of the Democratic party on Israel, and potentially the safety of Jews in New York. Remarks by Mamdani on the meaning of “globalize the intifada” have overshadowed all other issues in this race. The base of the Democratic party has been shifting left, and the state of New York has become politically competitive. Mamdani is the canary in the coal mine for a future AOC statewide race.
Introduction:
The New York mayoral Democratic primary is on Tuesday June 24, 2025. This inaugural post in the politics section of the Economic Decisions blog examines the contours of the race, the potential impact of the race on antisemitism and the safety of Jews in New York, and the future of the Democratic party.
Contours of the Race: The Democratic primary for mayor of New York, on June 24, 2025, features eleven Democratic candidates. The two front runners in the race are the former governor Andrew Cuomo and state Assemblyman Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani.
The New York mayor’s primary is based on a first-across-the post rank choice voting system. The rules as discussed in Google AI are as follows.
In New York City mayoral elections,
ranked choice voting (RCV) is used in primary and special elections.
Here's how it works:
Voters rank candidates in order of preference, up to five choices.
All first-choice votes are counted first.
If a candidate receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they win immediately.
If no candidate gets over 50% in the first round, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated.
The votes from those who chose the eliminated candidate as their first choice are then distributed to their second choice.
This process continues round by round, eliminating the last-place candidate and redistributing votes based on the voters' next choices, until one candidate receives over 50% of the active votes and wins.
Eric Adams won the 2021 primary in the final round with 50.4 percent of the vote.
RCV elections are difficult to poll because voters are imprecise in their statement of preferences for the person who is not their first choice.
Hassidic Jewish groups in New York are asking voters to leave Mamdani off the list of candidates that should be ranked.
“Progressive” groups are asking voters to leave Cuomo off the list of candidates that should be ranked.
The current Marist poll has Andrew Cuomo winning the race in the seventh round of voting.
The New York mayor’s race epitomizes the struggle between the centrist and progressive wings of the party. Both candidates are extremely flawed.
Andrew Cuomo resigned from the governorship in disgrace because of sex scandal. Zohran Mamdami has a fiscal agenda that would put substantial fiscal pressure on the city.
Mamdani’s views on Israel and Palestine, as espoused in the Bulwark Interview, are defining the race.
Mamdani stated that the expression “globalize the intifada captured “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” He defended the use of the word by intifada by arguing that the U.S. Holocaust Museum had used it describe the 1944 Warsaw uprising against Nazi Germany.
The decision by Mamdani to use an example from the Holocaust to defend his stance on the question of the intifada reveals a lot about this candidate’s priorities and mindset.
By contrast, Representative Dan Goldman, a Jewish Democrat stated Intifada is “well understood to refer to the violent terror attacks against Israeli civilians that occurred during the First and Second Intifadas.”
Mamdani vehemently denies he is antisemitic and states that he would protect Jews from antisemitic acts, however, details are more important than general statemnts. The more pertinent questions involve the steps and procedures Mamdani would or would not take or allow to protect Jews if he became mayor of a city with 1.2 million Jews.
The election of Mamdani as Mamdani as mayor would affect the ability of the NYPD to remove belligerent protestors from college campuses, the procedures used to protect Jewish institutions, and even the extent to which alleged crimes against Jews were prosecuted or dismissed.
Mamdani could lose the primary run in the general election as a third party candidate and win in a four-way race. There is no rank choice voting in the general election and a candidate with 40 percent could become the next mayor.
Democrats are losing ground in New York. Biden won New York with over 60 percent of the vote. Harris won with 55.1 percent of the vote.
A recent poll has AOC leading Schumer by double digits in a state wide primary for the Democratic nomination for the Senate. There is also a lot of talk about AOC running for President. AOC versus a Republican is at best a coin toss in deeply blue New York state.
A lot is on the line in the June 24, Democratic primary for mayor of New York.
Authors note: Most of the articles on this blog are about policy and finance not politics.
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