Mamdani on verge of winning New York City's Democratic mayoral contest after Cuomo concedes

By Maria Tsvetkova and Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker and self-described democratic socialist, was poised on Tuesday to win New York City's Democratic mayoral primary in a surprising upset over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In brief remarks to supporters, Cuomo, 67, who had been seeking a political comeback four years after resigning amid sexual harassment allegations, said he had called Mamdani to congratulate him.

"Tonight is his night," Cuomo said while conceding the race to Mamdani.

Mamdani, who entered the campaign as a virtual unknown, was ahead of Cuomo 43.5% to 36.4% with nearly 95% of ballot scanners reporting, according to the city's elections board. Nine other Democratic candidates trailed far behind.

The outcome will not be final until next week, due to New York's ranked-choice system that allows citizens to pick up to five candidates in order of preference.

But Mamdani's lead in Tuesday's preliminary results appeared too large for Cuomo, or any other candidate, to overcome, particularly since the third-place finisher on Tuesday, City Comptroller Brad Lander, encouraged his supporters to list Mamdani second.

The race was seen as an early read on the direction Democrats believe the party should take five months into Republican President Donald Trump's tumultuous second term.

Their differences were clear: Cuomo, a moderate backed by the establishment who served a decade as governor, or Mamdani, a progressive newcomer who promised a break with the past.

Mamdani will likely be the favorite in November's general election in a city where Democrats dominate. The current mayor, Democrat Eric Adams, will also appear on the November ballot as an independent, but a series of corruption scandals and his perceived ties to Trump have weakened his standing. 

The Republican candidate is Curtis Sliwa, a radio host best known as the founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol who lost to Adams in 2021.

For some voters, Mamdani represented a chance to usher in a new era for the party.

"I think it's time for somebody young, a person of color, something different," Ignacio Tambunting, a 28-year-old actor, told a Reuters reporter outside a polling station in Manhattan after putting Mamdani atop his ballot.

Another voter, Leah Johanson, said she listed Mamdani first even though she was concerned he was too liberal. But she did not rank Cuomo.

"No. God, no," said Johanson, 39, who voted on Tuesday in Queens, where Mamdani lives. "I'm not gonna vote for a man who is credibly accused of molesting women."

Cuomo has denied the harassment accusations, which he has characterized as ill-conceived attempts to be affectionate or humorous.

SELF-DESCRIBED DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST 

Born in Uganda to a family of Indian descent, Mamdani, who would be the city's first Muslim mayor, has a history of pro-Palestinian activism.

He was elected to a state assembly seat in New York's Queens borough and has garnered the support of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two prominent progressives.

Cuomo accused Mamdani of lacking the experience required, while Mamdani attacked Cuomo over the harassment allegations.

Cuomo, who emerged as a vocal critic of Trump during his first term as president, won the endorsements of former President Bill Clinton and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In ranked voting, the last-place candidate is eliminated after each round, and their votes are redistributed to the second choice marked on the ballots of their supporters. The process is repeated until one candidate achieves 50% of the total.

Mamdani seems likely to expand his lead when the additional counts are conducted, after he and Lander endorsed one another and urged their supporters to rank the other as second choice.

Lander, who was the first choice on 11.6% of ballots counted on Tuesday, made national headlines last week when he was briefly detained while escorting a defendant out of an immigration court.

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Daniel Wallis, Lincoln Feast.and Raju Gopalakrishnan)