Andrew Cuomo folded early. Hours after polls closed on June 25, he walked off stage and handed Zohran Mamdani the keys to the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. The 33-year-old state assemblyman from Queens, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, crushed the final round of ranked-choice voting with a late surge in second-choice support. Cuomo read the math, read the moment, and made the call. “He won,” Cuomo said. That was the quote.
This is a hard pivot for the city. Mamdani’s platform reads like a socialist blueprint. Freeze rents in all regulated units. Make all public buses free. Open city-run grocery stores. Roll out universal childcare. Strip ICE agents of access to city records and stop deportations cold. That is not fringe talk. That is from his campaign website. That is his agenda.
It did not come from working-class voters. Exit data from Edison Research shows Cuomo led handily with Hispanic and Black voters in the Bronx and southeast Brooklyn. Mamdani’s base was white, liberal, college-educated residents in northwest Brooklyn and Manhattan’s East Side. Turnout among younger progressives outpaced expectations. Ranked-choice mechanics did the rest. Mamdani pulled second-choice support from every minor left-wing candidate who dropped off the board.
New York City is about to elect a devout Communist as Mayor of New York.
Zohran Mamdani: "Running for Mayor to freeze the rent, make buses fast + free, and deliver free universal childcare. Democratic Socialist."
And don't forget the government-run grocery stores. Free is… pic.twitter.com/Cdo0bIP5ld
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) June 25, 2025
Chicago elected a socialist mayor, who now has a 6% approval rating.
NYC is about to elect a socialist with no experience.
It seems like we need some attention on how to fix our broken election process, particularly for the greatest cities in the country.
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) June 24, 2025
🚨 JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani is vowing to IMPEDE ICE, and has a very high likelihood of being elected NYC mayor after his victory last night.
“[I will] STOP ICE agents from deporting our neighbors.”
Get the HANDCUFFS ready.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 25, 2025
Zohran Mamdani doing extremely well with college-educated voters, while the working-class overwhelmingly rejects him, is further proof that our higher education system is failing. pic.twitter.com/2VX22FOWXH
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) June 24, 2025
The new leader of the Democrat Party. pic.twitter.com/HZMdavV2Oo
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) June 25, 2025
🚨 JUST IN: The low income people in New York City voted en masse AGAINST the guy who promised to create government-run grocery stores and “freeze” the rent.
This should tell you EVERYTHING. pic.twitter.com/Kcg02evVcg
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 25, 2025
Cuomo poured in over $24 million. His funders included national real estate firms, investment executives, and GOP-leaning hedge funds. His pitch was order, growth, and restoration. The Adams years had left the city bruised, and Cuomo promised a return to steady hands and firm footing. But the door-knockers outnumbered the donors. Mamdani’s campaign hit 400,000 doors in under three months. That ground game flipped districts. The air war lost to the sidewalk war.
Now the city is staring down a candidate with zero executive experience, no economic background, and open hostility to federal immigration enforcement. Mamdani has vowed to block ICE from city access, even if it means defying subpoenas. He supports raising the top marginal city income tax rate to over 12%. He wants a municipal bank. He wants to redesign land use from the bottom up. His model is Barcelona, not Brooklyn.
The general election is next. Republican Curtis Sliwa is on the ballot. Mayor Eric Adams is running as an independent. But the Democratic nominee wins New York City nine times out of ten. Mamdani is now the odds-on favorite to control the largest city in America. The former mayor of the pandemic era just lost to a 33-year-old socialist with slogans about free food and frozen rent.
Sources:
https://www.aol.com/news/andrew-cuomo-concedes-zohran-mamdani-031616760.html