Zohran Mamdani Won in a Double-Digit Blowout, NYC Ballot Results Confirm

Zohran Mamdani has secured a blowout win over disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as the count of votes from New York City’s ranked-choice primary released Tuesday confirmed, with the left-wing upstart politician defying all odds to win by double digits.

Mamdani formally secured a majority on just the third round of ranked-choice voting, garnering 56 percent of the vote, with over 545,000 votes, according to tabulation posted by the New York City Board of Elections on Tuesday. Cuomo received just 44 percent of the vote, with about 429,000 voters ranking him higher than Mamdani on their ballot.

Mamdani’s victory was clear when the results from the first round of voting were released on election day, with Mamdani securing 44 percent to Cuomo’s 36. However, the final round of results blew even the most favorable pre-election projections for Mamdani out of the water.

In the lead up to the election, only one major poll out of dozens had Mamdani ahead in the first round of voting. Of the polls that fully simulated a ranked-choice vote, only one poll showed Mamdani ultimately winning the final round; and that poll, conducted by Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill, only showed Mamdani winning by 3.6 points, in the eighth round.

Polls conducted earlier this year had Mamdani behind because he lacked name recognition. However, Mamdani’s campaign surged over just a few months — bringing him from projected single-digit votes in the first round of voting to his dominant win last week.

This win comes despite the billionaire-backed Cuomo campaign spending record amounts of money in the race. Cuomo and his super PAC spent over $30 million on the race, with his billionaire- and corporate-funded PAC representing the largest PAC in the history of the city.

The results of the final round of voting represent a massive blow to establishment Democrats, many of whom have declined to endorse Mamdani despite spending millions of dollars hiring consultants to advise the party on its waning popularity.

Major establishment Democratic figures in the state like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have hemmed and hawed about Mamdani. Other New York leaders, like Gov. Kathy Hochul, have also declined to endorse.

Some New York Democrats have, instead of endorsing the Democratic candidate, opted to spread Islamophobic lies about him. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, for instance, went on an unhinged rant about Mamdani in a radio interview last week, saying that the left-wing candidate, who is Muslim, is a threat to public safety — similar to the bigoted rhetoric being spewed by the right.

Mamdani is also facing fierce attacks from the right. In a speech on Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened to arrest Mamdani if he follows up on his campaign promise of making New York City a sanctuary city from Trump’s rogue Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) clan.