The New York mayor’s race has already attracted a smorgasbord of candidates, including a disgraced former governor, a democratic socialist and a Republican best known for founding the Guardian Angels vigilante group.
They are lining up to topple incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who quit the Democratic Party to run as an independent. He’s looking for a new base of support after being indicted on corruption charges by the Biden administration and then having the charges dropped by the Trump administration, neither of which endeared him to New York Democrats.
There are now nine leading Democrats running in the June 24 ranked choice primary. The winner will likely face off in November against Mr. Adams and Guardian Angels founder and radio host Curtis Sliwa, who lost to Mr. Adams in 2021.
The Democrats include former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, City Comptroller Brad Lander, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, former state assemblyman Michael Blake, State Sen. Jessica Ramos and Whitney Tilson.
Mr. Cuomo is looking for a political comeback after resigning as governor in August 2021, after getting hit with sexual harassment complaints from nearly a dozen women, in which he denies any wrongdoing.
Still, Mr. Cuomo is leading the pack among Democrats, according to recent polling. His biggest primary competition is Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist seeking the endorsement of the Working Families Party to claim the progressive lane in the race.
Mr. Mamdani’s policy positions include freezing the rent for all rent-stabilized city tenants, spending about $800 million to launch a city-wide fare-free bus pilot and implementing free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years.
He also wants to abolish the NYPD’s overtime budget and the department’s unit known as the Strategic Response Group, which responds to protests.
“As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their First Amendment rights,” he said on X.
Rather than hiring more police officers, Mr. Mamdani wants to expand the crisis intervention and mental health teams to respond to 911 calls.
He received $4 million in public matching funds last week as he competes with Mr. Lander for the Working Families Party endorsement.
A recent Siena College survey showed Mr. Mamdani trailing Mr. Cuomo but leading the rest of the Democrats by a lot.
Despite New York City’s deep blue politics, he has a way to go before overcoming the gap between him and Mr. Cuomo.
The former governor’s big lead suggests Democratic voters have moved on from the sexual assault scandal, in which Mr. Cuomo steadfastly maintains his innocence despite being forced to resign.
An aide who worked in Mr. Cuomo’s executive office recently agreed to a $450,000 settlement in her lawsuit over allegations that New York State officials had not done enough to stop Mr. Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment against her.
Mr. Cuomo will also face questions about how he led the state and city through the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the decision to send infected people to nursing homes, exposing the most vulnerable New Yorkers to the deadly virus.
Mr. Cuomo also signed a law that made it easier for repeat criminals to be released from jails without paying bail.
The ranked choice system will sift out the Democratic field, though Mr. Cuomo is currently the candidate to beat in the primary.
The system lets voters pick candidates in order of preference. When ballots are counted, the race is called if a candidate picks up over 50% of the first-place votes cast.
A ranked choice voting simulation this month by the Honan Strategy Group showed Mr. Cuomo defeating Mr. Mamdani 64% to 36% in the final round of the primary.
The poll, which surveyed 823 likely Democratic primary voters between April 16 and 17, has the seven other candidates ranking in the single digits, including Mr. Lander at 8%, Ms. Adams at 4%, Mr. Stringer at 3% and Mr. Myrie at 2%. Fourteen percent of respondents said they are still undecided.
The poll included both frequent Democratic primary voters and newly registered “anti-Trump surge voters,” who are defined as those motivated to vote Democratic in protest of Mr. Trump’s White House comeback.
Mr. Sliwa, who is running on a law-and-order platform, has a tough road ahead. He raised just over $76,000 since March 13 and has about $55,000 cash on hand. He has yet to qualify for public matching funds.
The longtime red beret-wearing anti-crime vigilante brushes off naysayers who claim a GOP candidate does not have a chance in New York City, where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans seven to one.
The last Republican to win the mayor’s office was Michael Bloomberg in 2001. After he won a second term in 2005, he left the Republican Party two years later and became an independent.
He is gambling on a divided general election, which could include as many as four serious candidates, and frustration from voters about the city’s crime and migrant problem.
“I know Republicans are going to support me so I can be the next mayor of the City of New York,” Mr. Sliwa told the New York Post. “Eric Adams going to the independent route has made that a real probability, and we’re working hard.”
