Mamdani Declares Victory as Brooklyn Voters Say Housing and Safety Matter

by Ethan Stark-Miller, Barbara Russo-Lennon, and Adam Daly for amNY and by Gabriele Holtermann, Meaghan McGoldrick, Lloyd Mitchell, Erica Price, Robert Pearl, Ethan Stark-Miller, and Kirstyn Brendlen for Brooklyn Paper

The Mamdani campaign seemed to be everywhere in Brooklyn in the past few weeks, with supporters ringing doorbells and chatting with passersby on street corners from Greenpoint to Ocean Hill to Industry City. The operation comprised 46,000 volunteers who knocked on 1.2 million doors across the city, Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday night — about a third of New York City’s 3.7 million homes.

The boots on the ground approach appears to have won the Democratic socialist State Assembly member the Democratic primary for New York City mayor — a victory the New York Times called “a political shock.” The previously little-known state lawmaker far exceeded expectations in becoming the race’s progressive standard bearer and likely winner.

He promises to freeze the rent for New York’s 1 million stabilized tenants, make public buses free and fast, build 200,000 units of genuinely affordable housing using funds from increased taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, and expand free child care to be universal.

Although the results are still preliminary, Cuomo conceded Tuesday night.

“Tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night, and he put together a great campaign, and he touched young people and inspired them and moved them and got them to come out and vote, and he really ran a highly impactful campaign,” Cuomo told supporters at the Carpenters Union headquarters in SoHo. “I called him, I congratulated him.”

Mamdani, who represents a portion of western Queens, garnered about 43.5 percent of the vote, short of the over 50 percent majority of the vote needed to win outright in the first round, so New Yorkers will likely have to wait at least a week for ranked-choice voting to confirm the contest’s winner. However, he is likely to claim the majority of secondary votes from other progressive candidates in the race given his cross endorsements with other left-leaning contenders — chiefly city Comptroller Brad Lander.

Cuomo, who attempted a political resurgence after resigning in 2021 following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct that he denies, was behind Mamdani with 36.32 percent of the vote; while Lander was in third at 11 percent, and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams came fourth at 4 percent.

Under ranked-choice voting, additional rounds of counting are held in the instance no candidate secured a majority of the first-round vote. The lowest vote-getter in each round is eliminated, with ballots cast in their favor going to whomever their voters ranked second. The candidate who receives a majority of the vote through ranked-choice tabulations is the winner.

The BOE will not begin ranked-choice tabulations until Tuesday, July 1.

High turnout and contested races

Election Day, early voting, and some absentee results began pouring in after polls closed at 9 p.m. on a swelteringly hot Tuesday. Turnout from early voting and Election Day combined appeared on pace to exceed that of the 2021 mayoral election.

The primary election included closely watched races for comptroller, public advocate, civil court judges, Brooklyn borough president, and even some surprising challenges to incumbent City Council members whose races attracted unusual spending by outside billionaires.

Early voting turnout was strong this year, especially in Brooklyn. According to the city’s Board of Elections, more than 142,000 Brooklynites cast their ballots during the nine-day early voting period — a 118 percent jump compared to the last mayoral primary in 2021. That’s the highest early voter turnout of any borough this year, outpacing even Manhattan.

Citywide, 384,338 voters checked in early — more than double the 191,197 early votes cast during the 2021 primary.

While the citywide mayoral race has captured much of the spotlight, several local contests in Brooklyn are drawing intense interest — particularly in southern Brooklyn, where Council Member Inna Vernikov faces a Republican primary challenge from former Democrat-turned-Republican Ari Kagan in District 48. Across the borough, in District 39, incumbent Council Member Shahana Hanif is fending off a challenge from Maya Kornberg, a former researcher at the Brennan Center for Justice, in a race that could test the political mood in Park Slope and Kensington.

In the usually somewhat low profile and uneventful City Council District 41 (covering parts of Bed Stuy, Crown Heights, Ocean Hill, Brownsville, Wingate, and East Flatbush), Uber, James Dolan, and Bill Ackman reportedly spent about half a million dollars to keep incumbent Darlene Mealy in office. With about 43 percent of the votes so far, Mealy appears to be resisting challenges from two newcomers, including former Verizon worker and union organizer Bianca Cunningham.

Calm before the storm

As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, things appeared calm at polling sites across Brooklyn.

Thanks in part to a strong early voting turnout and the city’s first major heatwave of the summer, little to no lines were reported at poll sites in neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, Crown Heights, and Bushwick. Poll workers described a steady but manageable flow of voters, with most sites well-staffed and air-conditioned — offering a brief reprieve from the scorching heat outside.

Still, some sites — like M.S. 51 and P.S. 321 in Park Slope — saw a steady stream of voters.

Fran and Michael, who cast their ballots at M.S. 51, told Brooklyn Paper that homelessness, housing, and transportation were top concerns heading into this primary.

“I’m also concerned about the transparency of politics and where the concentration of power lies,” Michael said. “I’m concerned about corruption in government and honesty. That’s a very important thing to me.”

Michael noted that the high turnout among younger voters — particularly those between ages 25 and 34 — was encouraging.

“I think it’s a positive sign. I hope that it becomes something national. My breath is held until the next elections [and] see what happens,” he said. “There’s great advertising among politicians and spins. For me, what happens in the voting booth is going to determine the future of this country.”

William Yu, who also voted at M.S. 51, said his biggest concerns were housing and street safety.

“I think the affordability is a main issue in terms of housing, really just the cost of everything is really important,” Yu said. “The other important thing for us is street safety — e-bikes and cars.”

Yu said he hoped high voter turnout among young people would lead to more long-term civic engagement.

“Things are really hard right now, particularly for young people,” he said, acknowledging that it took significant challenges to mobilize younger voters. “I wish that it was always this way, but I think it’s great. Whatever gets the young people out.”

Voters Kelly and Sarah said they had no particular policy concerns but were excited to cast their votes — with the exception of one shared worry: the possibility of Andrew Cuomo winning the primary.

“There are so many exciting people who are running for mayor and running to be civil servants in this election. We woke up this morning excited to come here and vote and about the slate of candidates willing to serve the people of New York,” Sarah said. “They just seem like they do want to be civil servants. They are working for us and want everything to be better in New York. And I think a New York that gets better and better is the kind of New York I want to live in.”

Her partner Kelly added, “The people who treat this as their job, those are the people that you want to elect, not the people who think it’s some sort of cool thing to do.”

As the blistering afternoon wore on, the sidewalk outside P.S. 262 in Bed Stuy became a microcosm of the election.

Volunteers with Make the Road New York gathered on the sidewalk outside the busy polling place, waiting for an appearance from Lander and Council Member Chi Ossé, who is up for reelection in District 35. A few feet away, a volunteer with the Cuomo campaign passed out flyers to passersby on their way to vote.

The volunteer, who asked not to be named, said she was “not that into politics.” Her friends are more politically involved, she said, and she felt Cuomo “seemed like an OK guy.”

Voters in Bed Stuy hadn’t been particularly receptive to receiving Cuomo pamphlets, she said — during Brooklyn Paper’s visit, two voters turned them down — but she said she wasn’t “trying to change anyone’s mind.”

“Politics are alright, it’s the heat that’s unbearable,” she said.

Affordable housing was top of mind for some of Ossé’s constituents. Shauna, a local who asked not to share her last name, was waiting for her son outside P.S. 262 so they could vote together.

She’s lived in Bed Stuy for 34 years, she said, and has raised three of her own children there while also watching out for a “village” of other kids in the community.

“There needs to be affordable housing,” she said. “And they say affordable housing, $100,000 is affordable to who? Make it affordable for the working class people. Make our streets safe so our children can walk and go to the park and play and be safe.”

Shauna said she’s watched all the mayoral debates, and prioritizes the safety and well-being of her family and her entire neighborhood.

“Family is first and most important, not just my family, but the community at large and families at large have what they need and they can live a good quality of life,” she said. “Safety in the community is very, very important.”

As she stood outside the polling site, watching Lander and Ossé, Shauna was still making up her mind.

“I’m still praying about who to vote for,” she said.

No matter who won, she said, one thing would be most important.

“Just don’t forget the people once we elect you in. That’s the most important thing. If you have an issue, take care of the issue,” she said. “We get so many text messages and phone calls from [candidates.] But when we call them, please return our calls.”

Another local mom, Christine, stood on the sidewalk with her 4-year-old daughter, who had donned an “I’m a future voter” sticker after joining her mom at the polls. While the candidates mingled, Christine quietly explained to her daughter that they were running for mayor and council, and what they had just done together in the voting booth.

“It was really cool to have my daughter with me in there,” she said. “I always get a little bit emotional when voting.”

Christine declined to say who she had voted for, but said she was “feeling really good about it.”

“I think about people other than myself when I’m going in to vote, but I also think about schools, public safety, and health,” she said. “I really just feel excited about the candidates running right now, I feel hopeful, I feel like people are organizing, and it’s bringing the city farther in a way that makes me feel inspired.”

— With additional reporting by Cate Corcoran

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in Brooklyn Paper and amNY. Click here and here to see the original stories.

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