NYC Democratic mayoral primary live updates and 2025 election results as polls close – watch live

Polls closed in the New York City primary at 9 p.m.

CBS News estimates total voter turnout at approximately 1.1 million, mostly in person on Election Day. That is more than one third of the city’s registered Democrats and noticeably more than in the 2021 mayoral primary. 

As of the NYC Board of Elections’ 7:30 p.m. update, voter turnout was at 930,721. Here’s the breakdown by borough:

• Manhattan: 272,884
• Bronx: 97,632
• Brooklyn: 336,387
• Queens: 193,881
• Staten Island: 29,721

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is among 11 candidates vying to win the Democratic mayoral primary. He’s holding his watch party Tuesday night in Brooklyn. 

Lander gained national attention earlier this month when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him while he was escorting immigrations leaving hearings at federal immigration court. 

Lander voted early last week at John Jay High School and has been campaigning across the five boroughs. On Election Day, he didn’t seem to be worried about the latest polls placing him a distant third.

Lander said one reason why he and Mamdani endorsed each other is because they don’t want to let Cuomo near City Hall.

“I mean, I’m doing great. It is hot out here but the energy and the hope people have for a better city is really palpable. You could feel it,” Lander said. “There is something about the nature of the cross endorsement and people seeing politics as a team sport for making the city better.”

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ camp told CBS News New York he would join Lander on Tuesday night.

Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was spending Tuesday night at a roof-top bar in Long Island City, a fitting venue for the millennial progressive candidate who has energized younger Democrats. 

Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist, was once considered a dark horse in this race. He has since been climbing the polls, with at least one showing him neck and neck with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

His campaign promise is to lower the cost of living by freezing rent for stabilized tenants, making city buses and child care free, building 200,000 affordable housing units, and creating city-owned grocery stores.

Mamdani says he plans to pay for it by raising the corporate tax and taxing top earners a flat 2%.

Critics say Mamdani is too inexperienced and idealistic, but he has undoubtedly managed to energize a base with his social media savvy and progressive platform.

“What we offer is a vision to keep New Yorkers in the place that they call home, and an antidote to the Trump administration and the hatred and the division that it spews,” Mamdani said. “We are showing people that hope is not something that is naive. It is, in fact, righteous when it is built upon a plan and a vision. We are showing New York City that a better day is possible, and today is the first of many of them.”

Mamdani is endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and the Working Families Party. Democrats around the country are watching this race and this candidate in particular, because if Mamdani succeeds in one of the first elections since Donald Trump returned to office, it could signal to the party what type of candidate Democratic voters are hungry for.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been the frontrunner in New York City’s mayoral primary since announcing his run back on March 1. But what looked like a relatively easy path to the nomination has hit some road bumps, thanks to a surge by Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani and a feisty challenge from progressive Brad Lander.

On Tuesday night, Cuomo was closely monitoring turnout with his supporters in the West Village, keeping a particular eye on the Bronx. A good night for his campaign would mean at least 50% of the primary vote cast in the borough. 

Cuomo needs to run up big margins in the Bronx. The borough is so important, the campaign sent his long-time top aide Melissa DeRosa to Co-Op city to engage voters.  

Volunteer Sarah Danzig said she was happy to hear more than 200,000 voters went to polling places citywide before noon.

“People are going to work today. People don’t stay home because it’s hot. A lot of people voted early this morning. There were lines everywhere that we saw this morning. I do think that people will vote after 4 p.m., but voters like to vote, and Cuomo voters, in particular, like to vote, so we’re feeling pretty good about it,” Danzig said.

Cuomo and his team would love to finish Tuesday night with close to 40% of the overall vote, which would set him up nicely for the next phase of ranked choice voting.

The software company AdImpact says this primary saw $37 million in ad spending, with Cuomo spending $20 million, or more than all the other candidates combined.

By cross-endorsing each other, Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander are attempting to use ranked choice voting as a tool against Andrew Cuomo. On Tuesday, Mamdani and Lander campaigned together and asked voters to leave Cuomo off the ballot.

“Goal number one, add our votes together to block Andrew Cuomo,” Lander said.

Lander also started using robocalls by Attorney General Letitia James and Jewish activist Ruth Messinger to urge voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots.

“So when you vote today, please rank five candidates for mayor. But do not make Andrew Cuomo one of them,” one call says.

On the other side, many voters reportedly ranked Cuomo first and left the rest of their ballots blank.  

In a strategy to use ranked choice voting to their advantage, Mamdani and Lander cross-endorsed each other by urging their biggest supporters to rank the other second. 

Mamdani and Lander believe it can prevent Cuomo from winning and would have blocked Mayor Adams from winning the primary four years ago. Cuomo has consistently led in polling since entering the mayor’s race. 

“Andrew Cuomo’s campaign is a house of cards. The two strongest progressive campaigns can topple him, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Mamdani said. 

“I’m proud to cross-endorse Zohran, because of his strong commitment to a more affordable New York, and to stop the corrupt, morally bankrupt, unacceptable Andrew Cuomo from becoming mayor of a city he doesn’t even like,” Lander said. 

Mamdani and Blake also have a cross-endorsement.

Mayor Eric Adams, who will kick off his independent campaign for reelection later in the week, offered a pox on the houses of all his opponents on Tuesday, including Republican Curtis Sliwa.

“All four of us should be defined by the word ‘record.’ One person doesn’t have a record, one person is running from their record, and I have a record,” Adams said, referring to Mamdani and Cuomo. “Curtis does a good job with cats, but he doesn’t do a good job in making sure our city is functioning.”

The mayor was asked who he voted for. He said he put “Eric Adams” on every line.

CBS News New York political reporter Marcia Kramer has seen it all during her many years covering elections in New York City.

She says former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani slugging it out in the mayoral primary reminds her of two recent Democratic congressional primary races.

First, there was then-unknown Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the insurgent, defeating long-time Rep. Joe Crowley in a stunning upset back in 2018. The other happened last year when then-Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a moderate, defeated Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who was at the time one of the most progressive lawmakers in Congress.

Kramer says the question on Election Day is if Mamdani will become this season’s AOC, or if Cuomo will show that a moderate voice is what New York City voters really want.

No matter how it plays out, a winner won’t be known for several days. The New York City Board of Elections has to wait until the absentee and affidavit ballots are in.

The standard wisdom is that if Cuomo is ahead by 10 points or more, he will prevail. However, if he is ahead by five points or less, Mamdani has a leg up.

What’s unclear is whether the campaign waged by Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander to not rank Cuomo will have an impact. Kramer says a lot of people “bullet voted,” meaning they did not use rank choice voting, opting instead to vote for only one candidate. That candidate, Kramer reported, was Cuomo. 

Nearly 400,000 people voted early in the primary, with the most ballots cast in Brooklyn and the fewest in Staten Island, according to the NYC Board of Elections.

Here’s the breakdown by borough:

• Manhattan: 122,642
• Bronx: 30,816
• Brooklyn: 142,735
• Queens: 75,778
• Staten Island: 12,367
• Total: 384,338 (unofficial) 

Early voting went from June 14-22.

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers went out to vote Tuesday morning and afternoon, even as temperatures reached 100 degrees in the city. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order days before the election ensuring people waiting in line to vote can receive water and other refreshments. 

It was historically hot across the Tri-State Area. Kennedy Airport hit 100 degrees for the first time since 2013 and Newark Airport reached 103 degrees, a new record for June.

While polling heading into the primary consistently showed Cuomo winning, one released the day before the election had Mamdani defeating him. 

The Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll released Monday had the two leading candidates neck and neck, with Mamdani ultimately winning the ranked choice voting simulation after eight rounds.

Lander was the only other candidate with double digit support in the first round in the poll.

To read more, click here.

Voters can rank up to five of 11 candidates in the Democratic primary. Here are the candidates as they appear on the ballot:

• Zohran Kwame Mamdani
• Scott M. Stringer
• Selma K. Bartholomew
• Zellnor Myrie
• Adrienne E. Adams
• Andrew M. Cuomo
• Jessica Ramos
• Whitney R. Tilson
• Michael Blake
• Brad Lander
• Paperboy Love Price

Click here for more about the top candidates. 

Not sure where to vote? Click here to use the NYC Board of Elections tool and find your polling place.

You need to be in line by 9 p.m. to vote. 

Ranked choice voting, also called instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank candidates from their first choice to their fifth. Advocates of ranked choice voting say it gives more diverse candidates a chance in competitive races. 

Voters can rank up to five candidates, but they’re not required to. Ranking just one, two, three or four candidates is fine.

When votes are tabulated, all first-choice votes are counted initially. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, they win. If no candidate receives more than 50%, the counting continues in rounds until there is a winner. 

At the end of each round without a winner, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Anyone who voted for that candidate will have their next choice counted in the following round. That means your second choice is only counted if your first is eliminated. If your first and second choices get eliminated, your third choice is counted, and so on. 

This process can continue until only two candidates are left. At that point, the one with the most votes wins. 

This is the city’s second mayoral primary election with ranked choice voting. Mayor Adams won the 2021 Democratic primary after several rounds.

Ranked choice will not be used in the November general election, where a simple majority is needed to win.