The New York Times’s City Hall bureau chief preps us for the Democratic primary.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary is a pivotal marker in the race to lead New York City.
One candidate who is polling well, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, 67, would be the oldest elected mayor in the city’s modern history. Another front-runner, Zohran Mamdani, 33, a state lawmaker, would be the youngest in a century. Mr. Cuomo has a long track record laid with a style of governance that rubs many the wrong way. Mr. Mamdani was unknown to most people before his media-savvy campaign.
There are other prominent candidates who are trailing in the polls but who may still affect the outcome as voters use a ranked-choice ballot system for the second time.
In an interview with Times Insider, Emma G. Fitzsimmons, the city hall bureau chief for the Metro desk at The New York Times, explained the contours of the race. This conversation has been edited.
One of your colleagues described the final weeks of the race as “chaotic.” How so?
First, the race is close. Different polls say different things, but Andrew Cuomo, the former governor, has been leading for months. Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist lawmaker from Queens, has been rising in the polls. The current mayor, Eric Adams, decided not to run in the Democratic primary and is running as an independent in the November general election.
The race has gotten pretty nasty in the final weeks. Cuomo is attacking Mamdani; a super PAC that is supporting Cuomo is running millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements calling Mamdani radical, and some people believe those advertisements are Islamophobic because Mamdani is Muslim. Mamdani is hitting Cuomo pretty hard, saying he’s the candidate of the billionaire class and that he’s a disgraced former politician who doesn’t deserve a second chance.
A year ago, for different reasons, it seemed unlikely that Mamdani and Cuomo would be in the positions they are in today. How did they get here?
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
