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      N.Y.C. Panel Withdraws Proposal to Switch to Open Primaries

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      The panel, created by Mayor Eric Adams, said it would introduce other ballot initiatives, but not a proposal that would allow all voters to participate in primaries regardless of party.The primary elections that New York City uses to pick its mayors will remain unchanged, after a special panel that had been formulating a switch to an open primary system said on Wednesday that it would not put the proposal on the ballot this fall.Under the proposal, all registered voters, regardless of their party affiliation, could participate in primary elections. The 13-member panel, called a Charter Revision Commission, said it had decided not to put the proposal before voters because there was no consensus among civic leaders as to what the new primary model should look like.Richard R. Buery Jr., the chairman of the commission, which was created by Mayor Eric Adams, said in a statement that he was “personally disappointed” in the decision and hoped the issue might be revisited in the future.“I hope civic leaders will build on the progress that we have made this year, develop greater consensus and advance a proposal to voters prior to the next citywide election,” Mr. Buery said.In a 135-page report released earlier this month, which outlined the open-primary plan and other proposals, the commission acknowledged that some members of the panel felt that this year was not the right time to introduce such a major change.One reason to delay a move to an open primary system, the report said, was that New York had only recently enacted a big change to its elections — ranked-choice voting — that some voters still struggled to understand.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. More

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      Adams Eclipses Mamdani in Recent Fund-Raising, as Cuomo Lags Behind

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      Mayor Eric Adams reported raising $1.5 million over the last month, but his inability to qualify for matching funds may hamper his re-election bid.When Eric Adams appeared at a campaign fund-raiser in Florida earlier this month with people who are aligned with a Young Republicans group and President Trump, the event seemed incongruous for a sitting Democratic mayor of New York City.But this is no ordinary mayor’s race.As Mr. Adams makes a long-shot re-election bid as an independent candidate in November, he has begun to expand his fund-raising network to try to compete with the Democratic nominee, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.The latest fund-raising period in the race suggests that the mayor still holds sway with some donors — even if they are outside the typical New York donor world.Of the $1.5 million that Mr. Adams raised during the most recent filing period, from June 10 to July 11, nearly half came from outside New York City. Eight donations arrived from Florida on the day of the fund-raiser, totaling $2,325.Mr. Mamdani also posted a strong fund-raising haul during that period. He raised $852,000, including $256,000 that is eligible for public matching funds, effectively boosting his total to $1.1 million, according to his campaign. And in a sign of his growing national stature, roughly 45 percent of his contributions came from outside New York State. He now has just over $2.6 million on hand.Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, in contrast, raised just $64,000 during the recent fund-raising period, in part because he was not actively fund-raising while he mulled whether to continue his campaign as an independent in November. He has almost $1.2 million on hand, and, after releasing a video on Monday confirming his intention to run, is expected to now start focusing on raising money.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. More

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      Mamdani, Be a Convener, Not a Commentator

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      Dear New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani:I have been watching you tortuously try to explain to pro-Israel New Yorkers that your readiness to defend the phrase “globalize the intifada” was not antisemitic or meant to favor the elimination of the Jewish state.You have said that it’s not a phrase you use but have not condemned its use by others, insisting that it means different things to different people. Going even further on Tuesday, in a meeting with New York business leaders, you reportedly said you would “discourage” use of the phrase.It seems to me that you have gotten yourself tied up in knots on this issue, pulled between your supporters and your critics. May I offer two pieces of advice that have guided me over four decades of navigating this conflict:First, if you are discussing a mantra — like “globalize the intifada” — that takes 15 minutes to explain why it doesn’t mean what it obviously means, I’d suggest that you distance yourself further from that mantra.May I offer an alternative? “Two states for two people.” It works really well with drums — “Two states, for two people.”While that solution may be a long shot, it has the virtue of being the only viable, just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — one that many Americans still support, and one, if this Gaza war ever ends, I believe many Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims and Jews in New York City will as well. There is no other viable alternative. There is no one-state solution; there is no three-state solution. The only alternative to “two states for two people” is, in my opinion, no states for two people — just a grinding forever war between two people living intertwined with each other.Second, the world does not need the mayor of New York City to be another commentator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The world is awash with commentators on this issue. We don’t need any more. We need leaders ready to be conveners of those looking for the only just solution.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. More

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      Your Questions About the New York City Mayor’s Race

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      Readers wanted to know more about Zohran Mamdani, how he won the Democratic primary (and how Andrew Cuomo lost), and what it all means. We have answers.Good morning. It’s Wednesday. Today we’ll answer some reader questions about Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and the New York City mayor’s race. We’ll also explain why the subway floods so often during rainstorms.Shuran Huang for The New York TimesAssemblyman Zohran Mamdani stunned New York City, the country and many in his own party when he defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary last month.As voters and political observers digest the primary results and look toward the general election, questions have also arisen: about the candidates, how journalists are covering the race and what it all means. We asked readers for their questions, and more than 100 poured in from all over the world. Our reporters and editors have answered 21 so far, a few of which are below. Read the full article here.We’ll keep at it until the November election, sharing selections in this newsletter. Submit your questions here.How does Mamdani’s race and subsequent win reflect the overall picture of politics — especially the identity of the Democratic Party — going into November and beyond?— Samantha Kaplan, Annapolis, Md.Age distribution of voters in New York City mayoral electionsIncludes 2025 mail ballots processed through the morning of June 26

      Sources: New York City Board of Elections; L2By Alex LemonidesWe 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. More

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      Mamdani Says He Will ‘Discourage’ the Term ‘Globalize the Intifada’

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      Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the race for mayor of New York City, moved to distance himself from comments that sparked outrage during the primary.Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, told an influential group of business leaders on Tuesday that he would not use the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been seen as a call to violence against Jews, and would “discourage” others from doing so, according to three people familiar with his comments.The phrase has been a rallying cry among opponents of the war in Gaza, and Mr. Mamdani, an ardent critic of Israel’s military operations, had refused to condemn its use during the Democratic primary race that he won in June.His comments came in a closed-door meeting with roughly 150 business executives at the offices of Tishman Speyer in Rockefeller Center. It was hosted by the Partnership for New York City, a consortium of members representing banks, law firms and corporations.Mr. Mamdani told the group that while many people used the term to express solidarity with Palestinians, some New Yorkers viewed it as a reference to violence against Israel, according to one of the people who were familiar with his comments.Just two weeks ago, shortly after his primary victory, Mr. Mamdani said in an interview on “Meet the Press” that the term was “not language that I use” but that “I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech.”Mr. Mamdani’s shifting language comes as his campaign moves from his stunning victory in the June primary to the general election in November, when he faces a fractured field of competitors including Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who are running as independents, and the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa.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. More

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      Mamdani for Mayor (if You Want to Help the Republicans)

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      Two groups must be especially thrilled by the prospect of Zohran Mamdani becoming New York’s next mayor.The first: young, progressive-leaning voters who gave the charismatic 33-year-old State Assembly member his come-out-of-nowhere victory in last month’s Democratic primary. They want what he wants: rent freezes, free public buses, city-owned grocery stores, tax hikes for corporations and millionaires, curbs on the police, a near doubling of the minimum wage to $30 an hour and the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu.The second: Republicans who want to make sure that Democrats remain the perfect opposition party — far-left, incompetent, divided, distrusted and, on a national level, unelectable. Remember when Ronald Reagan ran against the “San Francisco Democrats” in 1984 and carried 49 states? Get ready for the G.O.P. to run against “Mamdani Democrats” for several election cycles to come.That’s a thought that ought to give moderate Democrats pause before they accept Mamdani’s mayoralty as a political fait accompli, or even think of getting behind him. Among the reasons the Democratic Party’s brand has become toxic in recent years is progressive misgovernance in places like Los Angeles; San Francisco; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and Chicago. If Mamdani governs on the promises on which he’s campaigned, he’ll bring the same toxicity to America’s biggest city.How so?Some of Mamdani’s proposals, like the city-owned groceries, are almost too foolish to mention: Public grocery stores struggle to stock their shelves, can’t compete with private groceries, lack economies of scale and have a recent record of failure in the United States. Other ideas, like free buses, would merely exacerbate the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s shaky finances, which is one reason Kathy Hochul, New York’s Democratic governor, didn’t renew a free bus ride pilot program last year.Turns out, socialism works no better in Brooklyn than it does in Havana.But those ideas won’t be as destructive as Mamdani’s other brainstorms. “Freeze the rent,” his popular campaign slogan, applies only to rent-stabilized apartments, which account for about half of the city’s rental units. But a rent freeze would have precisely the same effects in New York as it has everywhere else: Particularly in a time of inflation, it would lead landlords to cut costs on maintenance, jack up prices on non-stabilized units, convert rental buildings to condos or co-ops and stop new developments that would require affordable housing.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. More

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      Andrew Cuomo Test Drives a Warmer, Friendlier Version of Himself

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      Mr. Cuomo, the former governor of New York, has vowed to run a more energetic campaign than he did in the mayoral primary, and aimed to demonstrate that on Tuesday.There were stops at a pizzeria in Queens, a coffee shop in Harlem and a few places in the Bronx. The childhood home got a visit. Hands were shaken; smiles were exchanged.Tuesday was Day 1 of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s reimagined and reinvigorated campaign to become mayor of New York City, a corrective bid to what even his allies conceded had been a lackluster effort to win over voters.The appearances reflected the first faint signs of a different sort of Cuomo campaign taking shape — one that seemed inspired in part by the go-anywhere, talk-to-anyone strategy successfully deployed by Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblyman who captured the Democratic primary.But in Mr. Cuomo’s hands, the shift in approach served a very particular mission: portray Mr. Mamdani as a socialist enemy of New York City, and convey Mr. Cuomo’s regret for neither effectively nor energetically delivering that message during the campaign.Sitting across from his daughter Mariah at Gaby’s Pizza in Queens, Mr. Cuomo took responsibility for his lackluster primary campaign, saying, “I did not communicate my vision effectively.”“There was this ‘play it safe, make no mistakes’ attitude,” he added, as a fleet of campaign videographers recorded his every move. “That was not who I am. It’s not what New Yorkers expected from a campaign.”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. More

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      Mayor Adams Loses Another Round in Bid to Receive Public Matching Funds

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      The New York City Campaign Finance Board rejected Mayor Eric Adams’s request for millions of dollars from the city’s generous matching-funds program.Mayor Eric Adams of New York City was again denied public matching funds for his re-election campaign after a panel said on Tuesday that he had once again failed to provide requested information regarding his campaign’s fund-raising efforts, including interactions with Turkish business interests.The New York City Campaign Finance Board initially denied Mr. Adams’s request for public funds following his indictment on corruption-related charges last year, blocking him from the city’s generous program that gives qualifying candidates an eight-for-one match of small-dollar donations.In May, Mr. Adams sued the board in an effort to overturn the ruling, arguing that the decision to withhold $3.4 million was based on an indictment that had been dropped by the Justice Department. The mayor’s lawsuit was dismissed last week, with a federal judge in Brooklyn, Nicholas G. Garaufis, noting that Mr. Adams had been late to provide information regarding conflicts of interest and that more information was still outstanding.In its denial on Tuesday, the Campaign Finance Board said that the mayor’s team still had not provided the necessary documents, some of which were requested in November. The board’s chairman, Frederick P. Schaffer, said that Mr. Adams’s campaign had requested an extension until Aug. 1.A spokesman for Mr. Adams’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.The board’s denial comes as its investigation into the Adams campaign’s financing practices appears to be expanding, with its lawyers indicating in court filings that the board had requested more information from the campaign to explain potential improper behavior. Some of the requested correspondence is connected to an Uzbek businessman, according to court documents.The board’s decision is yet another blow to the mayor’s effort to defeat the Democratic nominee, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who won a decisive victory in last month’s primary, handily outpacing his closest rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, by 12 points.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. More