Overview

• The Democratic primary features 11 candidates including front-runners Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, with early voting underway through June 22 ahead of the June 24 vote.
• New York City's ranked choice system lets voters rank up to five contenders and triggers multiple elimination and redistribution rounds until a candidate secures a majority.
• Polling suggests Cuomo and Mamdani lead the field, prompting campaigns like Brad Lander’s to cross-endorse and Assemblymember Mamdani’s backers to launch “don’t rank” appeals aimed at sidelining Cuomo.
• Critics warn ranked choice voting’s complexity may cause voter confusion and exhausted ballots, as in 2021 when nearly 15% of participants were excluded from the final decision after failing to rank enough candidates.
• Proponents argue the system fosters more representative outcomes by allowing broader ideological preferences to surface and by incentivizing candidates to appeal to secondary supporters.