Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams have won support from the same coalition of voters in their bids to lead New York City, setting them on a collision course that could help Zohran Mamdani in his bid to become the next mayor, an Associated Press analysis of recent election results found.
Mamdani, a state Assembly member, won the Democratic nomination for mayor in June, backed by a new coalition of voters. Cuomo, the former New York governor, and Adams, the incumbent mayor, are running as independents in the Nov. 4 election. Republican Curtis Sliwa is running for the second time, after winning just over one-quarter of the vote in the 2021 general election.
To understand the coalitions these candidates have built, The Associated Press examined precinct-level results from the last two Democratic mayoral primaries. Adams skipped the Democratic primary this year, while Cuomo finished almost 13 percentage points behind Mamdani once ranked-choice tabulations were run. Sliwa ran unopposed in 2025.
Should Cuomo and Adams remain in the race, the AP analysis suggests Mamdami could have a clearer path to victory, assuming recent voting patterns repeat themselves. Sliwa, who remains a long shot in the heavily Democratic city, could also draw votes away from Cuomo and Adams — the more moderate candidates — further helping Mamdani.
