NYC NOW - Midday News: Mamdani Confident After Primary Lead, City Heat Advisory Extended, and an Analysis of the Democratic Primary Results

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

The presumed victor in the Democratic primary race for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, says he expects the momentum of support behind him will carry through to November’s general election. Meanwhile, the summer swelter continues in New York City with a heat advisory in effect until 7 Wednesday evening. Plus, WNYC’s Jon Campbell breaks down the results of the Democratic primary election.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, June 25th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The presumed victor in the Democratic primary race for New York City mayor, Zeranamondani, says he expects the momentum of support behind him will bring him to the finish line in November's general election. On WNIC's DeBrian Lehrer show this morning, Mamdani said he hopes to continue to build on his coalition. to include the support of his opponents.

As well as New Yorkers who had stopped voting years ago, who had lost faith in a broken political system that has delivered them little as they've been asked to celebrate the crumbs that can barely feed them in their family. Mamdani's biggest opponent, former Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded late last night, but the county will continue next week

since no candidate hit 50% of the vote in the first rank tally. As of now, Mamdani could face Republican Curtis Slewa, Mayor Adams and others, including former Governor Cuomo. The summer swell to continue is in New York City. A heat advisory is in effect until 7 this evening. City officials warning New Yorkers to stay cool and watch out for signs of heat-related illness advice that applies to the entire tri-state.

James Tomasini at the National Weather Service says we all should. Limit outdoor activity as much as you can. Stay hydrated. Stay in air conditioning as possible. Temperatures are forecast to cool starting tomorrow when a cold front will push them down into the lower 80s with a high near 80. On Friday they'll drop even more to about 70 degrees for a high. Tomensini says clouds and chances of showers will accompany the cool down through the middle of next week. We're at 94 now and sunny, feeling like 102. Slim chance of late afternoon showers and storm sunny and 96 for a high but feeling hotter than that.

Stay close. There's more after the break. NYC. New York State Assembly Member Zohan, Mamdani has declared victory in the Democratic primary for mayor over former governor, Andrew Cuomo, and nine other candidates. WNIC's John Campbell has covered both of these men in Albany, and he joins us now to explain what's next. So, John, Mamdani declared victory last night, and Cuomo conceded. But according to the rules of ranked choice voting, a candidate has to be. get more than 50% of the vote in the first round of voting to win outright. So what's the deal here? Well, Michael, you're right. I mean, this isn't going to be official official until we see that

ranked choice tally next week. Remember, voters were asked to rank their top five candidates in order of preference. But Momdani really separated himself from the field in the first round of counting. I mean, he's up by seven points over Andrew Cuomo, the former governor. And he picked up a bunch of votes in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan along the way. And keep in mind, too, Momdani had a cross-endorsement deal with Brad Lander, the city controller, who was the only other mayoral candidate in the race to top a double-digit percentage points. So that means Lander and Mom-Dani encouraged their supporters to rank each other number two, which in all likelihood means that Mom-Dani would gain on Cuomo when Landers' votes are

redistributed to his voters' second choice. So put all of that together, and it's really, really difficult to even imagine a scenario where Cuomo or anybody else could overtake him when that ranked choice tally has revealed this coming Tuesday. But they'll still be counting votes then, right? Yeah, they will. I mean, that happens whether a candidate declares victory or not. Remember, there were 11 candidates on the ballot for this Democratic primary. voters get to pick five. So next week, the Board of Elections will reveal the next round of counting,

the next rounds of counting, I should say, where the lowest performing candidate and their ballots will be eliminated and then redistributed to the second choice. And then that keeps it on going and going for as many rounds as it takes until a candidate gets 50% of the vote. But as we said, that's widely expected to be Mamdani. He had more than 40% of the vote in the first run alone. he only needs to pick up seven percentage points from the other candidates to get over that mark. And especially when you consider

that the candidates that Cuomo was allied with didn't really pick up many votes yesterday. It's looking very good for Mom Donnie. You know, John, when I hear Cuomo speaking about last night, I mean, an hour and a half after the polls closed, he conceded, he sounded awfully disappointed.

What did he say? He did. He gave, what I would call a fairly great, concession speech. He spoke to his supporters at the Carpenters Union Hall in Soho just before 1030 last night. Tonight was not our night. Tonight was Assemblyman Mondani's night, and he put together a great campaign. Now, that concession speech caught some people by surprise a little bit because Andrew Cuomo

is still going to be on the ballot in the fall. He petitioned to run on a, independent line called fight and deliver. But he was pretty unequivocal about the results of the primary last night. He said Mom Donnie won and he went out of his way to compliment Mom Donnie's campaign. Cuomo also said he called Mom Donnie and congratulated him, conceding the primary to him before we even got to that ranked choice tally. Yeah, John, that was my take. It doesn't sound like Cuomo's going to be, even though he is, doesn't sound like he's going to be a candidate in the fall. But now, what about Mom Donnie?

What did he, sir? Well, he took the stage and declared victory just after midnight, and his speech focused on the themes of his campaign that won him the race, especially his pledge to make New York City more affordable. We have won because New Yorkers have stood up for a city they can afford. A city where they can do more than just struggle. One where those who toil in the night can enjoy the fruits of their labor in the day. So Momdani's campaign really tapped into something with younger voters in the city, and he did it with that platform that promised to freeze the rent and rent-regulated apartments and tax the rich and make MTA buses free.

One thing we're going to be watching now is whether the Democratic establishment falls in line behind him. Indeed, but the field isn't clear for Mom Dany this November, right, John? He's got a Republican challenger in Curtis Lewa, and he's got an independent challenger in the incumbent mayor, Eric Adams. That may not be all. Yeah, that's right. I mean, there's another independent candidate, a lawyer named Jim Walden. But like we said, Andrew Cuomo is supposed to be on the ballot. And the big question is whether he's going to actively campaign.

The former governor told his supporters that he's going to take some time to assess his options. But one person who didn't waste any time is Mayor Adams. His campaign has been fairly dormant for months now, but he gave signs last night that he's going to ramp it up. He took to social media and said, quote, the fight for New York's future begins tonight. Wow. WNMIC's John Campbell. John, I look forward to talking to you more about this. Thanks, John. Thank you, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC.

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