The ranked choice tabulations are in and further underscore the real estate industry’s losses in the June primary.
The latest results show Assembly member Zohran Mamdani with 56 percent, making him the Democratic nominee for mayor.
Mamdani had a more than seven-point lead over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo as of primary night last Tuesday, a presumed victory that led Cuomo to quickly concede the race to the Democratic socialist. But to secure the official nomination, Mamdani needed to exceed the 50 percent threshold. By the third round of ranked choice voting tabulations, Mamdani received 56 percent compared to Cuomo’s 44 percent. The results will be official once the city’s Board of Elections certifies the results.
The real estate industry spent millions in support of Cuomo’s campaign, and some have since indicated that they will transfer their support from the former governor to Mayor Eric Adams, who is running in the general election as an independent.
City Council candidates backed by the real estate industry also lost. The Real Estate Board of New York’s super PAC launched campaigns against Brooklyn incumbents Alexa Avilés and Shahana Hanif, who both secured well over 50 percent of the vote in the first round.
REBNY’s PAC also funded attack ads against Manhattan Council member Chris Marte, who received just under 50 percent in the first round of counting. Tuesday’s results show Marte with 61.9 percent by the fifth round of ranked-choice voting tabulations.
One bright spot for the PAC was Shanel Thomas-Henry’s campaign to replace term-limited Council member Francisco Moya. She appeared in the lead last week and received 53.2 percent of the vote by the fourth round.
The New York Apartment Association’s super PAC, which had spent $2.5 million on ads supporting Cuomo, also backed City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ chief of staff Tyrell Hankerson’s bid to replace her. The first round of tabulations showed him with 34.8 percent of the vote, but he secured 58.8 percent of the vote by the fifth round.
The race for City Council member Keith Powers’ seat was tight, but on Tuesday, Virginia Maloney pulled through with 53.2 percent of the vote in the fifth round. NYAA had supported former Missouri legislator Rachel Storch’s run for that seat.
The latest results show state Assembly member Harvey Epstein secured Council member Carlina Rivera’s Manhattan seat with 56.7 percent of the vote. Former Congress member Anthony Weiner, who received donations from a handful of real estate executives, only got 10.3 percent and was eliminated after the second round.
The city’s Borough presidents only have an advisory role in the city’s land use review process, so they do not have the ability to make or break a development as Council members do. Still, they can help set the tone for attitudes toward development in their respective boroughs.
Incumbents Vanessa Gibson and Antonio Reynoso were respectively re-elected as the borough presidents of the Bronx and Brooklyn. In Manhattan, Brad Hoylman-Sigal beat Keith Powers and Calvin Sun, crossing the 50 percent threshold in the third round of tabulations. The Staten Island and Queens primaries were uncontested, so candidates will face off in the general election.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine won the Democratic nomination for city Comptroller, with 58.7 percent of the vote in the third round, and will go up against Republican Peter Kefalas in November.
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