This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Everyone knows his name now. The 33-year-old democratic socialist shocked the New York political world when he cruised to victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in what observers had expected would be a close race. Mamdani’s clear economic populist message (have you heard he wants to freeze the rent?), legion of 50,000 volunteer canvassers organized by the Democratic Socialists of America and social media-savvy videos energized young voters and Muslim and South Asian voters alike, and concerns from business interests (who objected to his socialist vision) and pro-Israel groups (who labeled him an antisemite) could not stop record numbers of his supporters from turning out to vote for Mamdani – or the Democratic establishment from quickly, if begrudgingly, coalescing around him in the aftermath of his primary upset.

Heading into primary day, the City Council races in Brooklyn’s 38th and 39th districts were thought to be competitive. Instead, both races were called for the leftist incumbents while the night was young. The coal oven pizza from Table 87 was still warm at Hanif’s election night watch party when she was declared the winner over moderate challenger Maya Kornberg. Soon after, Avilés’s supporters were celebrating their win. Both City Council members won their races by margins of – checks notes – more than 43%!

It seems as if the battle for the Bronx wasn’t much of a battle after all. Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson won reelection despite a tough challenge from City Council Member Rafael Salamanca – and it wasn’t close. She gets to keep her job for another four years, and Salamanca is now left searching for a place to land after he’s term-limited later this year.

State Sen. Sean Ryan won the Democratic primary for Buffalo Mayor and may have just shaved about four hours off of his commute. There’s still a general election to win, but Buffalo has only elected Democrats to the position for decades – outside of Byron Brown’s infamous write-in campaign in 2022. The race wasn’t necessarily a cakewalk; he had to contend with an incumbent with healthy backing from the business community, but now he’s likely just a couple of months away from leading the city of good neighbors.

Albany City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs won the Democratic primary for Albany mayor and made some history in the process. Applyrs is the first Black woman to ever be the Democratic nominee for Albany mayor, and given Albany’s deep-seated Democratic leanings, she will likely be the first Black person to ever run City Hall. Applyrs will also have the added benefit of a cash windfall coming to the city through a $400 million state development plan in this year’s budget.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Five years after becoming a national celebrity for his daily COVID-19 briefings, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo lost the Democratic mayoral nomination to a democratic socialist state lawmaker half his age. Cuomo’s go-it-alone campaign strategy didn’t fit the ranked choice voting era, and while Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani’s campaign screamed energy and enthusiasm, Cuomo’s campaign seemed like an idling Dodge Charger filled with political hacks. From Lindsey Boylan to Cynthia Nixon, Cuomo saw his burgeoning enemies list campaign against him. He now must decide whether to follow his father’s ultimately unsuccessful 1977 mayoral path and run in the general election or hop in the Charger, ride off into the sunset and maybe see if Eliot Spitzer wants to start a support group.

As Michael Scott quoting Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You lose 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Unfortunately for Jessica Ramos, she also lost 100% of the shots she did take. After an incredibly lackluster run for mayor, Ramos decided to throw her lot in with Cuomo despite having harshly criticized him during the campaign. It cost Ramos whatever was left of her reputation among progressives, but a Cuomo victory at least might have meant a nice position in City Hall. Instead, she’s left holding an empty bag as she quickly becomes a meme.

Inflation has been a real bear, and money doesn’t go as far as it used to. Just ask former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who spent $8.3 million backing Andrew Cuomo’s bid for mayor. Twenty years ago, you could still buy your way into office (albeit with nearly 10 times the amount he spent on Cuomo) and rule like a king. These days, you can spend over a billion dollars and only win American Samoa.

Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar is likely seeing red this week – and no, we don’t mean in her wardrobe. The Queens lawmaker lost her bid to oust New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in a landslide, garnering less than 19% of the vote to Williams’ 71%. Was it her controversial cartoons depicting Williams or her dramatic switch from the comptroller race to the public advocate race that did her in? Who’s to say.

The disgraced former member of Congress was ready to test the waters after serving prison time for the serial sexting scandals that killed his political career, only to discover that fourth place was the best he could do in the race for an open Council seat in Manhattan’s District 2. PerhapsNew Yorkers with a long memory haven’t forgotten his past pervy behavior, or maybe some just couldn’t get themselves to vote – again – for a candidate named Weiner.