Full Analysis of the 2025 New York Mayoral Election

New York City is holding an extremely controversial election, with a Democratic-Socialist nominee, an Independent candidate, and a Republican candidate. The incumbent mayor, Democrat Eric Adams, was elected in 2021. He announced in early 2025 that he would be running for re-election as an independent, likely because he knew he would not have won the Democratic primary.

The New York City Democratic primary election took place on June 24th, 2025. The election featured 11 candidates in total, though only three were considered serious contenders:

Zohran Mamdani

Andrew Cuomo

Brad Lander

Brad Lander was born in St.Louis, Missouri, in 1969. Lander is the current New York City Comptroller(effectively the city's Chief Financial Officer); he took office on January 1, 2022. Before that, Lander was on the New York City Council, representing district 39 of Brooklyn. Lander has a background of helping create affordable housing in New York City and was commonly considered qualified for the role of mayor. One of his main policies was his housing and homelessness policy: he pledged to declare a housing emergency and build over 500,000 new affordable housing units in New York City. Lander came in third place in the Democratic Primary, and he will not be appearing on the ballot in November.

Andrew Cuomo was born in 1957 in Queens, New York. Son of Mario Cuomo, former Governor of New York, and brother of journalist Chris Cuomo, Andrew is often considered a "Nepo baby", meaning that his family is a considerable factor in his popularity. The Cuomo family of New York can be compared to the Kennedy family of Massachusetts. Nonetheless, Andrew Cuomo is indisputably overqualified for the role of mayor. He served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton, was New York State Attorney General, and even served as governor of New York for 3 terms. He oversaw the legalization of same-sex marriage under President Obama and the early COVID-19 response. However, Cuomo resigned his position in 2021 after allegations of sexual misconduct, following a state investigation. Many critics claim that he is unfit to be mayor due to this, despite his denial of any wrongdoing. Cuomo’s biggest policy is that New York City isn’t as safe or orderly as it should be and that he will be the candidate to fix it. Cuomo plans to raise NYPD funding, reversing recent budget cuts. He also promises to crack down on subway crime, retail theft, and illegal guns through coordination with the police. Governor Cuomo came in second place in the Democratic primary, but refused to give up. Instead, he listed himself as an Independent candidate and will appear on the ballot as such.

Zohran Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1991. His family moved to New York when he was 7. He attended a public school in New York City before graduating and attending Bowdoin College. In 2020, he was elected to the New York State Assembly, representing District 36 in Queens. One of his most controversial policies is his "rent freezing policy". A rent freeze essentially means landlords cannot raise the rent on apartments that qualify: the rent amount stays the same every month, year after year, while frozen. Furthermore, Mamdani also proposes free public transit, specifically city buses. He also suggests city-owned grocery stores in each borough to help standardize food costs, and a plan to tax the wealthy and corporations more to raise money for these services. Mamdani's policies are often criticized for being too far left, including his fiscal and economic policies. He is also often condemned for his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and antisemitism, as a large population of New York is Jewish. Zohran identifies as a Democratic Socialist and came out in first place in the Democratic Primary Election at 34 years old. If he wins, he will be the second youngest mayor in New York's history, as well as the city's first Muslim mayor.

There is one candidate still running who did not appear in the Democratic Primary: Curtis Sliwa, a Republican. Sliwa is the eldest candidate in the election at 71 years old. In 1977, he founded a group called the "Magnificent 13" to patrol subways and streets in New York City in order to find and catch criminals in the act. By 1979, the group grew into the nonprofit organization Guardian Angels, commonly known by their red berets and volunteer crime prevention watches in subways and public transit. Over time, the Guardian Angels moved to many cities across the country and the world. Sliwa ran for mayor of New York in 2021, and despite his loss, he continues his attempt for office in 2025. Curtis Sliwa's policies are defined by 2 main initiatives: restoring law and order and making the city better to live in for working people. Similar to Cuomo, Sliwa plans to increase NYPD funding to raise the number of patrol officers. On that note, he also wants to expand the Guardian Angels in New York City. He plans on lowering taxes for the middle class and fighting homelessness by removing encampments and expanding shelters. Sliwa also intends to end congestion pricing when driving in New York City. His critics often claim that his law and order policies will lead to over policing; however, they also claim that he looks silly in his red beret. Due to this, Sliwa promises that if he leaves the election victorious, he will do away with the beret for good. Sliwa claims that he has been offered millions of dollars to drop out of the race and has refused every offer.

As of October 28th, 2025, the 3 candidates that remain are Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa. CBS News writes, "The latest poll from AARP and Gotham Polling found Mamdani holding onto his lead at 43.2%. Cuomo came in second place at 28.9%, and Sliwa came in third place at 19.4%... However, the same poll found Mamdani and Cuomo would be neck-and-neck if Sliwa dropped out, with Cuomo just four points behind, which is within the poll's margin of error. In that scenario, Mamdani was ahead 44.6% to Cuomo's 40.7%". As of now, Sliwa responds that he is not dropping out of the election and will not drop out. Many say that the only chance of beating Zohran is if Sliwa drops out, and the official prediction of The Sunday Print is that Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City. The Sunday Print does not endorse any candidate.