Early voting in New York City‘s Democratic mayoral primary has so far doubled compared to the 2021 mayoral race, with young voters and white voters leading the high turnout this time around.
More than 131,434 people have cast their ballots at poll locations in the first four days of early voting, Gothamist reported, using data from New York City’s Board of Elections, compared to 64,000 people in the same period in 2021. Early voting began on Saturday.
New York State’s Assembly District 52, which includes Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn, had the most early voters at 6,066 as of Tuesday. Notably, the same district saw the highest overall turnout in 2021 when New York City Mayor Eric Adams won the election.
Brooklyn and Manhattan saw the highest early voting turnout in New York City, with 46,792 and 43,259 voters, respectively. These numbers are more than double those of four years ago.
In the past week, the age group that turned out in droves to poll sites was 25-34-year-olds, with 29,557 ballots cast in those first four days.
The early voting numbers among young, liberal, white voters are expected to bode well for New York State Rep. Zohran Mamdani, a socialist candidate who wants to freeze rent and provide no-cost childcare to working families if elected.
Mandani is currently in second place, around 10 points behind former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a new Marist poll. However, among voters younger than 45 years old, Mamdani leads Cuomo by 34 points.
“If it were up 10%, that would be one thing,” Laura Tamman, a political science professor at Pace University, told Gothamist. “But for those numbers to be double suggests that there’s something real and important that’s happening.”
Mamdani also greatly benefited from a high-profile endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a fellow socialist politician.
Meanwhile, Mamdani and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander endorsed each other following the Democratic mayoral primary debate last week. During the debate, Mamdani and Lander attacked Cuomo’s record as governor and his 2021 resignation amid sexual harassment allegations.
“As Brad and I exposed the ex-governor’s record of corruption and scandal on last night’s debate stage, New Yorkers could see Cuomo for what he really is: a relic of the broken politics of the past,” Mamdani said.
ADAMS EXPECTS GENERAL ELECTION CHALLENGES FROM CUOMO, MAMDANI DESPITE PRIMARY
“His campaign has always been a house of cards, and with Brad and I cross-endorsing on the eve of early voting, we will topple it together,” he added. “I am proud to rank our principled and progressive Comptroller #2 on my ballot because we are both fighting for a city every New Yorker can afford.”
It remains to be seen whether Cuomo will retain his edge over Mamdani and other Democratic candidates in next week’s race ahead of the general election in November. The mayoral primary is set for Tuesday.
