Muslim Socialist Closes In on Cuomo in NYC Mayoral Race

New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary just took a sharp left turn and it's putting a radical socialist within striking distance of a disgraced former governor.

According to a newly released PIX 11/Emerson College poll, Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-proclaimed democratic socialist and Muslim state assemblyman from Queens, is now polling just 9 points behind Andrew Cuomo after 10 simulated rounds of ranked-choice voting. It’s a massive leap from March, when Mamdani was pulling just 10% to Cuomo’s 38%.

The ranked-choice system, where voters rank up to five candidates and votes are reallocated after each round of eliminations, is proving to be Mamdani’s secret weapon. While Cuomo leads in first-choice votes, Mamdani picks up support as other far-left candidates drop off, giving him an edge in later rounds.

Here’s what the poll found:

• Cuomo: 35% first-choice support

• Mamdani: 23%

• Brad Lander: 11%

• Scott Stringer: 9%

• Adrienne Adams: 8%

• Zellnor Myrie: 5%

Mamdani’s surge comes largely from younger voters, white voters, and the highly educated a left-wing coalition eager to push New York further into socialist territory. Meanwhile, Cuomo’s base consists of older voters, women, and the city’s black voting bloc.

The stakes are enormous. Mamdani isn’t just another progressive his campaign platform includes free public transportation, government-run grocery stores, and taxpayer-funded child care. He’s also been aggressively forming alliances with fellow leftist candidates to block Cuomo’s political resurrection.

Mamdani even urged his supporters to contribute to Adrienne Adams’ campaign not to help her win, but to get her more funding and pick up her second-choice voters later, all in an effort to squeeze Cuomo out of the race.

Cuomo’s camp is brushing off the numbers, calling the Emerson poll an “outlier.” But behind the scenes, his campaign is clearly rattled. The former governor, who resigned in disgrace over sexual harassment allegations, is attempting a comeback in a city he once dominated only to find himself losing ground to a radical socialist backed by the DSA.

In general election matchups, Cuomo still performs better against Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, beating him by a wider margin than Mamdani would. Sliwa, who lost the 2021 mayoral race, is facing an uphill battle, especially with current Mayor Eric Adams running as an independent but even Adams is polling better against Mamdani than he is against Cuomo.

The deeper story is what this race says about where the Democratic Party is heading in America’s largest city. A career politician with establishment backing is being chased down by a hard-left ideologue promoting government dependency, free everything, and class warfare.

And with early voting starting June 14 and the primary set for June 24, the race is turning into a brutal showdown between old-school machine politics and a socialist movement openly hostile to capitalism, law enforcement, and American values.

New Yorkers are now left with a sobering choice: a return to disgraced leadership under Cuomo or a leap off the far-left cliff with Mamdani.

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