This article is adapted from our April 3 edition of RANKED CHOICES, THE CITY’s weekly election newsletter. Click here to sign up.
Dear New Yorkers,
Whew, we’re off to the races now!
In case you hadn’t heard: Mayor Eric Adams will not run as a Democrat this year, opting to skip the June primary altogether and run as an independent candidate in November. He dropped that news this morning — less than 24 hours after his federal corruption charges dropped.
It’s big news in the local political world. Here’s your cheat sheet on the shakeup:
OK, he’s going to run as an independent. But what does that even mean?
Adams being an independent means he won’t be on the Democratic ballot for the June 24 primary. Instead, he will petition — i.e. gather signatures from voters — to get a place as an independent on the November ballot.
Keep in mind: he is seeking to be a small i independent, as opposed to candidates — like former Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who in the past have run on the line of the now-defunct Independence Party.
How does ranked choice voting work with an independent candidate?
It doesn’t! Ranked choice voting is only used in primary and special elections. If Mayor Adams appears as an independent in November for the general election, voters will cast their ballots in the traditional way: Choosing their one favorite candidate. And whoever gets the most votes gets to be mayor next year.
Working Families Party, waiting in the wings.
There’s another big wrinkle on the horizon. There are four parties in New York State that are legally allowed to run a candidate on a ballot line: the Democrats, the Republicans, the Conservative Party and the Working Families Party. And, New York’s “fusion” system allows candidates to appear on multiple ballot lines.
Right now, the WFP is making a move that gives it the option to invite a candidate to use its ballot line in November if none of the four candidates they’re endorsing in the Democratic primary (more on that later) succeed in toppling frontrunner Andrew Cuomo.
As THE CITY’s Gwynne Hogan reported just hours ago, the WFP is petitioning to put a placeholder on their line — who they can remove to make way for another candidate in November.
What does that mean? They have the power to seriously switch things up after the June primary. They could even choose to give their ballot line to a candidate who loses the primary — giving them another bite at the apple in the general election.
If they take that option, we could see a potential five-way race in November with:
A WFP candidate to be determined.
The Democratic nominee.
The Republican nominee.
Mayor Adams running as an independent.
Attorney Jim Walden, also running as an independent.
Forget about 50%-plus-one. Whoever gets the most votes, wins.
Does running independently increase the mayor’s chances?
That’s anyone’s guess.
By making this move Adams is likely hoping to go after more politically moderate New Yorkers, and capture lots of the unaffiliated voters in the city. As we’ve written about before, one in five active voters in NYC are not registered with a party.
But there’s a lot of wildcard factors this year, and no crystal ball.
Buckle up!
— Rachel Holliday Smith and THE CITY’s election team
(Katie Honan will be back next week!)
What We’re Reading …
The two leading Democratic candidates vying to become city comptroller agree on one thing: The major challenge for the office will be protecting the city against funding cuts from President Donald Trump and the Republicans who control Washington. But they’re split on how to do that. Mayor Adams claims he is fighting to obtain millions of dollars in public matching funds that the city Campaign Finance Board has denied his scandal-scarred reelection campaign. But three months after the CFB rejected his request for $4 million in matching funds, the Adams campaign has made zero effort to challenge the rejection.Interview Magazine brought in 18 New Yorkers to, what else, interview mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Questions came from the famous and non-famous alike, including the rapper Heems, a deli worker, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer and playwright Jeremy O. Harris.The Working Families Party isn’t just endorsing one candidate for mayor, they’re picking four. One of them is even named Adams.
What’s Ahead …
Days until the June primary: 83
April 3 (TONIGHT): In-person mayoral forum hosted by multiple Upper West Side tenant associations, with seven candidates attending: Adrienne Adams, Michael Blake, Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani, Zellnor Myrie, Jessica Ramos and Scott Stringer. 7 to 9 p.m. at the community room at 50 W. 97th St. RSVP to sue.susman@gmail.com.
April 7: Public safety-focused mayoral forum co-hosted by Vital City and the CUNY Journalism School with THE CITY’s Reuven Blau. Roosevelt House at Hunter College, 9 to 11 a.m.
April 16: Immigrant-focused mayoral forum hosted by THE CITY, Documented, the New York Immigration Coalition and others. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the CUNY School of Labor & Urban Studies, 25 W. 43rd St.
April 17: Bipartisan mayoral candidate forum hosted by public service retirees. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Proshansky Auditorium, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave. RSVP here.
Your Election Questions, Answered
❓Reader Sumana H. asked: I was talking with several neighbors about the upcoming election … They were unsure who’s running. We’re hoping you will once more publish a [mayoral candidate] matching quiz like the one you did in 2021. Are you planning on doing that again?
Answer: Yes, we are working now to create a new version of Meet Your Mayor, our popular mayoral candidate matching quiz published last mayoral election season. We heard from lots of readers in 2021 that it helped them, so we’re doing it again. Stay tuned!
❓Reader Adam B. asked: Is there a way to get a list of all upcoming mayoral forums?
Answer: Our newsroom is tracking the ones that we hear about, and we publish the soon-to-happen ones in the newsletter’s events section every week. If there is ever one we’re missing, reach out! And if a reader has a suggestion for a better source for those events, we’d love to know about it.
Have a question for our election team? Reply back to this email or send your questions to ask@thecity.nyc.
THE CAMPAIGN KICKER: We were happy to see our toilet reporting cited in City Councilmember Chi Ossé’s latest video explaining why it’s so hard to get a public bathroom built in New York City. (Ossé, like the entire Council, is up for reelection this year.)
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The post What the Eric Adams Party Switch-Up Means for the Mayor’s Race appeared first on THE CITY – NYC News.
