From Andrew Cuomo to Zohran Mamdani: the Race to Become NYC’s Mayor, in Photos

NEW YORK — There is one dominant force in the race for New York City mayor. And it’s not the incumbent, Eric Adams, whose embrace of President Donald Trump doomed his already difficult shot at the Democratic primary.

It’s Andrew Cuomo.

The former governor of New York is emerging from the shadows of his past, four years after he resigned his governorship amid sexual harassment allegations he has vehemently denied.

Many Democrats in the five boroughs seem willing to forgive and forget. Cuomo has led every poll by wide margins — and he has more money behind his bid than anyone else.

The other 10 contenders in the June 24 primary are trying their best to counter the idea that the ex-governor’s comeback is an inevitability. They’re a diverse bunch in the nation’s biggest city — spanning race, religion, gender, neighborhood and ideology. But there's a shared sense that it’s everybody against Cuomo.

That could also be a path to victory. New York City primaries use ranked-choice voting, where voters can pick up to five candidates in order. If nobody gets a majority of first-place votes, the rankings of voters who picked losing candidates get redistributed — a process which helped Adams cinch the Democratic Primary in 2021.

Opponents like Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, City Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — no relation to Eric — are playing nice with each other while attacking Cuomo. Some are even talking up the strategy promoted by a super PAC known as DREAM: Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.

But that kind of electoral alliance is untested in New York and prone to cracking among politicians who all, desperately, want to become mayor.

As the Democrats talk about hiring cops, building apartments in the notoriously housing-crunched city — not to mention standing up to Trump — the November general election looms. Eric Adams is seeking reelection as an independent, and other candidates could crop up, making for a crowded field. The winner of the Democratic primary may not waltz to victory as is usual in this deep blue city.

Photographer Mark Ostow hit the trail for a few weeks in April, capturing the top contenders in the race in his signature stark style. These aren’t the polished portraits you’ll see in your mailbox, rather they’re a documentary of the brutal race to lead the largest city in the U.S.