Zohran Mamdani voted for himself to be NYC’s next mayor on Tuesday on the Working Families Party (WFP) ballot line, despite Democrats having overwhelmingly given their party’s nomination back in June, according to reports.
Mamdani, the frontrunner in the 2025 mayoral election after winning the Democratic primary, received an endorsement from the WFP in March, alongside three other primary candidates.
On Tuesday, Mamdani cast his ballot at Astoria’s Frank Sinatra School for the Arts High School months after winning the Democratic nomination in a shock 12-point victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary.
He voted for himself on the WFP ballot line, according to Politico reporter Jason Beeferman, who cited a Mamdani campaign spokesperson. amNewYork reached out to the Mamdani campaign for a response, but did not receive one prior to publication.
Since convincingly winning the primary in June, Mamdani has scooped a number of high-profile nominations from more moderate Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
However, other high-profile Democrats did not endorse the nominee, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York State Democratic Party.
Jacobs, in particular, outright refused to endorse the Democratic nominee, citing Mamdani’s stance on Israel and his democratic socialist policies.
In a statement issued alongside several publications in September, Jacobs stated that he agreed with Mamdani on the importance of addressing the affordability crisis but noted that the pair “fundamentally disagree” on several policy issues.
The New York State Democratic Party has not yet responded to a request for comment.
WFP and fusion voting in NYC
The progressive WFP had ranked Mamdani in the top slot for its mayoral primary slate in May ahead of City Comptroller Brad Lander, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and State Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos in an attempt to coalesce support behind a progressive candidate to challenge then-frontrunner Cuomo.
WFP’s endorsement marked a major milestone for Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, as it was one of the largest endorsements the Queens lawmaker had received up to that point.
New York, along with Connecticut, is one of two states across the US that allow for fusion voting, which allows multiple parties to nominate the same candidate. Voters can only vote along one party line and will invalidate their ballots if they choose both.
Those who vote along the WFP line over the Democratic line often do so to outline their support for more progressive policies, such as a higher minimum wage and increased taxes on wealthy New Yorkers. Mamdani has campaigned in support of both such policies.
Last year, the WFP faced a fight to stay on the ballot, having to earn 2% of all votes cast for president or governor (or 130,000 votes) in the 2024 election. That threshold formerly stood at 50,000, but reforms introduced by the Public Campaign Financing Commission under Cuomo’s gubernatorial administration significantly increased the pressure on independent and third parties.
City and State reported last year that Cuomo was rumored to have introduced the measure as payback for a WFP decision to endorse Cynthia Nixon in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi did not provide comment at the time.
