Recovering from primary day

lots to read! #127

My Tuesday started before the sun to wake up fo a press conference in Astoria Park with Zohran Mamdani, who declared it was the dawning of a new day. It ended technically the next day at the Nancy Whiskey, where some colleagues and I walked to through the heat after covering Andrew Cuomo’s election night party.

As the presumed Democratic primary winner (it’s not official til it’s official) declared 21 hours earlier, it was a new day.

Anyone with eyes can see the difference in the two leading candidate’s campaigns.

Mamdani’s was full of energy and volunteers, who spanned across the city knocking on doors. Over Memorial Day weekend hundreds of them came out to Rockaway, descending into Dayton Towers. The data shows this wasn’t just some fringe outlying group of supporters, or supporters only from whichever neighborhoods others think are full of transplants, like I’ve seen many bad takes say. This was all over the city, because that’s where his volunteers went. (As an aside, two prescient stories we wrote earlier this month.)

And then there was the Cuomo campaign, featuring a man dubbed by POLITICO as a “cable TV candidate in a TikTok world.” From his 17-minute launch video, you knew something wasn’t fresh about it. He kept scooping up major endorsements despite largely avoiding the press, not doing any visibility events, rarely seen speaking to actual New Yorkers despite his campaign insisting he was. When he conceded inside the Carpenters Union headquarters, where his party was held, he looked tired.

Minutes after he left the stage the place cleared out. Within an hour all of the “Cuomo for Mayor” signs were down. By 11 it was just us reporters and the staff cleaning the place up.

We still have a LONG way to go until November, and my only prediction is things will be very ugly (if this tactless and dumb tweet from the re-election campaign for Eric Adams can attest.)

Here’s a rundown of some things to read from election week.

↣ Cuomo’s donors spent a lot of money to lose [THE CITY]
↣ Biz leaders and Jewish leaders grapple with Mamdani’s win [THE CITY/THE CITY]
↣ Dissecting the Cuomo campaign [NYT] Michael Lange’s analysis of Mamdani’s win on his Substack and in the New York Times
↣ ”In fact, [DeRosa] told CNN, before asking to speak off the record, ‘I didn’t really work on the campaign.’” [CNN]
↣Yes, Eric Adams is running again and he kicked things off with a rally [THE CITY]
↣ The governor declines to endorse Mamdani [CITY & STATE]
↣ Cuomo is also still gonna be on November’s ballot [CNN]

And other interesting stories:
♢ We have a budget! [THE CITY]
♢ I really loved all of my local spots on this guide to the best prepared food in grocery stores [GRUBSTREET]
♢ He fled homophobia, applied for asylum, and married a U.S. citizen. ICE grabbed him anyway. [THE CITY]
♢ These Chinese MAGA loyalists have had enough of Trump [DOCUMENTED]
♢ Harlem’s One45 development gets the OK [THE CITY]
♢ The casino bids are in [NY1]
♢ A great guide to used bookstores around the country [BOOKS ON GIF]

Thanks for reading!