The New York City Divide Shaping Its Contentious Mayoral Race

New York’s mayoral contest has fully surfaced a tension bubbling in city politics for years: the divide between lifelong New Yorkers and young professionals who have recently moved in. In his 7-point Democratic primary win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani cleaned up with younger voters who live in some of New York’s most gentrified neighborhoods — including Bushwick, Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Cuomo, meanwhile, edged out Mamdani in majority-Black, outer-borough neighborhoods that have experienced less gentrification, as well as other places like the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, also home to many longtime New... That divide is playing out in the general election, too, where Cuomo is running as a third-party candidate. A CBS News survey last month found that Mamdani held a 51-point edge over Cuomo among voters who have moved to New York within the last 10 years.

Among voters who have lived in New York for more than 10 years, Mamdani’s advantage over Cuomo dropped to 19 points. And among born and raised New Yorkers, Mamdani held a smaller, 7-point advantage over Cuomo. Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, two fixtures of New York politics for decades, combined to win 49% of this demographic. Surveys show Mamdani with double-digit leads, enjoying a glide path to election next month, even after Mayor Eric Adams dropped his own third-party campaign. Still, the split has set the terms of debate for this fall’s contest — and highlighted what could become a strain on a potential Mamdani mayoralty. New York’s mayoral contest has fully surfaced a tension bubbling in city politics for years: the divide between lifelong New Yorkers and young professionals who have recently moved in.

In his 7-point Democratic primary win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani cleaned up with younger voters who live in some of New York’s most gentrified neighborhoods — including Bushwick, Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Cuomo, meanwhile, edged out Mamdani in majority-Black, outer-borough neighborhoods that have experienced less gentrification, as well as other places like the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, also home to many longtime New... That divide is playing out in the general election, too, where Cuomo is running as a third-party candidate. A CBS News survey last month found that Mamdani held a 51-point edge over Cuomo among voters who have moved to New York within the last 10 years. Among voters who have lived in New York for more than 10 years, Mamdani’s advantage over Cuomo dropped to 19 points.

And among born and raised New Yorkers, Mamdani held a smaller, 7-point advantage over Cuomo. Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, two fixtures of New York politics for decades, combined to win 49% of this demographic. Surveys show Mamdani with double-digit leads, enjoying a glide path to election next month, even after Mayor Eric Adams dropped his own third-party campaign. Still, the split has set the terms of debate for this fall’s contest — and highlighted what could become a strain on a potential Mamdani mayoralty. The leading source of global news and info for more than 75 years. WASHINGTON — Dozens of members are nearing the end of their congressional careers and hanging up their voting cards.

But for some, their family’s political legacies will continue, as their kids and relatives run for office in 2026. In the crowded Maine governor’s race alone, there are three... If you open a classic KJV Bible to Psalm 92:10 or Job 39:9, you will see the word "Unicorn." Is the Bible a book of fairy tales? Did mythical creatures actually exist in ancient Israel? Critics mock believers for this. But the mystery lies in a translation error from 1611.

Imagine the opening day of the Tabernacle. Everyone is celebrating. Then, Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, offer incense to God. Suddenly, fire shoots out from the Lord and consumes them. They die instantly in front of their father. My kids have their own families and bills.

I promised myself I would never be a burden, even when my grocery budget hit zero at the end of the month. I was struggling in silence. Giovanni Lanzo is “still tossed up” about the mayor’s race – that’s Brooklyn for undecided. But he understands the stakes. “The whole world watches what New York does,” Lanzo said. “Let’s do it right.”

New York is America’s largest and most diverse city, and a global financial and cultural powerhouse. So picking a new mayor is always a big deal. But it is even bigger this time. Because of the moment and the issues front and center right now in American politics; because of the candidates; and because of the high interest in the race shown by New York real estate... It’s a big deal no matter who wins. A historic deal if the frontrunner does.

Throughout this piece, precincts are grouped into NTAs using representative points. Turnout analysis relied on the precinct-level voter registration figures published by the New York State Board of Elections published before the primary, which are from February 2021 and 2025. The number of voters in a precinct is the total number of inactive and active voters enrolled with the Democratic Party in that precinct. New York City holds closed primaries, so anyone registered with a different party could not cast a ballot in the Democratic mayoral primary, but inactive registered Democrats may vote with affidavit ballots. Income analysis used census block populations from the 2020 decennial census to apportion 2025 precinct-level results to census tracts. We then intersected precinct polygons with census blocks, computed each block piece’s share of its parent block (population where available, otherwise area), and normalized those shares to create weights to roll precincts into tracts.

Precincts without block overlaps were assigned to the tract containing their point-on-surface, falling back to the nearest tract if needed. We then multiplied candidates’ precinct-level vote totals by these weights and summed to the tract level, verifying that citywide totals were preserved. Finally, we joined tract-level results to the 2023 five-year American Community Survey estimates to obtain tract-level vote and median household income. All three candidates in New York City's mayoral race faced off Thursday night in their first general election debate, sparring over crime, affordable housing and Israel. New York City voters are soon to choose a new mayor. Three candidates debated last night, including the leaders, state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Their exchanges included this. ANDREW CUOMO: He literally has never had a job. On his resume, it says he interned for his mother. This is not a job for a first-timer. ZOHRAN MAMDANI: What I don't have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you don't have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.

INSKEEP: NPR's Brian Mann was watching. Brian, good morning.

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