Republicans have a new bogeyman whom even some Democrats are distancing themselves from after New York City Democratic voters appeared to have picked a self-described democratic socialist as their nominee for mayor.
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, declared victory in the Democratic mayoral primary after initial results Tuesday showed him poised to win the nomination and his top rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, conceded.
Mamdani led the 11-candidate field with about 43 percent of the vote with 93 percent of votes counted as of early Wednesday morning, according to The Associated Press. Cuomo was in second place with 36 percent. Ranked choice tallies were expected next Tuesday since no candidate surpassed 50 percent.
