Now, reformers should finish what they started.
This year’s primary election felt different — and for good reason. We saw the highest turnout since 1989, energized young voters, small-dollar donors driving competitive campaigns and a rejection of big-money politics. How did this happen? The Democratic primary winner Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani ran a remarkable campaign. And his campaign took full advantage of hard-won election reforms, including early voting, ranked-choice voting, and a strengthened public matching funds program that made it easier to vote, encouraged cross-endorsements and positive campaigning and helped everyday New Yorkers support candidates they believe in.
Let’s start with early voting. More than 380,000 New Yorkers voted early in the Democratic primary — double the turnout from our last citywide primary.
Ranked-choice voting led to a new level of cooperation between candidates — think Mamdani and Brad Lander hyping each other's records in the run-up to Primary Day. These kinds of cross-endorsements only happen when candidates must reach beyond their base to make their case to a broader swath of the electorate.
Thanks to public matching funds, small-dollar donors played a major role in powering campaigns, proving that New Yorkers — not special interests — are the heart of our democracy. Mamdani alone collected more than 20,000 contributions. The average donation to his campaign was just $82, but each contribution was significantly amplified through the city’s matching funds program.
Meanwhile, super PACs failed to deliver victories for their preferred candidates. Roughly $25 million in independent expenditures were spent boosting Andrew Cuomo and attacking his opponents — with little to show for it. This trend held not only in the mayor’s race, but in several competitive down-ballot contests. In the Manhattan borough president’s race, Keith Powers was supported by almost $340,000 of outside money and lost. In Central Queens, Dermot Smyth, a teachers union official who was the favorite to win an open Council seat, benefited from almost $700,000 spent in his favor by outside groups; he finished third. And in Park Slope, super PACs boosted Maya Kornberg’s challenge against the local council member with over $400,000, yet the incumbent Shahana Hanif won the election handily (other super PACs were spending against Kornberg’s bid, but weren’t as well funded). A similar story repeated across the five boroughs. In total, super PAC spending reached more than $14 million on council races alone.
All of this shows how election reforms have made our democracy more open, fair and responsive. But we’re still leaving too many New Yorkers behind.
More than a million New Yorkers who sit outside the political party system are sidelined from critical primary elections. Because New York’s primaries are closed, only party members can vote. Despite paying taxes and caring deeply about their communities, registered voters who aren’t members of a party have no voice in these early contests, which historically have played a huge role in determining who leads our city. Our last few citywide elections have been effectively decided in the Democratic primary. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in NYC by nearly six to one, leading to general election contests that are often uncompetitive.
And while turnout in this year’s primary was better than recent mayoral primaries, only about 30% of eligible voters turned out. Which means that despite his decisive victory in the primary, Mamdani won support from less than 10% of all registered voters in New York City.
We have a chance to change that — and we must. New York City should build on this momentum and put before voters reforms that expand access and participation. And we have an opportunity to do that in November, if the 2025 Charter Revision Commission moves forward with its plan to ask voters to approve shifting local elections to even-numbered years to align with high-turnout presidential races — and advances a proposal to open up our closed primaries.
Moving local elections to even years when federal races are taking place and turnout is naturally higher is a surefire way to ensure more New Yorkers weigh in on city campaigns. It would also reduce confusion, make the electorate more representative and save taxpayer dollars. According to the city’s Independent Budget Office, aligning local elections with state and federal races could save about $42 million every other year.
In the run-up to this primary, we saw efforts from campaigns to get voters enrolled in the Democratic party before the February deadline to register. But there is no reason those voters should be left behind, with the burden placed on campaigns to do outreach and make the case.
Shutting out voters who are not part of a political party, many of whom are young, sends the wrong message: that their voices don’t count.
Voters who don’t want to join a political party are the fastest growing group of voters in New York City and they deserve a meaningful say in selecting their leaders.
It’s time for a new model. An open primary where all voters and all candidates would be able to participate in one Ranked Choice Voting primary election and the top two vote getters would advance to the general election would revitalize our local democracy.
On this election reform, New York is totally out of step with the rest of the country.
Most major U.S. cities — including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas — already have a more inclusive election system. We are one of the few holdouts clinging to a closed primary model that discourages participation and stifles competition.
The surge in this year’s turnout was driven by younger voters and voters who had never participated in a primary before. In fact, nearly one in four early voters hadn’t voted in a Democratic primary from 2012 to 2024, according to analysis by the CUNY Graduate Center. Many registered as Democrats solely to vote. It’s an inspiring show of engagement, but one we should be expanding through open primaries.
At an event just before Primary Day, I spoke with a New Yorker about open primaries and her eyes lit up. “I’m a Democrat, but I don’t want to be one,” she told me. “I only registered because I have to if I want to vote in the primaries.”
That New Yorker joined the Democratic party to ensure her voice was heard, but it shouldn’t be a requirement.
Consolidating our elections and opening our primaries would help build a system that reflects the full energy and diversity of our city — and ensures that far more New Yorkers have a meaningful say in the outcomes of our elections.
This election proved that New Yorkers want a better system — and that when we give voters the tools, they’ll use them. They want to vote early. They want their $10 to mean as much as a PAC’s $10,000. They want a system that reflects them and makes it easier to be engaged. New Yorkers are ready for a system that treats them like full participants — not just party insiders or political spectators. Let’s finish the job and build a democracy that includes all of us.