“Zohran Mamdani appeared to easily secure victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday, defeating Andrew Cuomo 56 percent to 44 percent after ranked choice voting results were released by the New York City Board of Elections,” Politico reports.

New York Times: “Mr. Mamdani changed the electoral map. In the 14 days leading up to the registration deadline for the Democratic primary, about 37,000 people registered to vote, compared with about 3,000 people in the same period in 2021.”

“Mr. Mamdani’s campaign had focused on registering voters, and he also appears to have drawn thousands of voters to the primary who did not vote four years ago.”

President Trump called New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “a communist,” and said the Big Apple will become “a communistic city” if he is elected mayor in November, CNBC reports.

Said Trump: “I can’t believe that’s happening. That’s a terrible thing for our country, by the way.”

“Two major labor unions that backed Andrew Cuomo’s failed Democratic mayoral bid are set to endorse upstart democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani,” Politico reports.

“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue-collar and one with a suit and a silver spoon. A choice between dirty fingernails and manicured nails. A choice between someone who delivered lower crime, the most jobs in history, the most new housing… and an assemblymember who did not pass a bill.

— New York City Mayor Eric Adams, quoted by Politico, kicking off his re-election bid.

“Zohran Mamdani’s team knows he’s got a fight ahead of him,” Politico reports.

“The 33-year-old democratic socialist’s aides and allies are girding for a costly battle in November against opponents bankrolled by a fired-up business class desperate to stop him from taking over the epicenter of world finance. Mamdani’s campaign, as well as outside groups backing him in New York’s mayoral election, said they are preparing to drop millions to counter those efforts, while also tapping into an asymmetric strategy to capture voters’ attention through social media and a door-knocking volunteer army.”

Politico: “In sum, Cuomo ran like an aging rocker on a final tour playing his greatest hits — touting infrastructure projects on his watch like a renovated LaGuardia Airport — while Mamdani was promising to make the wealthy city a cheaper place to live. Rather than address voters’ financial concerns in a deeply expensive city, the former governor ran as a virtual incumbent in a political atmosphere hostile to almost anyone in power.”

“New York City’s developers and landlords are in a mad scramble to block from City Hall the socialist who wants to freeze rent,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Zohran Mamdani struck fear across the business community after his Tuesday night surprise victory against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who conceded in the city’s Democratic primary for mayor. In the days since, phones across the real-estate industry are ringing almost nonstop as panicked executives scrape together their contingency plans.”

“Most want to back the more business-friendly incumbent, Eric Adams, who is running for mayor as an independent, or draft another candidate for November’s general election.”

“A pollster aligned with Andrew Cuomo released a new survey Thursday showing the former governor in a ‘statistical dead heat’ with likely Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani if the two ran in the general election today,” Politico reports.

“It found Mamdani and Cuomo both nabbed 39% of the vote in a general election, with incumbent Eric Adams receiving 13%.”

“Andrew Cuomo will not drop out of the New York City mayoral race by the Friday deadline to remove himself from the general election ballot,” CNN reports.

“That leaves in place contingency plans he had established before the Democratic primary to challenge Zohran Mamdani and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams in November.”

“In a conference room in Manhattan on Wednesday night, Mayor Eric Adams and Daniel Loeb, the hedge fund manager, met with other business leaders and political brokers to discuss how to stop the rise of Zohran Mamdani and possibly bolster Mr. Adams’s re-election campaign,” the New York Times reports.

“The business leaders were impressed that Mr. Adams was already staging a public fight against Mr. Mamdani.”

Zohran Mamdani told ABC News in a wide-ranging interview “that he plans to win over moderate voters — even as a self-identified Democratic socialist — as he runs in the general election.”

Said Mamdani: “I think that the Democratic Party must always remember what made so many proud to be Democrats, which is a focus on the struggles of working class Americans across this country. And I think that there is a need for a new generation of leadership.”

Jonathan Last: “All of that said, Mamdani has a lot of upside potential… He ran a baller campaign. The guy went from 2 percent to utter dominance over the Democratic establishment. He weathered millions of dollars in spending against him. He did it with a campaign that was positive and future-focused.”

“Dems want a candidate who can meet people where they are? Mamdani did it. Want a candidate who can do longform podcasts? Ditto. Who masters new media and transitions away from the old paradigms? Yup. A candidate who generates authentic excitement and creates something that looks less like a campaign and more like a movement?”

“That’s what Mamdani did.”

“Andrew Cuomo’s loss is Eric Adams’ gain,” Bloomberg reports.

“Just days ago, the New York City mayor faced steep reelection odds. His job-approval ratings had plunged to record lows after a federal corruption indictment. Support among Democrats fell even further when the Trump administration dropped the charges, raising questions about Adams’ indebtedness to the White House.”

“But Adams, who dropped out of the campaign as a Democrat to run as an independent, is suddenly looking less toxic to a class of moderate voters. The reason: The surprise ascendancy of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman who crushed Cuomo in Tuesday’s primary election to become the all-but-certain Democratic nominee.”

Washington Post: GOP quickly seeks to make Zohran Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party.

“Now that he’s all but won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani enters a general election against incumbent Eric Adams, who is eager to keep his seat and has nothing to lose,” Politico reports.

“On Thursday, Adams will launch his attempt at resurrection in a rally from the steps of City Hall — a longshot bid as a political independent — one day after calling Mamdani a ‘snake oil salesman.’”

New York Times: “If you scratch below the surface… there are signs that some Republicans are a little spooked, too. They have, after all, just watched a charismatic New Yorker turn one of Trump’s signature issues — the cost of living — into an insurgent and spirited campaign, one in which Mamdani’s supporters seemed to enjoy themselves as much as the Trump fans who crowd into the president’s rallies do.”

Said GOP operative Bill Stephen: “Most Republicans this morning were probably high-fiving and backslapping each other over last night’s result. I’d urge Republicans to be a little more nervous about this guy.”