New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who this week was elected mayor of New York City, voted for himself on the Working Families Party line rather than the Democratic line, according to his campaign.
A representative for Mamdani’s campaign said on the morning of the November 4 election that he had cast his ballot on the party’s line, with confirmation reported by Politico’s Jason Beeferman. Under New York’s fusion voting system, candidates may appear on multiple ballot lines, allowing Mamdani to run as both the Democratic nominee and the Working Families Party candidate.
Mamdani was one of nearly 800 candidates endorsed by the Working Families Party this cycle, and among its higher-profile figures. Party officials had previously indicated they would consider running their own mayoral candidate if a slate of several Democrats they backed, including Mamdani, failed to win the Democratic nomination. At the time, the party listed Gowri Krishna as a placeholder candidate on its ballot line.
Unofficial returns show that Mamdani received the highest number of votes ever cast in a New York City mayoral election on the Working Families Party line, with 157,095 votes. That showing surpasses the previous record set by Bill de Blasio, who earned 46,478 votes on the party’s line in 2017. Mamdani’s performance also exceeded Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa’s total of 136,347 votes on the GOP line this year.
The Working Families Party first entered New York City mayoral politics in 2001, endorsing Democrat Mark Green against Republican Michael Bloomberg. Since then, the party has cross-endorsed Democratic nominees in most mayoral races, but Mamdani is the first to publicly acknowledge voting for himself on the party’s ballot line.
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