Ranked Choice Voting freed up New Yorkers to pick the candidates they really like. An exit poll shows all demographics liked and understood RCV

In an exciting race in which Ranked Choice Voting really showed its worth, Zohran Mamdani soundly defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor on June 24. In the nation’s largest city, Mamdani held a decisive lead in first rankings, 43.5 percent to Cuomo’s 36.4 percent, and once the RCV tabulation was applied on July 1, Mamdani widened his primary night lead, picking up another 12.5 points to Cuomo’s 7.5 points from voters’ second through fifth rankings.

The news media all said Cuomo was “unstoppable,” aided by at least one $25 million PAC war chest, stuffed full by billionaire backers and corporations on top of his standard campaign haul. As far as the celebrity-focused reporting was concerned, the narrative was the famous, albeit disgraced, former governor versus a bunch of random progressives and assorted wanna-be’s. But then something amazing started to happen — a combination of dedicated, inspired campaigning by certain candidates, listening and connecting with everyday people — within the space and possibility opened up by RCV. Voter turnout was the highest for a mayoral race since 1989, with over a million voters ranking their ballots.

As Mamdani’s campaign started catching fire, many of those seeking a Cuomo coronation started to get nervous and complain about the voter-empowering RCV system that might stand in the way of their steamroller. Why? Because in NYC’s old-style elections, the powerful can rely on big fields of similar candidates to argue with each other, split the vote and rain on the parade of upstarts. But Ranked Choice Voting flipped the script.