Your guide to the NYC mayoral primary election

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 9:03 a.m. ET, June 23, 2021

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12:02 a.m. ET, June 23, 2021

Eric Adams acknowledges ranked-choice voting process ahead and says today is "such a good feeling"

From CNN's Greg Krieg in New York City and Ethan Cohen

New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams prepares to speak after voting during Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams came out to chants that "the champ is here" — Muhammad Ali’s famous boast, sampled in a Jadakiss song — and addressed jubilant supporters on Tuesday night.

He acknowledged the ranked-choice process to come, as early, preliminary results Tuesday showed him ahead of the crowded field of candidates, but spoke as if the race was over.

"We know, we know that this is going to be layers, this is the first early voting count. We know that. We know there's going to be twos and threes and fours — we know that. But there's something else we know. That New York City said 'our first choice is Eric Adams,'" Adams said.

"We're going to allow them to go through the process and count the ballots, and count all the ranking. And we know that this is an opportunity for people to participate, but the feeling today is just such a...such a good feeling," he said amid cheers at his Brooklyn headquarters.

What comes next: The nominee is expected to be determined by mid-July and is heavily favored to win the general election in November. As of Tuesday night, Adams, former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and civil rights attorney Maya Wiley were the top contenders in the initial vote preferences among voters. These results could change once absentee ballots are included and the ranked-choice tabulation is run.

Since no candidate will win a majority of the first-choice votes, tabulation will continue in rounds. The candidate with the fewest votes after the initial count will be eliminated and all ballots for that candidate will be reallocated to the next highest-ranked candidate selected. That process will continue with the remaining candidates until two are left with the winner determined by who has the most votes in that final round.

New York City's Board of Elections plans to release the first set of results from this ranked-choice voting process on June 29, but those results will only include votes from early in-person and election day voters, not absentee ballots. New York state law prevents the board from beginning to count absentee ballots until June 28.

The board will release the results of the ranked-choice voting process again on July 6, this time including as many absentee ballots as they've been able to process. They'll report results again every Tuesday until all the ballots have been counted.

12:06 a.m. ET, June 23, 2021

Andrew Yang concedes and tells supporters he's "not going to be mayor of NYC"

From CNN's Greg Krieg in New York City and Ethan Cohen

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang speaks during a press conference with Assembly Member Simcha Eichenstein on June 21, in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Democratic NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang conceded in a speech on Tuesday as the results from early and primary day in-person voting came in showing he placed a distant fourth behind candidates Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley.

"I am not going to be the mayor of New York City based on the numbers coming in tonight," Yang told supporters.

CNN projects the New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner will be determined using ranked-choice voting tabulation.

Voters in the Big Apple had the option to rank up to five of the 13 candidates in the race. Since no candidate will win a majority of the vote outright, the New York City Board of Elections will tabulate voters’ ranked choices to determine the winner.

The nominee is expected to be determined by mid-July and is heavily favored to win the general election in November. As of Tuesday night, Adams, Garcia and Wiley were the top contenders in the initial vote preferences among voters.

These results could change once absentee ballots are included and the ranked-choice tabulation is run.

11:15 p.m. ET, June 22, 2021

NYC Democratic mayoral primary to be decided using ranked-choice voting tabulation, CNN projects

From CNN's Ethan Cohen

The New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner will be determined using ranked-choice voting tabulation, CNN projects.

The nominee is expected to be determined by mid-July and is heavily favored to win the general election in November.

As of Tuesday night, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, and civil rights attorney Maya Wiley were the top contenders in the initial vote preferences among voters.

These results could change once absentee ballots are included and the ranked-choice tabulation is run.

What comes next? Since no-candidate will win a majority of the first-choice votes, tabulation will continue in rounds. The candidate with the fewest votes after the initial count will be eliminated and all ballots for that candidate will be reallocated to the next highest-ranked candidate selected. That process will continue with the remaining candidates until two are left with the winner determined by who has the most votes in that final round.

New York City’s Board of Elections plans to release the first set of results from this ranked-choice voting process on June 29, but those results will only include votes from early in-person and election day voters, not absentee ballots. New York state law prevents the board from beginning to count absentee ballots until June 28.

The board will release the results of the ranked-choice voting process again on July 6, this time including as many absentee ballots as they’ve been able to process. They’ll report results again every Tuesday until all the ballots have been counted.

9:52 p.m. ET, June 22, 2021

Here's what some of the candidates for NYC mayor tweeted as the polls closed

The polls in the New York City primary election are now officially closed. Some candidates in the highly competitive Democratic primary for mayor turned to Twitter to thank supporters and voters.

Here's what some of the leading candidates are saying:

Eric Adams:

Adams wrote on Twitter thanking everyone who "poured their hearts and souls into this race."

Maya Wiley:

Wiley simply tweeted, "I love you, New York." She also reminded anyone who is in line at 9 p.m. to stay in line and have their vote counted.

Kathryn Garcia:

Garcia honored those New Yorkers who died from Covid-19. "We can memorialize their lives in a real, tangible way," she tweeted. The candidate said that if elected as mayor, "one of the first things I’ll do is make sure we are taking care of our families and kids affected by COVID."

Dianne Morales:

Morales said her campaign "has defied expectations at every turn."

Scott Stringer:

Stringer tweeted a photo with his wife and thanked her "for being our rock throughout this journey."

9:22 p.m. ET, June 22, 2021

NYC polls close in nomination fight for mayor. Here's why it may take weeks before a winner is called.

From CNN's Greg Krieg in New York City

The polls for New York City's primary election closed at 9 p.m ET.

The contest for the Democratic mayoral nomination, which will almost certainly determine outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio's successor, features 13 candidates, but has in recent weeks appeared to come down to four favorites:

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a retired captain in the New York Police Department
Former 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang
Maya Wiley, a civil rights lawyer who served as counsel to de Blasio in his first term
Former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia

Two Republicans, meanwhile, are vying for their party's nomination: Fernando Mateo, a businessman, and Curtis Sliwa, a political activist and radio show host.

Up and down the ballot, in races for mayor, comptroller, five borough presidencies, dozens of open city council seats and district attorney jobs in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New Yorkers are poised to send a signal that resonates beyond the city limits — to Democrats across the country looking to its broad and diverse electorate for a glimpse into the future of the party.

Why a winner won't be called tonight: The implementation of ranked-choice voting means that the one certainty on primary day is that New Yorkers will have to wait — for weeks — before most of the biggest races are decided.

At some point tonight now that the polls have closed, the city's Board of Elections will release the first-choice numbers from early and in-person voting. But that will only provide a narrow view of the results.

Here's what the timeline for results looks like:

7:50 p.m. ET, June 22, 2021

New York City mayor says his successor "will have their hands full" with the Covid-19 recovery

Current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the next mayor "will have their hands full with the recovery" from the Covid-19 pandemic when they succeed him in office.

De Blasio was asked by CNN's Erin Burnett why he declined to endorse a candidate in the race. He said that "it just didn't make sense to me in the end" to endorse but whoever wins he plans to work with on a "seamless transition."

"I'm going to have to work with whoever is the winner on a really strong transition. This passing of the baton is not like normal elections. This is in the middle of the pandemic and the recovery. This has to be a seamless transition so I decided it was best to stay back, keep my views to myself and I'm ready to work with whoever wins. New York City is coming back strong. It amazing to see the energy out there and amount of economic activity but this next mayor will have their hands full with the recovery for sure."

7:14 p.m. ET, June 22, 2021

Key storylines to watch as NYC enters final hours of voting

From CNN's Greg Krieg in New York City

A voter arrives at a polling station set up at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on New York’s Primary Election Day on June 22, 2021. Anthony Behar/Sipa USA

The polls for New York City's primary election close in just about two hours at 9 p.m. ET.

We expect to learn some results tonight. But we won't know the final outcome of races using the ranked-choice voting, including the highly contested 13-person Democratic primary in the mayor's race.

Under the new ranked-choice system, voters are being given the option to rank five candidates. Once the ballots are in, the candidate with the lowest number of votes will be removed from the running and their voters' second choices reapportioned. The first candidate to cross the 50% threshold wins.

Here are some of the major storylines to watch ahead of the polls closing:

Expecting to learn who won the ranked-choice races on Tuesday night? Don't. The implementation of ranked-choice voting means that the one certainty on primary day is that New Yorkers will have to wait —for weeks — before most of the biggest races are decided. At some point after the polls close on Tuesday night, the city's Board of Elections will release the first-choice numbers from early and in-person voting. But that will only provide a narrow view of the results. Absentee ballots will not be counted until July 6 and the ranked-choice process doesn't kick off until June 29.
Does the Andrew Yang-Kathryn Garcia alliance hurt Eric Adams? Adams and Yang have waged the most fierce, personal campaign-within-a-campaign of the primary. Adams led the charge of criticism after Yang revealed, early in the running, that he spent some of the worst of the pandemic in a second home outside the city, in upstate Ulster County. That dynamic blew up over the weekend, when Yang and Garcia began to campaign together, with Yang encouraging his supporters to rank Garcia second. Surrogates for Adams charged that the alliance was forged out of a desire to keep a Black or Latino candidate out of City Hall. Though Adams has been less explicit himself in making the allegation, his campaign bundled remarks to that effect from prominent supporters and blasted them out to reporters.
Can progressives deliver for Maya Wiley? It took longer than she might have hoped, but leading progressive lawmakers and organizations ultimately coalesced around the civil rights lawyer in the final weeks of the campaign. Wiley goes into primary day with endorsements from New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, state Sens. Alessandra Biaggi and Julia Salazar, and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, among others, along with the Working Families Party and a long list of grassroots progressive activist groups. National liberal leaders like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, who campaigned with Wiley last week, are also onboard. The question now: Did it all come together too late in the game?
Running to take on Trump Longtime Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who is on his way out of the office, is expected to leave quite a job to his successor: prosecuting a case against either former President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization or its executives. No decision has been made yet, but if Vance goes ahead, it will likely fall to the winner of Tuesday's primary to follow through. The leading candidates have mostly made clear that they would relish the opportunity.
The activist left makes a downballot charge While victory for Wiley would represent a stunning comeback story, the story is much different down the ballot. Thanks to a new term-limits law coming into effect this year, there are more than 30 open seats — out of 51 in all —to be filled on the City Council. The activist left, led by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, steered clear of the mayoral primary, in part because none of the candidates energized its members and, perhaps more importantly, it saw an unusual opportunity to gain influence — while expending fewer resources — in shaping the city's legislative body.

11:09 p.m. ET, June 22, 2021

AOC dings mayoral candidate Eric Adams as rain dampens primary day

From CNN's Greg Krieg in New York City

New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams speaks after voting during Primary Election Day on June 22, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez provided one final mini-splash today during a radio interview on Hot 97 when she revealed that candidate Scott Stringer was her second pick in the ranked-choice mayoral primary.

Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Maya Wiley, her first choice, earlier this month after initially indicating she might sit out the race altogether.

The congresswoman had harsh words, though, for candidate Eric Adams, who has been critical of the new-to-New York voting system and whose campaign surrogates described the late alliance between candidates Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia as a move to suppress the Black and Latino vote.

Asked on Monday whether he would accept the outcome of the election, Adams gave a response that apparently caught Ocasio-Cortez’s attention.

“Yes,” Adams said at the time. “I assure voters that no one is gonna steal the election from me.”

Ocasio-Cortez repeated back the quote during her radio interview, describing it as “very Trumpian.”

Adams has, on other occasions, offered clearer indications he would respect the outcome.

Whatever that is, ultimately, New Yorkers will likely have to wait until after the July 4 holiday — at the earliest — to find out. Tonight’s results will only include the first place choices from early and primary day in-person voting. The ranked-choice culling process won’t begin for another week, as absentee ballots continue to trickle in.

On the ground, in the final hours of this very long campaign, which includes races for comptroller, borough presidencies, district attorney jobs and dozens of open city council seats, there is at least one thing no candidate for any office would contest: the weather has been suboptimal. It began raining early this afternoon and hasn’t let up since.

And while the downpour hasn’t dampened the candidates’ enthusiasm — Yang has been spotted cutting an especially exuberant figure across town — there is a chance it could turn off some late-deciding voters.

What we do know, so far, is that at least 191,197 voters cast ballots during nine days of early voting, according to the city’s Board of Elections. About 30,000 more than that requested absentee ballots, most of which have not yet been returned.

5:17 p.m. ET, June 22, 2021

When we expect to see NYC primary election winners (it's not tonight)

From CNN's Adam Levy and Ethan Cohen

A poll worker hangs up a voting sign during the Primary Election Day at P.S. 81 on June 22, 2021 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

For the first time, New York City will be using a ranked-choice voting system for some races. This means it will likely take weeks to have full results of the election.

Here's a quick breakdown of when we expect to see results:

What will we see on Election Night: Currently, the New York City Board of Elections will release the first choices of early and in-person votes on Election Night. This will not include any absentee votes or information on other choices made in ranked-choice contests.
What kind of updates do we expect: We expect the board to release the results of all the ranked-choice voting rounds each time they run the calculation. Beware that even though the results released by the board could show what looks like a final round “winner” of the ranked-choice process, there may still be additional ballots to count.
When will we know the winners: We do not have an exact date yet. Assuming it’s needed, the city’s election board plans to run the ranked-choice tabulation process once a week starting June 29 (a week after the election).
When are they counting absentee ballots: Absentee ballots will not be included in the June 29 tabulation because New York's elections law doesn’t allow them to be opened until June 28 to give officials time to ensure there are no duplicate votes. They'll begin to be included in the board's tabulation on July 6. Each succeeding tabulation will include absentee ballots that have been validated since the previous run. That will continue until all valid ballots have been included.