Zohran Mamdani’s seismic victory in the 2025 mayoral election dominated the headlines on election night, but there were plenty of other key races across the city and the borough of Queens down for decision on Tuesday night.
Mamdani, a Queens lawmaker who rose from a relative unknown in Astoria’s Assembly District 36, will become the first-ever mayor to have represented Queens in elected office after winning Tuesday’s general election by a margin of 181,056 votes with 97.98% of scanners reported, according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections.
Mamdani captured 50.39% of the vote, beating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tally of 41.59% by a margin of almost nine percentage points. He also became the first mayoral candidate since John Lindsay in 1969 to receive more than 1 million votes. The 2025 election also marked the first time since 1969 that more than 2 million New Yorkers voted in a mayoral contest.
Mamdani takes Queens, but Cuomo enjoys strong support
Mamdani claimed 47.2% of the vote in Queens, winning the borough by a margin of 5%. That margin represents the smallest margin that Mamdani won any borough by with the exception of Staten Island, which Cuomo won convincingly.
Voting patterns varied significantly across Queens, with Mamdani unsurprisingly sweeping virtually every election district in the Western Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside. In his own Assembly District in Astoria, Mamdani won election districts by as much as 59.5%.
He also dominated areas in Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Ridgewood and Jamaica.
But pockets of Eastern Queens swung just as heavily for Cuomo, with the former governor winning some election districts in neighborhoods such as Bayside and Bay Terrace by as much as 46.5%.
Paladino retains seat
Cuomo’s strong performance in those neighborhoods correlates with a strong showing from incumbent Council Member Vickie Paladino, who represents both neighborhoods. Paladino was up for re-election in District 19 but comfortably defeated Democratic nominee Benjamin Chou after claiming 57.86% of the vote to Chou’s 42.06%.
Speaking to her supporters on Tuesday night, Paladino declared victory and said her performance represents a “victory for Northeast Queens.”
She further declared that Mamdani was “not my mayor.” She further described Mamdani’s victory as a “planned attack on the middle-class, white neighborhoods.”
Cuomo also won a number of districts in Howard Beach by a similar margin – a neighborhood represented by Paladino’s fellow Republican Council Member Joann Ariola.
Ariola’s re-election in Council District 32 was uncontested, but the Republican Minority Leader described Mamdani’s victory as “not what we hoped for.”
“Our city is at a crossroads. Many New Yorkers are concerned about what this outcome could mean for public safety, quality of life, and the future of our neighborhoods,” Ariola said in a post on social media. “Those concerns are real, and I’ll keep fighting every single day to make sure they’re not ignored.”
Cuomo also enjoyed success in Flushing and Forest Hills and carried some election districts in areas of Jamaica Estates, Glen Oaks and Kew Gardens Hills by margins above 75%.
In Election District 27 in Kew Gardens Hills, an orthodox Jewish community represented by Assembly District 24, Cuomo won by a staggering 92%, claiming 1,040 votes to Mamdani’s 27.
Phil Wong anointed Holden successor
In neighborhoods such as Maspeth and Glendale, represented by conservative Council Member Robert Holden, Cuomo also enjoyed consistent success, winning several election districts by upwards of 20%.
The race for Holden’s Council District 30 was the most closely-watched Council election in the borough alongside Paladino’s, with Democratic nominee Phil Wong and Republican candidate Alicia Vaichunas – both Holden staffers – vying to replace the term-limited Council Member.
Wong defeated Vaichunas by just over 10% in a victory that is something of a surprise, claiming 53.95% of the vote to Vaichunas’s 43.75%. Wong credited his unlikely success to hard work and his “ground game.”
Incumbent Council Member Lynn Schulman retained her seat in Council District 29 after defeating controversial Republican candidate Jonathan Rinaldi by 72% to 27%. Rinaldi had published a number of seemingly fabricated endorsements from prominent elected officials in the run-up to the election.
In District 21, including areas of Corona, Elmhurst and LeFrak City, Democratic nominee Shanel Thomas-Henry will replace the term-limited Council Member Francisco Moya after defeated Republican candidate Giovanni Enrique Franco by 76.06% to 23.66% on Tuesday. Thomas-Henry essentially secured victory after winning a congested Democratic primary in June, defeating Erycka Montoya by 373 votes after four rounds of ranked-choice voting.
Meanwhile, Ty Hankerson will replace the term-limited Council Speaker Adrienne Adams in District 28 after winning an uncontested election on Tuesday night. Like Thomas-Henry, Hankerson essentially won the seat after securing 58.8% of the vote after five rounds of ranked-choice voting.
At 30 years of age, Hankerson is the youngest person ever elected to District 28 and will be the second-youngest member of the New York City Council next year.
Elsewhere, incumbent Democratic Council Members comfortably held their seats against long-shot Republican challengers or in uncontested elections.
Council Member Shekar Krishnan retained his seat in District 25, representing Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Woodside, defeating Republican nominee Ramses Frias by almost 50 percentage points.
Krishnan also lauded Mamdani’s victory as a “new era of change” for New York City.
“Zohran Mamdani being elected our next Mayor turns the page on the corruption of the past and ushers in a new era of change,” Krishnan said in a statement. “I’m proud to have a partner in City Hall that will prioritize our green and public spaces, protect our drivers and street vendors, and work with the City Council to make our city more affordable for everyone.”
Council Member Julie Won, meanwhile, comfortably held nearby District 26, including Sunnyside and Long Island City, after defeating Republican challenger John Patrick Healy by roughly 63 points.
Voters decide on divisive ballot proposals
Voters also approved three ballot questions that will reshape how the city approves certain housing developments. Questions 2-4, which were supported by the Adams Administration and fiercely opposed by the City Council, would make it harder for council members to veto housing developments in their districts in a bid to stimulate development in districts that have lagged far behind the citywide average.
The City Council had argued that the proposals would remove their power to negotiate with developers for community benefits.
The three proposals, which would shift some of the Council’s power to mayoral-appointed panels and reduce the ULURP process from seven months to three months for certain developments, all passed Tuesday night, winning between 56 and 58% of the vote.
A proposal to introduce a digital city map to modernize city operations also passed with 73% of the vote, but a proposal to move municipal elections to presidential election years in a bid to increase voter turnout failed after claiming 46.92% of the vote.
Meanwhile, incumbent Public Advocate Jumaane Williams comfortably won re-election after defeating Republican challenger Gonzalo Duran by almost 50 points, while Democratic City Comptroller nominee Mark Levine enjoyed a similarly comfortable victory over Republican candidate Peter Kefalas, winning by over 52 points.
