A blistering heat wave couldn’t deter the determination of New York Democrats, who made their way to polling places on Primary Day, eager to select among a crowded field of mayoral candidates. “It’s a hot day!” exclaimed newly minted voter Charlie Qucik, 23, after casting his ballot at Public School 17 in Astoria, Queens. “But it’s my first election, so I wanted to come and do it.” Remarkably, that day marked the hottest of the year, with Central Park recording its highest temperature since 2012.
As of 6 p.m. on Tuesday, approximately 830,875 New Yorkers had participated in the primary, as reported by the Board of Elections. This impressive number included 384,338 voters who took advantage of nine days of early voting, alongside another 50,382 ballots mailed in prior to the deadline. With temperatures soaring near triple digits, voters across the city made crucial decisions among the 11 Democratic candidates vying to replace Mayor Eric Adams, who opted out of the primary he narrowly won four years ago to pursue a second term this November as an independent.
The Board of Elections took proactive measures by supplying bottled water and fans to polling sites, a necessity given that many of the city’s over 1,200 polling locations either lacked air conditioning or faced broken equipment issues. Unfortunately, a spokesperson for the BOE did not respond to requests for comment regarding the conditions observed at various sites. At P.S. 9 in Prospect Heights, poll worker Sarah Purvis attempted to cool herself with a BOE-branded fan. “I got my water bottle, plenty of healthy snacks,” she stated. The polling site began the day with just one fan, prompting a sympathetic neighbor to donate an industrial-sized fan to help circulate the air.
In a show of community support, Ellen Bolotin, a community associate at the school, distributed popsicles to poll workers, explaining that a parent had donated the icy treats “because they know how hot it is in our gym.” Meanwhile, Susan Fensten, a poll worker at a Bedford-Stuyvesant school lacking air conditioning, reported that the one large fan malfunctioned twice, forcing workers to retrieve smaller fans from the school. In the early evening, Fensten dialed 911 for a voter who appeared to be suffering from heatstroke. “She looked very overheated,” Fensten reported.
In East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, voters braved the sweltering heat as the air conditioning failed at a Powers Street polling place. By noon, a line of ten people stood waiting to vote while fans circulated hot air around them. A row of water bottles was available at the check-in desk to help keep voters hydrated. Seated outside an assisted-living facility, 77-year-old Rafael Melendez expressed relief for having voted early at 7:30 a.m., stating, “I went there now and I see that line and I said, ‘Wow, I did the right thing.’”
In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, poll worker Christopher Kelly Burwell, 56, clutched a large cup of coffee with two extra shots of espresso, exclaiming, “More caffeine!” as he greeted an early wave of voters at a community center on St. John’s Place. However, his enthusiasm faced challenges from voters, many of whom were disillusioned by a lineup of career politicians, including a former governor facing serious allegations of sexual harassment. “We’re in a rut,” lamented 71-year-old retired counselor Carzei O’Neill, who voted for Andrew Cuomo, the former governor. “People just don’t know whether to turn left or right, so we’re just in a jam.”
Voters highlighted critical issues such as the high cost of living in the city, rising crime rates, and how prospective mayors would handle immigration and the challenges posed by the Trump administration as their primary concerns leading them to the polls. “I want the quality of life to go up and prices to go down,” stated Terry Lin, 22, a supporter of Zohran Mamdani who voted at Public School 13 on Staten Island’s North Shore. “I know people who have moved out of the city because it was too expensive.”
Another voter, O’Keefe, shared a desire for a more progressive Democratic Party: “Make it more for working people, not contributors who give them millions and millions of dollars.” At the Tilden Community Center in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Valencia Shelby, 59, expressed her voting priority as finding an alternative to Mayor Adams. “We just want to live and be happy, because we’re tired of surviving,” she articulated, describing Cuomo as “for the people.”
At a polling place in Park Slope, Brooklyn, several voters expressed their support for their neighbor, Brad Lander, with one voter, Gretchen Nealon, 50, stating, “He’s not flashy, he’s kind of dorky and that’s OK. I think we need dorky at this point.” Others voiced their support for Mamdani, the Queens assemblymember and political newcomer whose engaging social media campaign successfully attracted first-time voters and energized a younger demographic. In the final days leading up to the ranked-choice election, Mamdani and Lander cross-endorsed each other, showcasing a united front.
Yaniv Goren, 25, from Astoria, Queens, admitted he had been “disengaged” from electoral politics until Mamdani’s campaign for mayor, which promised to make the city more affordable. “It was always the same old thing,” Goren noted. “You know, the person you want to get elected doesn’t get elected, or the concerns that they highlight are not the actual concerns we have. And Zohran really shifted that.”
The overwhelming heat was not the only factor contributing to voter fatigue. Many New Yorkers expressed frustration over the lengthy campaign, confusion regarding ranked-choice voting, and the various scandals surrounding candidates. “It’s too much to keep up with,” one anonymous voter shared outside the Mitchel Houses, a NYCHA development in the Mott Haven neighborhood of The Bronx. “I don’t bother with none of that.”
As Mamdani and former Assemblymember Michael Blake, who have endorsed each other, interacted with potential voters outside Yankee Stadium, Vincent Hernandez, 30, praised Blake as a “common sense” candidate. However, as a registered independent, he learned he could not vote in the primary. “Really?” Hernandez replied, disappointed but resigned. “Imma have something better to complain at.”
At Public School 7 in East Harlem, 74-year-old Maria Pizzaro shared her experience of voting for Scott Stringer, the longtime city politician who previously ran a failed campaign for mayor in 2021. Stringer was the only candidate to receive her vote, largely due to her confusion over the ranked-choice election, which she deemed “too complicated.” “I’m not gonna complicate my head with that,” Pizzaro concluded.
