Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani has officially secured more votes than any other mayoral candidate in a New York City primary election, according to updated tallies released Tuesday by the city’s Board of Elections. The progressive Queens assemblyman received 565,639 votes in the third round of the city’s ranked-choice voting system — surpassing the previous record set by David Dinkins in 1989, who won his primary with 547,000 votes in a traditional, non-ranked-choice format. The updated totals reflect the transfer of approximately 102,000 votes to Mamdani from eliminated candidates in earlier rounds, giving him a decisive edge in the Democratic field. “With the updated RCV totals just released by the Board of Elections, our campaign has officially earned the most total votes in a primary in New York City history,” Mamdani wrote on X, celebrating the milestone. In comparison, Mayor Eric Adams won the 2021 Democratic primary with just over 404,000 votes in the final round, including roughly 50,000 transferred through ranked-choice reallocations. Mamdani’s total may still grow slightly, as a small percentage of ballots remain uncounted. But his campaign has already declared the result a historic mandate, reflecting the strength of his insurgent campaign and the growing influence of left-wing politics in the city’s Democratic electorate. The achievement adds momentum to Mamdani’s general election campaign, where he currently holds a commanding lead in early polling over rivals including Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, and Mayor Adams. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)