Read the article without a paywall here, (FUCK the New York Times)
This hit piece came out at the conclusion of the second day of early voting here in NYC, where totals for days 1 & 2 are nearly double those from our last mayoral election cycle in 2021, despite miserable rainy weather on both days. 
Additionally, some early voter demographics are in as well, 
and they bring some troubling news to the political establishment, who are deeply invested in seeing the failure of Zohran Mamdani’s openly democratic socialist campaign. When Mamdani launched his campaign in November of 2024, he was polling at a mere 1%, with only 12% name recognition. After a meteoric rise through a well communicated ad campaign across social media platforms, Zohran Mamdani has been able to reach all of the voters that traditional Democratic Party politics have been hemmorhaging recently: young people, Muslim voters, and white men, which has brought Mamdani’s campaign to a near tie (49%-51%) with disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo in the final round of ranked choice voting.
High voter turnout and enthusiasm are extremely important factors if Mamdani wants to win, and with two days of voting in the books, some trends have emerged. At many election precincts (including my own), the Mamdani campaign canvassers were the only ones present, handing out campaign material and ranked choice voting instructions in multiple languages tailored to the neighborhood each polling place is located.
Disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo has already committed to running an independent campaign for mayor in the general election if he loses the Democratic primary. Additionally, current (also disgraced) current mayor Eric Adams has committed to running an independent campaign for mayor in the general election. The Working Families Party, a minor party slightly to the left of Democrats here in New York, has stated that they are strongly considering running a Mamdani campaign in the general election should he lose the Democratic primary. Republicans will also field a candidate, meaning the upcoming general election will be contested by at least 4 major candidates.
This is NOT very materialist of me, but my opinion of this guy has just gone way up
mamdani is probably one of the best lib whisperers i've observed. not in terms of the establishment, but just in terms of his approach to rhetoric for the general audience. he stays on message, he doesn't water it down, not afraid to attack cuomo in his resigned-in-disgrace-shaped achilles heel
This is better than my previously held analysis of "damn nyc-dsa is annoying" lol
They're dunking on us haters and I'm not mad about it (for now).