Crowds start filling out election watch parties

The Ziegfeld Ballroom is starting to fill with Cuomo supporters. Crystal Morales, 34, is one of them. A Washington Heights paralegal and former Marco Rubio intern, she said she was a political independent and “longtime fan of the Cuomo family.”

In Andrew Cuomo, Morales said she saw a leader who could work with President Donald Trump and the federal government. That would be harder for Zohran Mamdani, and that was reason for worry, she said. “It’s going to be a little hellish.… I think they’re so far opposite that I don’t think they could work together.”

Mamdani campaign promises about free buses and low-cost, city-owned grocery stores struck her as hucksterism, she said. “The guy’s not realistic, saying a bunch of things are going to be free. He doesn’t have the power to do that.”

At Mamdani’s election night party: streamer Hassan Piker, who in 2019 said, and then apologized for saying, that “America deserved 9/11.” During the mayoral campaign, Cuomo repeatedly faulted Mamdani for associating with Piker and granting him an interview.

“I’m hoping, inshallah, praying for a 55% victory for Zohran Mamdani,” Piker said.

Turnout for the New York City mayor's race hit 2 million for the first time since 1969, the city's Board of Elections reported at 8:45 p.m., with 15 minutes still left for voters to cast ballots.

To track who’s up or down, visit Newsday’s results page here.