Queens voter turnout drops from last year’s highs but Mamdani effect lingers
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Voter turnout in Queens appeared to drop compared to last year during Tuesday’s primary election. But many voters continued to cite Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s influence when casting their ballots. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Jacob Kaye, Ryan Schwach and Noah Powelson
Rain trickled in throughout Tuesday in Queens, potentially dampening some voters’ enthusiasm for a slew of contested races in the World’s Borough.
Poll workers and campaign volunteers greatly outnumbered voters at many poll sites across Queens at the start of election day, which came after an early voting period that similarly saw a drop in the number of votes cast compared to last year, when Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor inspired tens of thousands of New Yorkers, many of them on the younger side, to show up to vote for the first time.
Turnout totals appeared to shift back to historical norms on Tuesday, with no major city or statewide primary drawing voters from all corners of the five boroughs.
By 3 p.m., around 63,000 voters in Queens had cast ballots – around 33,000 of those ballots were cast during the city’s nine-day early voting period. Last year, as a crowded Democratic mayoral primary led by Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo dominated headlines, nearly 228,000 voters in Queens cast ballots by the close of election day.
But Tuesday’s numbers far surpassed voter turnout in 2024, when fewer than half as many Queens residents voted early.
While turnout didn’t come anywhere near 2025’s totals, many who trekked to the polls on Tuesday in Queens said the energy generated by Mamdani’s historic mayoral campaign last year remained a powerful influence.
In New York’s 7th Congressional District, which includes parts of Long Island City, Astoria, Sunnyside, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Woodhaven and North Brooklyn, nearly all voters who spoke with the Eagle said they were backing Claire Valdez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed by Mamdani, in her race against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, City Councilmember Julie Won and attorney Vichal Kumar.
Similarly, a large number of voters told the Eagle they had cast ballots for attorney David Orkin in his bid to unseat Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar in District 38, which includes parts of Ridgewood, Glendale, Woodhaven, Ozone Park, and Richmond Hill. While Mamdani didn’t formally endorse Orkin, the public defender was backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the city’s DSA chapter.
Voters also pointed to Mamdani’s endorsements in other closely watched Queens races, including the contest for Senate District 12 between Aber Kawas and Assemblymember Steven Raga, and the Assembly District 37 race between Samantha Kattan, Pia Rahman and Melissa Orlando.
Beyond Mamdani’s sphere, voters in Jackson Heights, Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, and parts of Astoria cast ballots in a heated race between State Senator Jessica Ramos, Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, and Hiram Monserrate. González-Rojas decided to challenge Ramos for her seat after the incumbent, who ran a failed bid for the mayor’s office last year, endorsed Cuomo in the final days of the race. While González-Rojas was endorsed by nearly every progressive lawmaker in the city, Mamdani stayed out of the race.
Though the mayor’s influence appeared to draw a number of voters to the polls, whether it would result in victories for his preferred candidates had yet to be determined Tuesday afternoon.
Here’s a snapshot of poll sites in some of the most competitive districts in Queens on election day.
New York’s 7th Congressional District
The battle for New York’s 7th Congressional District – perhaps the most contentious and consequential race in Queens – was at the top of Western Queens voters’ minds on Tuesday.
Voters walking by poll sites often couldn’t make it to the end of the block without being handed literature by volunteers with all four candidates running the race – Claire Valdez, an assemblymember from Queens; Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president; Julie Won, a city councilmember from Queens; and Vichal Kumar, a civil defense attorney.
Alex Messersmith, a 29-year-old Sunnyside resident who cast his ballot at I.S. 125 Thom J. McCann in Woodside, said his door was knocked by each of the campaigns in the past several weeks.
While he said he felt most aligned with Valdez’s platform, it was Mamdani that ultimately pushed him toward the candidate.
“I voted for who he endorsed,” Messersmith said. “I think a lot of us that followed Mamdani's campaign are going to take his endorsements pretty seriously.”
In Valdez’ native Ridgewood, voters seemed excited to vote for their assemblymember, who had been representing them since 2024.
“I really believe in what Claire Valdez stands for,” said Pete Rittweger, a member of the DSA.
Valdez was one of Mamdani’s earliest supporters last year and Mamdani returned the favor this year, pushing Valdez’s candidacy over Reynoso’s, spurning incumbent Representative Nydia Velázquez.
The race to replace the retiring Velázquez has largely come down to Valdez and Reynoso.
Reynoso, a former city councilmember, has been a progressive darling throughout his career. In addition to Velázquez, he received endorsements from Attorney General Letitia James, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, the Queens County Democratic Party, and the Working Families Party. As such, Valdez’s campaign has painted Reynoso as the institutional candidate, while Reynoso’s campaign has described Valdez as an outsider, unprepared to represent the district he grew up in.
Jen Greene said she thinks of herself as “too left” for the DSA, but came out to vote for Valdez.
“We are not for institution-backed people,” she said. “We need to switch it up.”
At least some voters in Queens on Tuesday cast their ballot in the race for Won, their local councilmember.
A volunteer for congressional candidate Julie Won attempts to hand campaign literature to a potential voter in Sunnyside. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
Arnie B., a 70-year-old voter in Woodside, said he liked that he had seen Won on the ground over the years.
“She's addressed a lot of the problems we had in our neighborhood,” he said.
Assembly District 38
In Assembly District 38, which stretches from the progressive bastions of Ridgewood to the diverse corners of Woodhaven and Ozone Park, voters pushed through the rain to decide whether to send Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar back to office, or vote for her challenger, DSA candidate David Orkin.
Orkin, a first-time candidate, was hoping to ride the DSA wave alongside Valdez and the leftist organization’s other downballot candidates.
“I don't think I've ever seen a candidate give Rajkumar a run for her money,” said Caitlin Sweeney, who voted in Ridgewood.
Sweeney voted for Orkin, and said that while Mamdani’s movement last year was unique, the momentum was still alive among progressives in their corner of Western Queens.
“In our social groups, there have been parties supporting candidates like Orkin and Valdez, and so we're excited about that,” said Sweeney.
In the more Rajkumar-friendly corner of the district in Woodhaven, a handful of voters told the Eagle they would be casting their votes for the incumbent.
“I voted for her, she is a good candidate,” said Manuel Heredia, a voter in Woodhaven.
But others said that while they supported Rajkumar in the past, they went with her challenger this year.
“I think just things need to change, even though I don't think New York itself is doing so badly,” said voter Manuel Lopez. “I'm afraid for the rest of the country. I feel like changes need to happen, and we need some new blood in there.”
“Jenifer has done a great job for our neighborhood,” he added. “I see her around all the time. I was really torn, that was the hard one.”
Carmen Martinez, who moved to Woodhaven from Puerto Rico as a kid, votes every year and, like Lopez, said she voted for change.
“I think somebody shouldn't stay [in office],” she said. “Not because either one is bad. It's like, let's give this other guy an opportunity. Let's see what he could bring to the table.”
With that, she voted for Orkin, as well as community member Albert Baldeo over longtime incumbent State Senator Joe Addabbo.
“This is not Russia, this is not Cuba, where we have these politicians that have to stay in office for life,” she said.
State Senate District 13
In Senate District 13, which encompasses the neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst, incumbent State Senator Jessica Ramos attempted to retain her seat against two challengers with long histories in public office – Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas and District Leader Hiram Monserrate, who served in both the City Council and the State Senate before being expelled from the Albany legislature after being convicted of misdemeanor assault charges.
Across two polling sites on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, voters and residents faced a nearly daily barrage of campaign mail, texts, robo-calls and door knockers mostly from the Ramos or Gonzalez-Rojas campaigns.
The two women at one point were political allies, but González-Rojas seized a prime opportunity to unseat Ramos after her endorsement of Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral election election and her opposition to Steve Cohen’s casino plans caused her to lose favor with progressive and establishment Democrats alike.
A contentious race between State Senator Jessica Ramos, Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, and Hiram Monserrate unfolded in State Senate District 13 on Tuesday. Eagle photo by Noah Powelson
Outside the polling site inside P.S. 222, nearly a dozen canvassers for the three Senate candidates aggressively handed out flyers, chanted out support for their candidates and, at times, walked alongside voters to make their pitch for who should represent the district.
One of those voters was Gabe Arevalo, an attorney, who said he was a strong supporter of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and largely voted for candidates aligned with him, including González-Rojas.
Arevalo has lived in both Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst and said he voted in the past for Ramos, who offered aid to his grandparents after flooding in the neighborhood affected their home.
But his opinion changed as soon as Ramos endorsed Cuomo last year.
“I just felt very betrayed,” Arevalo said.
Ramos’ surrogates tried to focus on the candidate’s history of supporting workers and her opposition to Cohen’s Metropolitan Park when speaking to voters on Tuesday.
One voter, Tobias Rower, described himself as a progressive who generally viewed Ramos favorably as a pro-labor candidate, but also felt the criticism of her endorsement of Cuomo was fair.
Rower declined to say who he voted for but expressed mixed feelings toward both candidates.
“I feel a bit ambivalent about the casinos in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. It seems like it’s a done deal so I don’t know what can be done at this point,” Rower said. “I was a little torn between someone like Ramos who opposed [the casino] and has been pro-labor, and someone like JGR who has been running a very good campaign and has literally knocked on my door.”
Few voters the Eagle spoke with on Tuesday said they had cast their ballot for Monserrate, who has run for public office nearly every year for the past decade.
Monserrate raised less than half the amount of funds as both his competitors, and his supporters had to be especially proactive on Tuesday to keep up with the widespread campaigning for Ramos and González-Rojas seen throughout the neighborhood.
The State Senate race generated a large amount of spending, punctuated by a record-breaking $850,000 donation to González-Rojas from Super PAC Progress for New York Inc., given in the final days of the race.
But the spending on advertising and canvassers may have worked.
A voter named Allison, who declined to give her last name, told the Eagle that while she doesn’t typically vote in primaries or midterm elections, she came out because of the aggressive level of advertising she received this year.
“I felt like there was a lot more activity than there usually is,” she said. “People were out here shoving flyers in your face.”
Other races
Here were some other races unfolding across Queens on Tuesday.
In Western Queens’ State Senate District 12, which is being vacated by retiring Senator Michael Gianaris, DSA-backed candidate Aber Kawas faced off against Assemblymember Steven Raga.
In the Rockaways, Democrats Pesach Osina and Mike Scala battled it out in the primary to succeed retiring Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato.
In Southeast Queens’ Assembly District 32, five Democrats – Nathaniel Hezekiah, a longtime staffer for Representative Gregory Meeks; Latoya LeGrand, a former government staffer; Tunisia Morrison, a local organizer; teacher Queen Johnson; and Mohammad Molla – were running to replace retiring Assemblymember Vivian Cook.
