Election Day takeaways: The new guard wins in NYC, the old guard in Nassau

The rejection of the old guard in New York City, the approval of the old guard in Nassau County and a slight shift in the Long Island county legislatures marked the most striking outcomes of Election Day 2025 across the state.

Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s results.

It was once Cuomo’s race to lose. And he lost it.

Back in the spring, polls showed former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo well ahead in the race for New York City mayor, setting up what could be yet another comeback for the man who dominated state politics for the last decade.

It was his race to lose, many said, in a race against a sea of little-known challengers.

But the main questions were always: How would Cuomo run, and would the never-Cuomo voters rally around any one of the others?

Cuomo never solidified that early lead. His campaign was criticized for being too old style, not enough energy and Instagram. It missed the wave that made "affordability" the buzz word of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Zohran Mamdani, a little-known state assemblyman, captured the energy of the youth vote and progressive Democrats and garnered support from some other candidates when they realized he was the best non-Cuomo option. Mamdani won the June primary in a shocker.

And though Cuomo stayed in the race as a third-party candidate, he would never get as close to winning as he was last spring. Getting an eleventh-hour endorsement from Republican President Donald Trump could be seen as a "Hail Mary pass" that was unlikely to help in such a Democratic city.

Cuomo flamed out in a 2002 governor’s race but recovered to win a term as attorney general and went on to win three terms as New York’s governor. He seemed on course to run and win a fourth term, but it all crashed down in 2021, when he resigned just as the State Legislature was preparing impeachment proceedings on allegations of sexual harassment and other issues.

The mayoral race was supposed to be the next big comeback for Cuomo, who will soon turn 68. Instead, Mamdani, 34, becomes the youngest NYC mayor in more than a century.

'He is fresh and everyone else is tired'

Murray Kempton, the late great columnist, wrote way back in 1965 in another surprising New York mayoral contest, won by John Lindsay, who went on to serve two terms: "He is fresh and everyone else is tired."

But it might well apply to the 2025 campaign, too.

Mamdani, early on, built a solid base with progressives, then energized younger voters. Veteran Dems who were in the race couldn’t attract the anti-Cuomo voters and some ended up forming alliances with Mamdani.

Note that voter turnout surpassed 2 million, reportedly the highest in a mayoral contest since 1969 — when, by the way, Lindsay won his second term. It was a testament to the enthusiasm Mamdani generated among supporters.

A not-so whispered criticism about Mamdani early on was he wouldn't be able to take on Trump. In his victory speech Tuesday, the mayor-elect didn't shy from the topic — he mentioned Trump eight times.

"If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him," Mamdani said, according to a transcript. "So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up. ... So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."

Demise of projects didn’t slow Blakeman in Nassau

Four years ago, Bruce Blakeman won a nail-biter to oust incumbent Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. This time around, with way more money and name recognition, he won fairly comfortably over Seth Koslow, a Democratic county legislator.

During his time in office, Blakeman drew attention for making "culture war" issues, such as his executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports on county properties. He campaigned on promises to keep taxes flat and crime down.

A large financial advantage didn’t hurt, either: Blakeman had some $2.7 million in campaign funds going into the final weeks, compared with Koslow’s $152,000.

Blakeman also had two major private-development projects — worth a projected $9 billion — go belly-up, but that didn’t tarnish support.

A proposal for a casino at the Nassau Coliseum died when Las Vegas Sands pulled out of the project. A deal announced for NYU Langone to build a medical teaching hospital at Nassau Community College later fizzled when officials said it became apparent building issues were "too complicated."

Blakeman has been mentioned as a potential GOP candidate for governor next year. A close call against Koslow might have changed that. But that’s not what happened.

Small but important Democratic gains on local level

Democrats appeared poised to pick up at least one seat in the Suffolk County Legislature and one in Nassau.

In Nassau, the GOP had a 12-7 advantage and hoped to stretch it into a supermajority. But Democrats appear to have cut it to 11-8.

The Republican advantage in Suffolk was 12-6 going into Tuesday but likely will end up 11-7. The significance is that Democrats will have taken away the GOP’s supermajority, meaning they can't be ignored in policymaking next year.

Importantly, Suffolk voters also approved a proposal to lengthen county lawmakers' terms to four years — a reaction to the state moving local elections to even-numbered years. This means those elected Tuesday won’t have to run again until 2028; otherwise they would have had to run again next year.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy