As NYC votes in 2025 mayoral primary, a look back at the 1833 ballot measure that allowed New Yorkers to elect their mayors

By

Lara Bonatesta

Welcome to the Wednesday, June 4, 2025, Brew. 

By: Lara Bonatesta

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. As NYC votes in 2025 mayoral primary, a look back at the 1833 ballot measure that allowed New Yorkers to elect their mayors
  2. Kentucky state senator is the second state legislator to change party affiliation in 2025 
  3. Here’s a roundup of state supreme court vacancy news from May 

As NYC votes in 2025 mayoral primary, a look back at the 1833 ballot measure that allowed New Yorkers to elect their mayors

With the upcoming mayoral primary election in New York City on June 24, did you know that the ballot measure establishing popularly elected mayors in New York had the largest margin of victory of any statewide measure in U.S. history?

Today, we’re featuring that measure and previewing the June 24 election.

Historic ballot measure

In 1833, voters approved the Election of New York City Mayor Amendment, which amended the 1821 New York Constitution and required the New York City mayor to be elected annually by the city’s qualified voters rather than appointed. That measure passed with 96.2% of the vote, a margin higher than 99.9% of all state ballot measures on record. 

At the time, the constitution stated that qualified voters included male citizens aged 21 and older who lived in the state for at least one year before the election and in the town or county where they wanted to vote at least six months before the election. The constitution also stated that “no man of colour, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this state, and for one year next preceding any election,”  owned and had paid taxes property worth at least $250, and was debt-free, “shall be entitled to vote at any such election.”

In 1839, voters approved the New York Election of City Mayors Amendment, which allowed the Legislature to authorize the annual election of all city mayors by eligible male voters. The amendment replaced the previous system in which city councils appointed mayors. It passed with 90,473 votes (99.6%) in favor and 382 (0.4%) opposed—a margin of 99.2 percentage points, the largest of any of the more than 15,000 state ballot measures in Ballotpedia’s database.

According to State University of New York at Albany, Prof. Joseph F. Zimmerman, “During the colonial period, central control of cities was epitomized by appointment of mayors by the Royal Governor. The policy of central appointment was continued by the first state constitution, adopted in 1777, which vested this power in the Council of Appointment—composed of the governor and one senator from each of four ‘great districts’ elected by the assembly—unless the legislature chose to change the selection system.” 

In 1821, a state constitutional convention revised the New York Constitution and eliminated the Council of Appointment. From that point until 1833, the New York City Council selected the mayor. 

Below is a list of the top five largest state ballot measure margins in U.S. history. Voters decided all five in the 1800s, and three were on the ballot in New York. 

June 24 primary

Thirteen candidates are running in the Democratic mayoral primary on June 24. The Republican primary was canceled after only one candidate filed to run. Incumbent Eric Adams (D) is running for re-election as an independent.

In 2019, New York City voters approved a ballot measure establishing ranked-choice voting (RCV) for primary and special elections. This is the second time New York City has held a mayoral primary using RCV and the third time the city has held primaries using RCV in general. The first two times the city held elections using RCV were in 2021 and 2023.

In the 2021 mayoral primary, voters were allowed to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. A candidate had to receive a majority of votes cast to win the election, and votes for eliminated candidates were redistributed based on the next preference on the ballot. Once every candidate a voter ranked was eliminated, their ballot was considered inactive.

In the 2021 Democratic primary, Adams defeated second-place finisher Kathryn Garcia and 11 other candidates after eight rounds of ranked-choice voting. In the final round, Adams received 404,513 (50.4%) votes to Garcia’s 397,316 (49.6%), a margin of 7,197 votes. According to a New York Times analysis, there were 140,202 inactive ballots in the final round.

In this year’s Democratic primary, seven candidates lead in polling and fundraising: Adrienne Adams (D), Andrew Cuomo (D), Brad Lander (D), Zohran Mamdani (D), Zellnor Myrie (D), Jessica Ramos (D), and Scott Stringer (D).

Here’s a breakdown of each of those candidates.

  • Adrienne Adams is the incumbent speaker of the City Council. She is running on her record as speaker and has also supported a guaranteed income program for homeless families.
  • Andrew Cuomo was governor of New York from 2011 until 2021. He is campaigning on making the city more affordable and on fighting antisemitism.
  • Brad Lander is the incumbent city comptroller. He is campaigning on ending homelessness and reducing retail thefts.
  • Zohran Mamdani is a state Assemblyman for District 36. He is campaigning for a rent freeze on housing and for making city buses free.
  • Zellnor Myrie is a state Senator for District 20. He is campaigning to address the cost of housing and his plan to hire up to 3,000 new police officers.
  • Jessica Ramos is a state Senator for District 13. She is campaigning to create an affordable citywide childcare program and to declare homelessness a public health emergency.
  • Scott Stringer was the city’s comptroller from 2014 to 2022 and an unsuccessful candidate for mayor in 2021. He is campaigning against government corruption and on making childcare more affordable.

Jean Anglade (D), Michael Blake (D), Corinne Fisher (D), Deirdre Levy (D), and Whitney Tilson (D) are also running.

New York City is the most populous city in the U.S. Of the top 100 most populous cities, 28 are holding mayoral elections in 2025. As of June 2025, 65 of the top 100 cities’ mayors are Democrats, 25 are Republicans, one is a Libertarian, two are independents, and four are nonpartisans. Three mayors’ partisan affiliations are unknown.

To see our full coverage of the New York City mayoral election, click here. To see our coverage of mayoral elections in 2025, click here.

Kentucky state senator is the second state legislator to change party affiliation in 2025 

On May 30, Kentucky Sen. Robin Webb announced that she was changing her partisan affiliation from Democrat to Republican.

Following Webb’s announcement, Republicans have a 32-6 supermajority in the Kentucky Senate. According to FOX 56-TV, this is the largest supermajority the party has ever held in the chamber. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2000. Click here to see Ballotpedia’s coverage of how the partisan control of the chamber has changed since 1992.

Kentucky is one of 12 states with a divided government, and one of two states – the other being Kansas– with a veto-proof majority in the legislature and a governor of the opposite party. Republicans also have an 80-20 majority in the House. Governor Andy Beshear is a Democrat.

Webb served in the Kentucky House from 1999 to 2009, when she was elected to the state Senate. She was one of eight incumbent senators and the only Democrat who ran uncontested in the 2022 Kentucky Senate elections.

According to the Kentucky Lantern’s McKenna Horsley, Webb “was one of two Democrats left in the statehouse representing parts of Eastern Kentucky. The region was once a Democratic stronghold, turning into a Republican area over the last couple of decades.”

Webb said, “As the Democratic party continues its lurch to the left and its hyperfocus on policies that hurt workforce and economic development in my region, I no longer feel it represents my values.”

In response, Kentucky Senate minority leader Gerald Neal (D) said the caucus looks “forward to continuing to work with Senator Webb and all of our Republican colleagues to make Kentucky a better place to live, work and raise a family.”

Since 1994, 192 state legislators have switched parties. This includes 54 state senators and 138 state representatives.

Ninety-two state lawmakers switched from Democrat to Republican, including 27 senators and 65 representatives. Twenty-five state lawmakers switched from Republican to Democrat, including eight senators and 17 representatives.

Here’s a look at which states had the most state legislators change parties since 1994.

Click here to see our coverage of state legislative party changes.

Here’s a roundup of state supreme court vacancy news from May 

In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, let’s look at who retired, was nominated, appointed, confirmed, and sworn in May.

Here’s a quick summary:

  • Two justices retired
  • One candidate was appointed as a member of their state supreme court
  • Two justices were sworn in

Retirements:

Candidates nominated, appointed, and confirmed:

Justices sworn in:

  • On May 20, Bill Lewis was sworn into the Alabama Supreme Court. Lewis, a Republican, joins a court comprised solely of Republicans. The court has not had a Democrat sit on the court since Sue Bell Cobb retired in 2011.
  • On May 28, Bridget Hill was sworn into the Wyoming Supreme Court. Hill served as the Attorney General up until her swearing-in. Governor Mark Gordon (R) appointed Hill in April 2025, but she did not take office until her predecessor, Chief Justice Kate M. Fox, left office. With Hill’s swearing-in, the court is made up of three Gordon appointees and two former Gov. Matt Mead (R) appointees. Hill will have the option to stand for retention in 2026 for a full eight-year term.

To learn more about state supreme court vacancies or to see our previous updates, click here.