Early voting in New York City’s June primary ended well below last year’s mayoral-primary surge, setting up a test Tuesday of whether Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s young progressive coalition can help carry the candidates he has endorsed without him at the top of the ballot.

Unofficial Board of Elections figures show 172,743 voters checked in during the nine-day early voting period, down about 55% from the 384,338 early-voting check-ins recorded in the 2025 primary, when Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for mayor.

Asked Monday whether he was concerned that turnout was tracking below last year’s levels, Mamdani urged New Yorkers to vote Tuesday and said he would not fault residents who are “too busy trying to make ends meet in the nation’s most expensive city” to focus on the election.

He said more voters were paying attention in the final stretch and pointed to other events competing for attention this year, including the Knicks’ first championship in 53 years and the World Cup.

The 2026 total was slightly below the 191,197 early-voting check-ins recorded in the 2021 mayoral primary, but nearly double the 86,890 check-ins recorded in 2022 and far above the June primary totals in 2023 and 2024, which were both under 50,000. 

The figures are being watched closely because Mamdani has endorsed candidates in several competitive races, giving Tuesday’s primary added significance as an early test of his influence beyond his own campaign.

Those races include the 7th Congressional District, where Assembly Member Claire Valdez, who is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, is running against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Council Member Julie Won. In the 13th Congressional District, DSA-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier is challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat. In the 10th Congressional District, Brad Lander is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman.

Mamdani has also endorsed several state legislative candidates, including DSA-backed contenders. 

VoteHub, an election analysis site, wrote Monday that youth turnout has fallen from Mamdani’s 2025 levels but remains solid compared with more typical primary electorates. Its analysis of six Democratic congressional primaries found that the early-vote electorate was older than last year’s in five of the six districts it reviewed.

The exception was NY-7, where VoteHub found the early-vote electorate was only slightly older than in 2025. VoteHub found NY-7 had the youngest early-vote electorate among the six districts it reviewed, while NY-15, where Rep. Ritchie Torres faces former Assembly Member Michael Blake, had the oldest.

VoteHub also found sharp age shifts in several other competitive districts. In NY-10, NY-12 and NY-13, it wrote, the most common early voter was around age 30 in 2025, compared with closer to 70 this year.

In NY-7, Michael Lange, who writes the election analysis newsletter The Narrative Wars, wrote Monday that younger voters appeared to pick up later in the early voting period. He also wrote that some DSA-heavy areas of the district remained below their 2025 early-vote levels, making Election Day turnout especially important for Valdez.

In NY-12, where Assembly Members Micah Lasher and Alex Bores are among the candidates running to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, Eli Miller, who writes the Ghost Runner newsletter, wrote Monday that lower Manhattan early-vote turnout appeared to narrow Bores’ path against Lasher.

Miller wrote that turnout was down more than 45% from the 2025 Democratic mayoral primary in Manhattan and argued that, if that pattern holds through Election Day, it would favor Lasher and hurt Bores. He also pointed to geography, writing that Lasher appeared to benefit from stronger West Side turnout and support from local political institutions.

The turnout picture has also drawn concern inside DSA. Politico reported Monday that DSA leaders privately raised concerns last week about young-voter turnout in NY-7 and NY-13, where Mamdani-backed candidates are running. According to Politico, DSA leaders told members the races were still winnable but required a late push.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find your poll site here.