Exclusive | Two NYC mayoral candidates named Adams could create ballot confusion and give Andrew Cuomo a boost: experts

Having two people with the last name Adams on the ballot in the New York City mayoral race could leave voters confused — and give a boost to frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, experts said.Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and rival Council Speaker Adrienne Adams are both vying for the party line in June’s primary election but insiders said the name game could mean bad news for the pair, who are not related.“It’s confusing to have ranked choice voting and then it’s really confusing with two candidates with the same last name on the ballot,” Republican pollster John McLaughlin said.McLaughlin said he has firsthand experience of what could go wrong — during the campaign of Republican Brett Schundler, who won a special election for Jersey City mayor in 1992 that included 18 other candidates.One of the reasons why Schunder won is that two brothers — Democrats Louis and Allen Manzo — were in the race, McLaughlin said.Allen siphoned 3,990 votes from his brother, Louis, who came in second place — just 1,643 votes behind Schunder.The split in the Allens’ vote helped Schundle become the first Republican elected mayor in Jersey City across the Hudson from the Big Apple in more than 70 years.The presence of two Adams’ could have a similar effect, McLaughlin said.“If two of the nine names on the ballot are the same, it gets confusing,” McLaughlin said.“They’ll just see Adams if they’re not paying attention to the first name.”With ranked choice voting, Democrats might vote for incumbent Eric Adams as their first choice and Adrienne Adams as their second choice, or vice versa.In the final ranked choice voting tally, the Adams vs.

Adams split could lead to elimination of both.That could benefit frontrunner in the polls, ex-Gov.Andrew Cuomo or possibly another leading progressive candidate who catches fire, such as Brand Lander, Scott Stringer or Zohran Mamdani, McLaughlin said.“The two Adams knock out each other out,” he said.During Adrienne Adams’ camp...