In the News
July 13, 2026
This article published on The New York Times cites the polling RepresentWomen and Murmuration collaborated, the Future of Representation, analyzing the stance of New York City close primary system. Read an excerpt below:
As mayor, the billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg once spent millions to try to overhaul New York City’s closed primary system, but his wealth and power were no match for the city’s entrenched partisan interests.
Now, more than two decades later, a renewed effort is underway to open the city’s primaries to registered voters regardless of party affiliation — and this time, the push has the support of Mr. Bloomberg’s daughter, Emma Bloomberg, whose data company recently studied the issue.
Open primaries are typically supported by political independents, wealthy interests and civic groups who say that outsiders stand little chance of breaking through the Democratic Party machinery that tends to control politics in New York City.
Opposition generally comes from politicians in power, and this year is no exception: A leading opponent is Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who won last year as a democratic socialist, benefiting from the closed primary system.
If the push for open primaries gains steam, a potential showdown between its backers and Mr. Mamdani awaits. The current closed primary system favors incumbents — giving Mr. Mamdani an edge at a time when his brand dominated state and federal races last month.
Mr. Mamdani said he was “quite content” with the city’s system of closed primaries at a recent, unrelated news conference and cited his own primary victory last year as an example.
“It shows that the system of primaries that we have, and more and more New Yorkers participating in them, are not a contradiction, or in any way at odds,” Mr. Mamdani added.
Ms. Bloomberg, who runs the data company Murmuration, spoke favorably about open primaries.
In an email, she said she was “a proponent for all kinds of civic renewal projects that bring more Americans back into our collective civic life and help more Americans feel that their civic participation matters.”
She said she had not donated to the latest effort but noted that her company conducted a recent study with Represent Women that found that nearly four in five Americans “say it is more important to have an election system that gives voters greater flexibility to support their preferred candidates than one that gives political parties more control over who appears on the ballot.”
Read the full article here.
