5 Influential Forces in NYC that Threaten the Success of Open Primaries

Open Primary NYC
Image generated by IVN staff.
Published: 14 Jul, 2025
13 min read

NEW YORK CITY – New York City’s Charter Revision Commission (CRC) is considering a proposal to adopt a nonpartisan “Top Two” open primary system, which would allow the city’s 1.1 million independent voters to cast a ballot in primary elections they pay for.

Whether the reform is adopted depends on two factors: 

  • First, whether the CRC approves the proposal for the November ballot; and
  • Second, whether a majority of city voters approve its passage in the 2025 general election.

Under a “Top Two” system, all candidates and voters participate on a single primary ballot, regardless of party, and the top two vote-getters move on to the general election. This is the system in place in California, Washington, and many localities across the US.

Notably, the proposed reform would not eliminate ranked choice voting (RCV), which was approved by voters in 2019 and is currently used exclusively in primary elections. 

Want Fair Elections in New York City? Ranked Choice Isn’t Enough Without Open Primaries

The last public hearing hosted by the CRC at the Schomburg Center in Harlem drew over 250 attendees in person and online – more than any other hearing. Advocates for open primary reform, including disenfranchised independents, and their opponents showed up in force.

The hearing lasted more than 4 hours.

Many of the arguments shaping the debate over changing the city’s election system to a Top Two model – especially among opponents – are fixated on perceived electoral outcomes that cannot be predicted. 

For example, some Democratic leaders opposed to open primaries say party control has always been the way elections work, so why change things?  They fear the party will lose its influence over electoral outcomes.

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Activists from the progressive left think Top Two is a conspiracy against recently nominated mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani and an effort from big money and those in power to suppress progressive candidates.

While Mayor Eric Adams has not openly stated his position on Top Two, this is his CRC, and he may end up supporting it because he thinks his political career would benefit from it – though there is no evidence to support that conclusion. 

And then there is the Working Families Party, which claims that Top Two poses an existential threat to their ballot access in the general election.

This debate has even pitted good governance groups and reformers against each other, with many who fought to get RCV passed in the city opposing Top Two over concerns it will diminish the impact of their reform. 

But while there is a lot of talk about hypothetical outcomes, the question on the minds of the voters most impacted by the CRC’s decision – specifically, the independent voters currently excluded from primary elections – is: what about us?

One-in-five registered New Yorkers can’t vote in NYC primaries because the elections are closed to party members only. Here are the stats:

  • NYC has 1.1 million unaffiliated voters.
  • 53% are voters of color.
  • 50% are under age 50.

Then, there is the question of how city elections are benefiting the electorate at-large.

How well are elections serving voters when the city struggles to get 25% turnout in general elections? How well are elections working for voters when, in nearly every city contest, the winner is decided in the Democratic primary?

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A focus on outcomes, rather than voters, incentivizes people to look at things only from “their side.” It becomes about how their members and their candidates benefit, which narrows the discussion to “who wins” rather than “how are voters best served.”

The Top Two debate in NYC has become one of the most prominent political topics of 2025, which could alone influence the CRC’s decision to put it on the ballot. However, the opposition to it will include some of the most influential groups and figures in the city.

Here are the people and groups shaping the opposition in this debate, what they had to say during the final CRC public hearing, and what supporters of the Top Two proposal had to say in response.

1. NYC Comptroller Brad Lander: Parties are how we’ve always done it

Democratic City Comptroller Brad Lander argues that independent voters choose to stay out of the Democratic Party and therefore shouldn’t expect to be able to vote in its primaries – a common argument used by leaders of both parties who favor closed primaries.

Lander’s position aligns with Republicans in states like Texas and West Virginia, who have moved to close their primaries to party members only. He even shares the same position as President Donald Trump of sticking with the system we have always had.

“They're not excluded. They're offered an opportunity to engage in a party primary and then an opportunity to engage in the general election,” said Lander. “And if they don't want to take part in the party primary, that's 100% their choice. No one's forcing them one way or another.” 

“That's how we've done politics in this country for 250 years.”

However, members of the CRC have countered this argument in multiple hearings by acknowledging that the current system excludes taxpayers from decisions they fund, and that most large cities already use open primaries.

More Choice for San Diego

“I believe 42 of the 50 largest cities in America have some form of open primaries, including places like Boston where the Democratic Party remains alive and vibrant and well,” said CRC Chair Richard Buery Jr in response to Lander’s concern over diminished party influence. 

Commissioner Diane Savino pushed back on Lander’s assertion that proponents of open primaries were “sore losers,” seemingly implying that Mamdani’s win in the 2025 mayoral primary is what motivated the CRC to propose the Top Two model.

Savino said she didn’t think this was “the motivation of the hundreds of people who have come to us to say that they feel that they are carved out of the decision-making process of who gets to run this city because of the fact that they do not want to belong to either major party.”

She also pressed Lander, asking him what they were supposed to say to the “1.1 million and growing number of unaffiliated voters who are deliberately cut out of this process.” Lander responded, saying the city should make it easier for them to join a party.

2. Labor Unions: Open primaries weaken working people’s power

Unions like 32BJ SEIU, CWA, the New York State Nurses Association, and the NYC District Council of Carpenters are critical of a Top Two system, claiming:

  • It is a “jungle primary” that is chaotic and vulnerable to manipulation by big money;
  • It would reduce turnout; 
  • It weakens Labor’s ability to mobilize Democratic voters; and
  • It diminishes the influence of Labor-backed candidates.

They argue that the proposal is designed to help big money, not working families.

Proponents of the Top Two proposal contend that open primaries increase representation for all voters, especially in low-turnout, one-party-dominated districts (which, in this case, happens to be the entire city of New York).

Grace Rauh, Executive Director of Citizens Union, said:

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Some have argued that it could reduce the power of minority voters, particularly Black voters, but a study by voting rights expert, Dr. Lisa Handley and former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch found that the open primary system would not diminish turnout among any protected class, or make it harder for a Black or Hispanic preferred candidate to win. In some cases, it may even help.”

Reformers further argue that monied interests – whether giant labor unions or Wall Street titans – can more easily mobilize voters to push the outcomes that best serve their interests in elections that bar the participation of independent voters.

They assert that a system that is designed to have a controlled turnout makes it easier to manipulate outcomes and it is more challenging to influence the outcome in a system where all voters can participate. 

3. Working Families Party (WFP): Reform threatens fusion voting and minor parties

Working Families Party Co-State Director Jasmine Gripper claims Top Two would endanger WFP’s ability to cross-endorse candidates (fusion voting) and secure a ballot line in November, calling it a threat to electoral diversity.

Gripper and others within her party argue that the Top Two proposal being considered threatens the survival of minor parties that challenge the status quo.

Reformers argue that the Top Two proposal maintains party labels on the ballot, thereby preserving the visibility of parties like the WFP while expanding voter access. They assert that Top Two doesn’t eliminate parties – it just opens participation.

4. Progressive Left: Reform benefits the rich and undermines racial equity

Progressive groups, including the Democratic Socialists of America, the Alliance for Quality Education, the NYC Civic Engagement Table, the NY Immigration Coalition, and Food and Water Watch make the same claim as Labor that Top Two will benefit big donors. 

They also say it will reduce representation for Black and Latino communities.

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Reformers argue the opposite. David Green of Unite NY:

“Incorporating ranked choice voting into the all-candidate primary ensures the two candidates advancing to the general election actually represent as many voters as possible.”

He added that the RCV and Top Two model can “preserve the major benefits of representation for women and for people of color that we see in ranked choice systems: any candidate can join the race without splitting the vote or being told to ‘wait their turn.’”

Green also noted that this election model is already in place in Seattle, which is also a progressive city.

Dr Jessie Fields, a Harlem physician and member of Open Primaries’ Board of Directors, called closed primaries a form of “political segregation," adding that “independent New Yorkers have waited long enough for equal voting rights.”

5. Common Cause and Rank the Vote NYC: Too fast, too soon

Common Cause NY and Rank the Vote NYC don’t necessarily oppose open primary reform. However, they think the CRC is rushing into the Top Two system. Both groups have urged the Commission to delay action on primary reform.

Susan Lerner of Common Cause NY, the architect of RCV in NYC, said if the commission offered anything for the November ballot, it should be a semi-open partisan primary – which would allow independent voters to choose a party ballot. 

Lerner is not the only one who questions the choice of reform. Several City Council members, including Councilmember Frank Morano, have indicated they would support other forms of nonpartisan elections, including:

More Choice for San Diego

  • A single nonpartisan election with RCV (Morano’s position);
  • Top Four with RCV; or
  • Final Five (which includes RCV).

Morano is critical of the possibility that Top Two can lead to candidates of the same party advancing to the general election, noting that if it was in place in the 2025 primary, the top two candidates would have been Mamdani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

This, he said, would be like Alien vs Predator. “No matter who wins, we lose.” His assessment, of course, is based on the turnout and results of the June primary under a closed system. There is no way to know how the 2025 primary would have looked under Top Two.

A Top Four system is currently used in Alaska. It functions like a Top Two system, but advances 4 candidates to the general election. The system in Alaska is paired with RCV in the general election – something NYC doesn’t currently have. (It is only used in the primary.)

Notably, many proponents of open primaries now argue for a Top Four or Top Five system with RCV in the general election. The author of California’s Top Two system wrote on IVN that “it is time to reform the reform” to give voters more choices in the general election.

Supporters of the Top Two proposal agree public education on the reform is essential—but say the time for action is now, not indefinite delay, which has been the commission’s approach to open primary reform for several years now.

This isn’t the first time that the CRC has considered ending closed primaries nor is it the first time it has considered a nonpartisan primary system – but commissioners have long taken the position to kick this particular can down the road.

Additionally, the proposal’s supporters argue that while reformers may have a perfect form of more choice elections in mind, a Top Two system is a step in the right direction and would extend equal voting rights to independent voters instead of keeping them disenfranchised.

“Top two nonpartisan primaries put the voters, not the parties and special interests, in the driver's seat,” Dr. Fields said.

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There’s a lot of special interests you’re hearing from that say that’s a bad thing or it’s not the right time. But there will never be a “right time” for them to give up their power. That’s the appeal of Top Two – it’s voter-centric. It empowers voters.”

Notice Something?

With the exception of Common Cause and Rank the Vote, the focus of other groups and individuals opposed to open primary reform has been on the impact to “their team” – how they can benefit and influence elections. 

How can establishment candidates continue to win? How can progressives start to win? How can Labor influence turnout? What happens to Republican candidates in a city where registered Republicans make up less of the voting population than independent voters?

Whether they fear or favor reform depends on outcomes that they cannot possibly predict, when the actual fundamental question is: Should political parties continue to control access to elections funded by all taxpayers, or should all voters have an equal say in the process?

What Independent Voters Are Saying

Independent voters from all five boroughs have flooded the CRC with testimony. Many expressed frustrations over being barred from publicly funded elections, despite paying taxes like every other voter.

Here is what two independent voters had to say:

During this current election I received so many calls where people would call me up and say ‘this is such an important election. All you need to do is switch your …registration so you can vote and then you can switch your registration back to being an independent.’ And I just found that so immoral. That wasn’t the Democratic Party organizing its constituency. That was attempting to wrangle independent voters to become Democrats. It’s kind of immoral and creepy.”Jeff Aron, Manhattan independent

I have been an independent for so long and I have four children and they’re all independents as well….Everybody should be given the opportunity to vote. It’s past time. We all need to come together and let everybody vote. I pay taxes just like everybody else. I want to vote like everybody else.” – Torsha Childs, Brooklyn independent

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Advocates of open primary reform and proponents of Top Two say what drove so many independent voters to the CRC’s public hearings over the last couple of months has been the commission’s focus on their grievances with the current electoral system.

They say while various forms of open primary reform have been considered by other CRCs over the years, this is the first time it feels like they are truly listening to the city’s growing independent voter population.

“What has been remarkable about this Commission is that they have truly heard and seen NYC's independent voter community,” remarked Cathy Stewart, Project Manager for the New York-based Let Us Vote.

Hundreds of independents from all walks of life and all five boroughs testified in person or in writing. This Commission heard the simple request ‘let us vote’ and worked hard to develop a proposal for NYC that would give independent voters equal access to the primary ballot."

While many of the most influential political groups make arguments that protect their particular political interests, independent voters have asked for a long time, “Who is going to fight for me?” And at the end of the day, this is where the true stakes reside: 

The voting rights of millions of New Yorkers.

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