Open Primaries Challenges Mayor Mamdani to Meet With Independent Voters in Town Hall After Claiming He's "Quite Content" with NYC's Closed Primaries

NEW YORK, July 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Open Primaries, a leading national advocacy group working to enact and protect open and nonpartisan primary election systems, is calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to meet with independent voters who are dismayed by the current political system in NYC.

Open Primaries is requesting a response from the mayor's office by July 20th, 2026, and is ready to organize a town hall meeting as soon as the mayor is available.

Over the past several months, Open Primaries organized hundreds of independent New Yorkers – a diverse group from all five boroughs – to testify at public meetings organized by the Charter Revision Commission about their experience living in a city that denies them basic voting rights. Eighty-five percent of U.S. cities allow independents to vote in primaries. New York City does not.

amNY reported that Mayor Mamdani defended the system on July 8th, saying "I am quite content with the system of primaries that we have thus far. I think that we've seen it's a system that's been in effect for quite some time, and it's also a system that doesn't preclude greater participation."

"It's ironic that Mayor Mamdani, who is raising important questions about the economic power of poor and working people, won't advocate for their political power," said John Opdycke, founder and president of Open Primaries. "Is Mayor Mamdani and the DSA really content with a system that locks out more than one million New Yorkers – 54% of whom are people of color? That's not progressive leadership; it's narrow self-interest."

Open Primaries recently commissioned new polling that found the majority of NYC Democrats support open primaries and that nearly 40% of registered Democrats were actually independents who just wanted the opportunity to vote.

"Independents are real people – a million of us, in every borough of this city, shut out of elections we pay for," said Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president of Open Primaries and an independent voter in Park Slope. "We're taxpayers with no vote in the taxpayer-funded elections that decide who runs our city. That's not democracy. That's taxation without a choice in representation. We want Mayor Mamdani to meet us. Sit down and listen to the New Yorkers who testified to the Charter Revision Commission about being turned away at the polls. We are ready to meet. Name the day and time."

"Growing numbers of young people, many of them Black, Latino, and Asian, don't want to join a political party. They don't like political parties," added Dr. Jessie Fields, an Open Primaries board member and prominent Harlem physician. "The D.C. Council just authorized a public initiative to open the primaries to every independent voter in Washington, D.C. Why can't we let all voters vote in NYC?"

About Open Primaries 

Open Primaries is a national election reform organization working to ensure every voter can participate equally in every public election. Learn more at openprimaries.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: Gabby Richards; 570-592-5712, [email protected]

SOURCE Open Primaries