Ex-NYC mayoral candidate sues to pull name from ballot amid push to stop Mamdani 

MANHATTAN (CN) — Former New York City candidate for mayor Jim Walden filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the city’s board of elections for refusing to pull his name from the ballot despite suspending his campaign.

Walden, once a longshot independent candidate, dropped out of the race last week amid poor polling to back a rival he hopes can defeat Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, a proud democratic socialist who has built a broad youth coalition with pledges of free buses and rent freezes.

“The other candidates have all said Mr. Mamdani represents an existential threat to New York City,” Walden, an attorney, said in a statement announcing the end of his campaign. “Talk is cheap. Respectfully, it is time to ‘walk the walk’ for the good of the city.”

But in his new suit, Walden claims the city elections board refused to pull his name from the ballot, even though he withdrew from the mayor’s race before the certification deadline.

“Calling the application ‘late,’ respondents cited no authority for this determination,” Walden argues.

Walden, a private attorney at a white collar Manhattan law firm, filed the complaint himself in the New York Supreme Court. He’s seeking emergency relief to pull his name off the ballot as soon as possible to “avoid voter confusion.”

“If the board lists petitioner’s name on the ballot, after petition[er] has terminated his campaign in an application filed with the Campaign Finance Board, voters will be fundamentally misled by being ‘forced to consider candidates who are unwilling or unable to serve in the office for which they would appear on the ballot,’" Walden claims. “Every voter lulled into voting for petitioner will be, effectively, disenfranchised.”

On Wednesday, a New York judge temporarily enjoined Walden’s name from appearing on the November ballot in response to Walden’s lawsuit. But the city elections board can fight that ruling at a hearing Thursday morning.

Walden called the temporary order from New York Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman “a good sign from a straight-shooting judge.”

“I am driven by one concern: if my name remains on the ballot, voters will be misled and disenfranchised,” Walden said after the ruling. “No law commands this absurd result.”

Walden is reportedly considering taking even more drastic steps to ensure his name is off November’s general election ballot — including declaring himself a Connecticut resident to bolster his case.

His efforts could reshape the race. Walden’s base was small, but local business leaders and conservative politicians have similarly urged stronger candidates to unite behind a centrist to block Mamdani from Gracie Mansion.

That pressure now extends to the White House, where Trump has branded Mamdani a “communist” and denounced his candidacy.

“I would like to see two people drop out and have it be a one-on-one,” Trump told reporters last week.

Trump, a Queens native, may be meddling in the campaign personally. Reports suggest his administration offered current Mayor Eric Adams an ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia if he withdrew from the race and backed another candidate.

Walden’s difficulty getting his name off the ballot could complicate those efforts.

Still, neither Adams nor the other two major candidates, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and activist Curtis Sliwa, has indicated a willingness to step aside and support a non-Mamdani challenger.

Cuomo lost the Democratic primary in June to Mamdani in stunning fashion, but is still polling in second in the general running on independent lines. Sliwa is polling in third as the Republican and Adams, who abandoned his Democratic label to avoid a crowded primary, is polling in fourth as an independent.

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