Former Clinton voter Mark Penn appeared on Fox News on Thursday to explain how the New York City primary was manipulated to benefit Socialist Democrat Rep. Zoran Mamdani.

With 88% of the vote counted, Mamdani moved ahead with 43.5% of the first-line vote, while former Democrat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo dragged at 36.3%. When he appeared in “Ingraham’s Angle,” Penn said the timing and structural changes in the election process have benefited both left and right candidates at the expense of moderate Democrats.

“This is a big question, and I think there’s a lot of panic in New York about what can be done in general. Can you take someone with you in the general election?

Penn said only about 400,000 votes have been decided.

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“This was September, and Andrew Cuomo would have been leaked with much higher voter turnout between Zoran and Andrew Cuomo. You currently have a city of 8 million people.

Penn said the revised voting system disrupts voters and further suppresses them. (Related: Eric Adams says that Mamdani never passed the bill, but now he wants to run New York.)

“This has moved to summer death play, summer death where activists can win the day, so we need to get back the electoral system.

New York City’s primary system was moved from September to June, and Penn believes voter turnout has significantly reduced.

If Mamdani keeps his lead, he will face Republican candidate Curtis Swawa in November and Democratic mayor Eric Adams, who is re-election in an independent vote after skipping the Democratic primary. Unlike primary elections, mayoral general elections do not use rank-option voting.

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