Zohran Mamdani may have won New York City’s mayoral election on Nov. 4, but it was not for a lack of trying on the part of ... his city’s athletes?
After every mayoral election, New York publishes the recipients of write-in votes—often a motley crew of celebrities and politicans past and present. This election’s field was no exception.
Here, per Spencer Gustafson of WPIX-TV in New York, are the athletes who received at least one write-in vote to become mayor of New York in Jan. 2026. The list includes the living and the dead, as well as representatives of three different sports.
ATHLETE POSITION TEAM/ORGANIZATION NOTES
Pete Alonso First baseman New York Mets Five-time All-Star
Carmelo Anthony Forward New York Knicks from 2011 to '17 Six-time All-Star with Knicks
Jalen Brunson Guard New York Knicks Two-time All-Star with Knicks
Jaxson Dart Quarterback New York Giants 1,556 passing yards in 10 games this season
Lou Gehrig First baseman New York Yankees Two-time American League MVP; died in 1941
Josh Hart Shooting guard and small forward New York Knicks 11.8 points per game in 19 games this season
Aaron Judge Right fielder and designated hitter New York Yankees Three-time American League MVP
Rob Manfred Commissioner Major League Baseball Commissioner since 2015
Cam Skattebo Running back New York Giants 410 yards in eight games this season
Tom Thibodeau Coach New York Knicks from 2021 to '25 2021 NBA Coach of the Year with Knicks
The list can be grouped with relative neatness into four brackets—the modern baseball figures (Alonso, Judge and Manfred), the faces of the Knicks’ 2020s renaissance (Brunson, Hart and Thibodeau), the Giants rookies (Dart and Skattebo) and the past greats (Anthony and Gehrig).
Mariners fans still grimacing at Judge’s MVP win over catcher Cal Raleigh must now ask themselves: would they trust the Big Dumper to run Seattle?
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