Having two people with the last name Adams on the ballot in the New York City mayoral race could leave voters confused — and give a boost to frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, experts said.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and rival Council Speaker Adrienne Adams are both vying for the party line in June’s primary election but insiders said the name game could mean bad news for the pair, who are not related.
“It’s confusing to have ranked choice voting and then it’s really confusing with two candidates with the same last name on the ballot,” Republican pollster John McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said he has firsthand experience of what could go wrong — during the campaign of Republican Bret Schundler, who won a special election for Jersey City mayor in 1992 that included 18 other candidates.
One of the reasons why Schundler won is that two brothers — Democrats Louis and Allen Manzo — were in the race, McLaughlin said.
Allen siphoned 3,990 votes from his brother, Louis, who came in second place — just 1,643 votes behind Schundler.
The split in the Allens’ vote helped Schundler become the first Republican elected mayor in Jersey City across the Hudson from the Big Apple in more than 70 years.
The presence of two Adams’ could have a similar effect, McLaughlin said.
“If two of the nine names on the ballot are the same, it gets confusing,” McLaughlin said. “They’ll just see Adams if they’re not paying attention to the first name.”
With ranked choice voting, Democrats might vote for incumbent Eric Adams as their first choice and Adrienne Adams as their second choice, or vice versa.
In the final ranked choice voting tally, the Adams vs. Adams split could lead to elimination of both.
That could benefit frontrunner in the polls, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo or possibly another leading progressive candidate who catches fire, such as Brand Lander, Scott Stringer or Zohran Mamdani, McLaughlin said.
“The two Adams knock out each other out,” he said.
During Adrienne Adams’ campaign kick off Saturday, all her campaign posters and literature touted “Adrienne” — without using her last name.
Other political veterans agreed that having the name Adams name twice on the ballot could cause some confusion, though it’s up for debate whether it will have a considerable or minor impact.
“It’s going to cause confusion — no doubt about it,” said one Democratic consultant, who is not aligned with any candidate and requested anonymity. “Cuomo will benefit because the Adamses will knock each other out.”
Campaign veteran Jerry Skurnik, a consultant with Engage Voters USA, said he expected the confusion over the two Adamses on the ballot to be a factor — and it could turn out to be an outsized factor in a close race.
“If someone is eliminated by 5,000 votes,” he said of ballot confusion, “that could be the reason.”
Candidates having the same last name has been more of an issue in small legislative races for City Council or state Assembly or Senate.
Laws have been passed over the years to address the problem of candidates with the same last name running for the same seat, by requiring that the ballot list a number beside his or her name.
In the case of candidates having identical first and last names, one could petition the Board of Elections to include a short biographical information, such as office held, to distinguish the two.
