In the N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race, Being Second Might Be Good Enough to Win

Political campaigns are considering cross-endorsements and vying for the No. 2 spot on voters’ ballots.

In the fiercely competitive world of New York City politics, it is hard to imagine a candidate embracing a strategy to be voters’ second choice. Yet in the volatile, crowded race for mayor, such a gambit might actually pay off. The reason? Ranked-choice voting. The introduction this year of the ranked-choice system — allowing the selection of up to five choices for mayor, ranked in preferential order — has inserted a significant measure of unpredictability into an election still unsettled by the pandemic.