“People Love Local Elections:” Study Hall Chats With Hell Gate About Covering NYC’s Democratic Mayoral Primary
Christopher Robbins, an editor and co-founder at Hell Gate, was one of the moderators for a mayoral forum that Hell Gate co-hosted with New York Focus in May 2025. Candidate and former Governor Andrew Cuomo never directly responded to the invitation to attend the forum. (Tod Seelie/Hell Gate)
You may have heard about a minor political event that took place earlier this summer: On June 24, Queens State Assemblymember and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani shocked the political establishment when he beat disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor.
NYC’s Hell Gate, the worker-owned outlet that launched in 2022, dedicated considerable time and resources to covering the contest. Hell Gate kicked off their mayoral coverage with interviews with some of the noteworthy candidates starting last summer, and went on to provide consistent analysis and reporting, including breaking the news that the Cuomo team made use of ChatGPT in putting together its housing plan. They also co-hosted a mayoral forum with New York Focus in May and created a limited-edition newsletter focused on the primary. After June 24, there were reflections and post-mortems — and now, the focus has shifted to the general. The outlet’s journalists have been busy examining the background of Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and reporting on efforts by the ultra-rich to keep Mamdani out of Gracie Mansion.
Study Hall caught up with two Hell Gate journalists and worker-owners — Max Rivlin-Nadler and Christopher Robbins — before and after the primary, to ask about their reporting on the race and solicit their reflections. We discuss social media, the press strategies of Cuomo and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Hell Gate’s business model, and much more. These interviews have been edited for clarity and brevity.
With Max Rivlin-Nadler and Christopher Robbins in June, 2025.
Study Hall: How has New York City media approached this race?
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