THE CITY 09/02
"“Our job for the general is to activate the super PAC killer,” Heller said. “We have to defeat these billionaires and their super PACs who want to sabotage the Mamdani momentum. It starts with crushing their attacks to push Cuomo and Adams on us again.”
NEW YORK TIMES 08/05
"Candidates are learning how to better navigate the system too. The Mamdani-Lander cross-endorsement proved to be a strong strategy, as did the anti-Cuomo campaign, known as D.R.E.A.M. (Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor)."
GOTHAMIST 07/24
"As Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and their billionaire backers continue their efforts to subvert the democratic process and buy out the general election, let these results remind them that they are no match for New Yorkers, who will make sure the next stage of the DREAM will haunt their nightmares even further,” said Charlie Heller, a spokesperson for the coalition."
HELL GATE 07/23
"The DREAM (Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor) strategy looks like it worked. A whopping 54 percent of voters didn't put Cuomo on their ballots in the first place."
THE NEW REPUBLIC 07/14
"“No means no, Andrew,” wrote an X account for Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor, a group that had organized to prevent people from ranking Cuomo in the Democratic primary, referring to the more than a dozen women that Cuomo sexually harassed."
THE INDYPENDENT 07/10
"And I’ve never been more appreciative for this coalition of people who wanted to form DREAM [Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor] and the many candidates who said they would not accept Andrew Cuomo."
CITY & STATE 06/26
"Ramos spent much of her mayoral campaign harshly criticizing Cuomo and was part of the anti-Cuomo slate known as “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor” until she stunned her supporters by endorsing Cuomo on June 6. Progressive organizations that were backing Ramos’ mayoral campaign quickly rescinded their endorsements of her campaign."
ANALYTICS INSIGHT 06/25
"Amplifying these progressive ambitions is the newly established PAC, DREAM for NYC—“Don’t Rank Evil Andrew”—which galvanizes left-leaning voters & amplifies Mamdani’s vision."
NY MAG INTELLIGENCIER 07/01
"The strong showing is likely a result of the heavily-promoted “Don’t Rank Cuomo” strategy which urged voters to leave him off their ballot entirely."
GOTHAMIST 06/27
"It all coalesced into a simple message: “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor,” or DREAM. The slogan became a catchphrase repeated by candidates, the Working Families Party and everyday people who scrawled it around the city."
LEFT VOICE 06/25
"Slogans like “Don’t rank Cuomo” and “DREAM: Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor” are widespread even among voters and institutions who aren’t campaigning for Mamdani as their top choice."
TEEN VOGUE 06/25
"New Yorkers lobbied to show each other the differences between the candidates, too, running a “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor” campaign (re-christened after Eric Adams dropped out of the Dem primary) to make sure his name recognition didn’t go to waste."
HUFF POST 06/25
"One acronym described the effort: DREAM. At first, it stood for “Don’t Rank Eric Adams for Mayor.” When Cuomo entered the race, it changed to “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor.” It changed again when Adams announced he would skip the Democratic Primary: “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.""
COUNTERPUNCH 06/25
"This fragility was demonstrated by the advent of “Frankenstein PACs” such as #DREAM, which started the “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew” campaign, splintering a once unified front."
NY POST 06/24
"Cuomo’s comeback was also imperiled by progressives urging voters to “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew” — or DREAM — on their ballots."
NY TIMES 06/24
"As election results show Mamdani with a lead, the DREAM campaign that implored voters not to rank Cuomo declared victory. The movement, which stands for Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor, said in a statement on Tuesday that it “defined the race, aligned the field and turned what could have been a wonky ranking strategy into a message blanketing the city.”"
SEMMAFOR 06/24
"In February, before Adams quit the race and Cuomo entered, a group of progressives launched “Don’t Rank Eric Adams for Mayor,” or DREAM, to advertise their strategy. When Cuomo tagged in, the acronym was changed to Don’t Rank Evil Andrew. "
POST-ELECTION
THE HILL 06/24
"The “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor” campaign, or DREAM, formed to call on voters and candidates to back anyone except Cuomo."
ASIAN JOURNAL 06/23
"The progressive grassroots group DREAM (Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor) has launched a public campaign urging voters not to include Andrew Cuomo on their ranked-choice ballots—arguing that doing so, even as a lower-ranked choice, could undermine support for progressive candidates. The group originally used the slogan “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor” before Eric Adams withdrew from the Democratic primary. The current New York City mayor is now running as an independent candidate in the 2025 general election."
WE GOT THIS COVERED 06/23
"A super-PAC opposing Cuomo has changed its slogan to ‘Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor,’ after Mayor Adams dropped out of the race."
WALL STREET JOURNAL 06/20
"Lawrence Wang, a political-communications strategist, was among those who first came up with the “DREAM” moniker early in the primary. His group, an independent grassroots political-action committee, sells $35 “Don’t Rank Cuomo” T-shirts and works with social media influencers to post on the slogan."
AMSTERDAM NEWS 06/19
"On the opposite side of the political spectrum, the Center for Strategic Politics partnered with the Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor (DREAM) campaign to also publish a poll from June 13–16 using Pollfish. They found that since the second Democratic mayoral debate, hosted by Spectrum NY1, Mamdani is now tied in a statistical dead heat with Cuomo."
ABC 7 06/19
"Meanwhile, former mayor Bill de Blasio has not minced words against his former government colleague, but has joined the 'DREAM Coalition,' which stands for 'Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor."
DEMOCRACY NOW 06/18
"Talk about the DREAM coalition, D-R-E-A-M, which stands for “Don’t rank evil Andrew for mayor.” Talk about what drove Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign, the scandals around that, and what this coalition of groups has — their message, “Don’t rank Andrew Cuomo,” what that means."
CITY JOURNAL 06/18
"That’s actually on top of two other good polls for Cuomo, a poll from the anti-Cuomo group, DREAM, which is “Don’t Rank”— I think it’s “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor” or “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor” had him up only by four and then there was another Marist poll that had him winning so it kind of looks like, after a brief period of time where we thought Zohran might pull ahead, Cuomo is really comfortably in the lead."
HELL GATE 06/17
"A new poll released today by the Center for Strategic Politics and the Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor (DREAM) campaign shows Cuomo winning a squeaker—52 percent to 48 percent—with Adrienne Adams besting Brad Lander to stick around in the penultimate round."
NEWSWEEK 06/17
"A poll released by the Center for Strategic Politics, sponsored by the "Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor" campaign, showed Mamdani within striking distance of Cuomo.
The DREAM campaign wrote in a statement: "This poll cements what DREAM has said from the beginning: the more New Yorkers see how corrupt and chaotic Cuomo is, the less they'll rank him. At this stage, not even Cuomo's barrage of Republican funded ads can change that this race will come down to the margin of effort, and remaining cross endorsements."
POLITICO 06/14
"He also specifically urged voters not to rank Cuomo on the ballot, becoming the highest-profile supporter of the movement dubbed DREAM: “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.”"
NEW REPUBLIC 06/13
"Both Ocasio-Cortez and Velazquez explicitly framed their endorsements in terms of stopping Cuomo’s momentum. (DREAM, a small but influential super PAC, has aided these efforts by blanketing the city with its message: “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.”)"
WORLD JOURNAL 06/07
"紐約市的市長選舉採用「排名制投票」，選民在選票上可以為最多五位候選人依偏好順序排序，從第一順位到第五順位。計票時，若有候選人獲得超過50%的第一順位票，則直接當選；若無，則由得票最少者被淘汰，其選票將轉移至選民所列的下一順位候選人，依此類推，直到有一人取得過半票數為止。在進步派陣營內部，包括「DREAM聯盟」(Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor)在內的反葛謨組織正努力透過排名制投票聯手阻止葛謨回歸"
USA TODAY 06/09
"Earlier in the race, some unions and progressive advocacy organizations such as United Auto Workers Region 9A and the Working Families Party promoted what they called the "DREAM" approach, an acronym for “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor.” Now that Adams has dropped out of the Democratic primary, some have rebranded "DREAM" to stand for 'Don’t Rank Evil Andrew (Cuomo) for Mayor.'"
POLITICO 06/09
"That suggests the anti-Cuomo DREAM strategy — an acronym for Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor, promoted by the Working Families Party — is reaching more voters, who are choosing to leave Cuomo off their ballots entirely."
WE GOT THIS COVERED 06/05
"Supporters of non-Cuomo candidates, including those affiliated with the DREAM (Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor) movement, are leveraging the city’s ranked-choice voting system as a strategy to prevent Cuomo’s political comeback."
POLITICO 06/05
"Supporters of Cuomo’s rivals — including those affiliated with the DREAM, or Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor movement — see ranked-choice voting as an opportunity to block Cuomo’s return to elected office. But the left-leaning candidates running against him are still scrambling."
REMAPPING DEBATE 06/01
This season, that has translated into the anti-Cuomo candidates (Brad Lander, Adrienne Adams, Scott Stringer, Zellnor Myrie, and Jessica Ramos – in addition to Mamdani) thus far honoring an all-but-official non-aggression pact, summarized neatly by the acronym DREAM (initially standing for Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor; now, after Mayor Adams bowed out of the Democratic primary, standing for Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor)."
NY GROOVE 05/29
"Per the DREAM website: “To prevent Andrew Cuomo from getting your vote in NYC’s Ranked Choice Voting system you have to do something very specific: do not rank him. If you rank him second to last, he could get your vote. If you rank him last, he could get your vote. The only way to guarantee that you are not voting for evil Andrew is to leave him off your ballot entirely.”
NBC NEW YORK 05/14
"It was not immediately clear what percentage of voters polled may have followed the anti-Cuomo strategy known as "DREAM," which stands for "Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.”
NBC NEW YORK 05/14
"It was not immediately clear what percentage of voters polled may have followed the anti-Cuomo strategy known as "DREAM," which stands for "Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.”
POLITICO 05/29
"The endorsements come as Cuomo dominates the field of Democrats by double digits in public polling and Lander has become a prominent voice in the DREAM, or Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor, campaign.”
NY 1 05/27
"A Super PAC and groups like the Working Families Party are calling on voters to “DREAM” — an acronym meaning: “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew Cuomo.”
POLITICO 05/24
"Some are even talking up the strategy promoted by a super PAC known as DREAM: Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.”
POLITICO 05/23
"In short, it’s the strategy of DREAM: Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor, and it’s being pushed by an underfunded super PAC and adopted by the WFP. And now, occasionally, spread by the candidates themselves.”
THE NEW REPUBLIC 05/19
"We are seeing the power of a different kind of communications, a different kind of reaching out to New Yorkers, that has been effective without the money or the budgets that many of our opponents have,” he said.”
WASHINGTON EXAMINER 05/16
"Anti-Cuomo group Don't Rank Evil Andrew For Mayor, or DREAM, posted a video of the encounter with the caption, "This is the Cuomo his PR team is always trying to hide: a creepy loser who governs with one hand.”
POLITICO 05/07
"And in the fifth and final spot, they’re saying DREAM: Don’t Rank Evil Andrew (Cuomo) for Mayor.”
POLITICO 05/06
"Cuomo enjoys a sizable lead over his more progressive rivals in public polling. But amid an effort encouraging voters to opt against him — known as DREAM, or “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor” — LGBTQ+ political club members are spreading the word that the crowded Democratic field includes allies ready to fight today’s fight."
NY TIMES 04/16
"The left-leaning Working Families Party has urged voters to leave Mr. Cuomo off their ballot entirely, as has a coalition known as “D.R.E.A.M.” — which recently shifted its branding from “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor” to “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.”
THE INK 04/15
NY TIMES 04/04
"The D.R.E.A.M. movement — an acronym that once stood for Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor — is now focused solely on blocking Mr. Cuomo’s momentum, renaming itself Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor."
HELL GATE 04/03
"It has also required some deft acronym editing: the DREAM PAC (Don't Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor) has morphed into the DREAM PAC (Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor)."
OUR TIME PRESS 04/02
"Meanwhile, a grassroots D.R.E.A.M. movement is not what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or mayoral candidates Eric Adams or Andrew Cuomo ever had in mind. The United Auto Workers (UAW) and a grassroots political action committee came up with the acronym D.R.E.A.M.–“Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor.”
CITY AND STATE 04/01
"Have you seen the DREAM movement – “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor” – that United Auto Workers and the Working Families Party are getting behind? Well, they found a catchy name! I can see why they’re taking that approach."
NY TIMES 03/28
"Opponents of Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams are trying to stop their ascent by popularizing the acronym D.R.E.A.M., or “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor.”
GOTHAMIST 03/28
"A strategy known as DREAM, which stands for “Don’t rank Eric or Andrew for mayor.” All of the candidates seeking the Working Families Party endorsement have signed on to the message."
POLITICO 03/28
"This has spread. The conversation is there. The slogan is catchy."
NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS 03/27
"A pushback from D.R.E.A.M (Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor) and Women Against Cuomo coalitions because of Cuomo’s resignation over sexual harassment allegations and “failure” to protect nursing homes."
NY TIMES 03/27
"The push for voters to leave Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams off their ballots has been embraced by other progressives, including those who have embraced the motto “D.R.E.A.M.,” which stands for Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor."
THE FORDHAM RAM 03/26
"This will be the second mayoral election with ranked choice voting and ideas like D.R.E.A.M. as a result. NYC’s progressives want anyone who is not Cuomo or Adams, and it brings the idea that candidates could work together to take down bigger enemies. "
FOX 5 NEW YORK 03/25
"FOX 5’s Linda Schmidt reports on the rise of a progressive grassroots group called DREAM—short for “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor”—which is actively campaigning to keep both candidates off voters’ ranked-choice ballots."
NY TIMES 03/25
"The Working Families Party will also endorse a slate of progressive candidates and is encouraging voters to “D.R.E.A.M.” — Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor. Several candidates, including Mr. Mamdani, support the idea."
NY MAG 03/25
"New Yorkers for a Better New York Today launched dreamfornyc.com in February after months of planning, featuring hats and shirts with the slogan and backed by a social media campaign targeting Cuomo’s record."
NY MAG 03/11
"Progressives are floating a new slogan, DREAM (Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor), and it’s easy enough to see such a movement take off in large swaths of left-leaning Brooklyn and Queens. If the Working Families Party wants to get serious about growing their influence in municipal politics again, they can fund a multimillion-dollar initiative focusing only on convincing voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots."
THE CITY 03/10
CRAIN'S NEW YORK 03/11
"In left-leaning brownstone Brooklyn, northern Brooklyn, and western Queens, she is more likely to appear on ballots than Cuomo, who may suffer from an emerging DREAM movement (Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor) and repeated attacks on his record as governor, including his management of the pandemic and the sexual harassment scandals that drove him from office."
SPECTRUM NEWS - NY 1 03/10
"City Comptroller Brad Lander referenced ranked choice voting. 'I’m a fan of the dream strategy. Don’t rank Eric or Andrew,' he said."
THE CITY 03/09
"Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor, one of several groups working against Cuomo’s run for Mayor."
THE CITY 03/09
"There’s even a new labor-backed initiative urging people not to rank Cuomo or Adams, dubbed DREAM (“Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor.” Get it?)"
QUEENS CHRONICLE 03/06
[Tiffany Cabán] added, “I support the DREAM Campaign: Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor. It’s time for change, not corrupt blasts from the past.”
POLITICO 03/06
"It’s also asking mayoral hopefuls to support the pop-up acronym D.R.E.A.M — Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor."
POLITICO 03/05
"“I am very excited about Adrienne. Very excited. I want to see what she brings. My main focus is DREAM. Gotta make DREAM happen. ‘Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor,’ Williams said in an interview Wednesday. “Let’s live the dream. And I think she can be a part of that.”
STREETSBLOG NYC 03/03
"Livable streets advocates can't possibly support either of these guys, so someone should tell your friends about a movement called DREAM: Don't Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor."
THE NATION 03/03
“We’re talking to progressives about teaming up—and making sure nobody ranks Cuomo or Adams” in their top tier. A coalition known as DREAMNYC—“Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor”—is pushing the same strategy."
THE CITY 03/03
"And some labor organizations have promoted a plan for the ranked-choice primary: “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor,” or DREAM."
SEMAFOR 02/28
“DREAM is designed to disrupt the millions of dollars that dark money PACs are about to unleash to elect nightmare candidates in the most consequential primary this year,” said campaign spokesman Lawrence Wong. “If there’s one thing we know about this city, it’s that even the most hated, scandal-plagued executives can linger around like wet farts.”
NY TIMES 02/03
But Mr. Adams’s opponents wasted little time trying to capitalize. A group whose catchy D.R.E.A.M. campaign — “Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor” — had sought to persuade voters to leave Mr. Adams and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo off ranked-choice ballots quickly changed its name to reflect its now-singular mission: “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.”