An Actor, a Bookseller and a Chef Walk Into a Voting Booth

Graydon Carter, the longtime chronicler of New York City’s glamorous set, is just looking for “somebody who can make the pipes work.”

Sarah McNally, one of the city’s top booksellers, said her employees would “hate” whom she was ranking first.

And Sonia Manzano, who spent 44 years on “Sesame Street” as Maria, understands her candidate has no charisma. That’s just the way she likes it.

With the June 24 Democratic primary just days away, the race for mayor has consumed New Yorkers and divided them into camps. Our famous neighbors, it turns out, are no exception.

The New York Times asked dozens of them to share their ranked-choice ballots. The results are not scientific and they diverge from polls of likely primary voters. But they illuminate how some of the people who write Broadway hits, run celebrated kitchens, fill television screens and shape the skyline view the city’s challenges and the crop of 11 Democrats vying to lead it.

Many chose not to tip their hands, invoking the principle of the secret ballot, or another sacrosanct New York rule: Do not risk offending the powerful.

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