NYC mayoral candidates make final push ahead of Election Day
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani greets some people in a car while surrounded by reporters in New York, Oct 27, 2025. (Photo: AP/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK: New York City's mayoral candidates made a final push on Monday (Nov 3) to get voters to the polls, as the race to lead the biggest city in the US nears its finale.
Ahead of election day on Tuesday, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa were campaigning frenetically across the city's five boroughs, making a case for why they should succeed Mayor Eric Adams.
More than 735,000 early votes have already been cast - the highest number ever in a New York City mayoral election - dwarfing 2021’s early in-person turnout, which was the first mayoral race in the city with early voting.
This year’s early voter turnout fell short of the total from the last presidential election, when just over 1 million early in-person votes were cast.
Cuomo had a packed schedule on Monday, setting out to hit each of the boroughs for a get-out-the-vote effort. Sliwa was also crisscrossing the city for a similar effort.
Mamdani, meanwhile, kicked off the day by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan with supporters at sunrise, carrying a banner alongside Democratic allies.
“I continue to be confident about our chances heading into Election Day tomorrow,” Mamdani said at a news conference outside City Hall. “But I will not allow myself, or let this movement, to become complacent.”
TRUMP COMMENTS ON NYC RACE
In an interview on “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday, President Donald Trump said if Mamdani wins, “it’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York.”
Mischaracterizing Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as a communist, Trump said he would choose Cuomo between the two of them.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” he said.
Mamdani, 34, who would be the city's first Muslim mayor, jolted the political world when he defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary election, with an energetic campaign focused on making the city a more affordable place to live.
As the race approaches the finish line, he's continued to post viral social media videos and run a relentless ground game, while warning his progressive fan base not to become complacent and to send as many supporters to the polls as possible.
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OBAMA PRAISED MAMDANI'S CAMPAIGN
Former Democratic President Barack Obama called New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Saturday and offered to be a “sounding board” if the 34-year-old frontrunner wins the election. He also praised Mamdani's campaign.
The call, first reported by the New York Times, was confirmed by Mamdani’s spokesperson.
"Zohran Mamdani appreciated President Obama’s words of support and their conversation on the importance of bringing a new kind of politics to our city,” said Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec.
Mamdani, a Uganda-born state assembly member, has polled well ahead of his main rival, Cuomo, ahead of the November 4 general election.
He has won endorsements from party holdouts such as former Vice President Kamala Harris and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and he has received a steady stream of financial backing from small donors.
Mamdani's policies range from hiking taxes on New York City's wealthiest, raising the corporation tax, freezing stabilized apartment rental rates, and increasing publicly subsidized housing, raising worries among the finance community that the city's competitiveness will suffer.
Cuomo is trying to make his return to political office after resigning as governor four years ago following a barrage of sexual harassment accusations that he denies. Now running as an independent, the 67-year-old has in recent days shifted to wooing Republican voters to bolster his centrist base, pitching himself as the only candidate who can stop Mamdani.
Sliwa, the creator of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, and a longtime fixture on New York's airwaves, wants to spoil both their chances. He's been heavily canvassing the streets and subways in his signature red beret to spread his message of public safety.
RISKS AND REWARDS
Mamdani's rise presents both risks and rewards for the national Democratic Party, which acknowledges the need to appeal to young voters, but could become more vulnerable to Republican attacks due to Mamdani’s criticism of Israel and his Democratic socialism.
New York City's mayoral race is always watched closely as the city is the nation's financial capital and its leaders' decisions often influence national political discourse, at least for the locally dominant Democratic Party.
Voters in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia, and California will cast ballots on Tuesday for a mayor, two governors, and a redistricting measure - early tests of Democratic and Republican strategies ahead of next year's congressional midterm election.
