New Delhi: New York City is set to hit the polls Tuesday, as Democrat Zohran Mamdani‘s energetic campaign for mayor witnessed four times more New Yorkers voting early than in the previous election.
The off-year election is being keenly watched around the United States and the world, as Mamdani’s potential victory could offer a blueprint for the Democratic Party, still reeling from the loss of the White House and Congress last year, in its opposition to President Donald Trump.
New York City’s voters have come out in large numbers during the nine days of early voting between 25 October and 2 November. The Board of Elections in the City of New York estimated that at least 7,35,000 people voted early. In 2022, the number stood at around 1,70,000, whereas roughly 1,51,000 voters turned out Sunday to vote early.
Mamdani, a member of the State Assembly, is up against former Democratic Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing at the party primaries earlier this year, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee.
Mamdani is ahead in all opinion polls, leading anywhere from 7 percentage points ahead to 20 percentage points ahead of Cuomo.
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New York City politics
The explosive election in the capitalist capital city of the world is poised to elect a self-avowed democratic socialist, which could potentially reorder American politics for years to come.
Home to Wall Street, the financial capital of the world and also the largest concentration of billionaires globally, the politics of New York City has a large influence on the American economy and culture. Several of Trump’s senior officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, have had long stints in the city.
The city has continued influence on the politics in Washington. Several Democratic leaders in the US Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, are from New York City. Bernie Sanders, the longest-running independent in US congressional history, is from Brooklyn.
The city is also home to over one million Jews, making it the largest city for the Jewish population outside of Israel–a population that is facing its own political climate fracturing since the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Mamdani, a Muslim candidate who built a legacy of pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist politics, has been spending a large part of the year moderating his position to win votes from the diverse religious nature of the city.
The 34-year-old was born in Uganda and became a US citizen in 2018.
The last weeks of the race turned contentious, according to reports, with repeated attacks on Mamdani’s faith and ethnicity. In a recent interview, Cuomo chuckled when a conservative radio broadcaster claimed Mamdani would be cheering if another terrorist attack like the 9/11 attack happened in New York City again. A former Trump official Ellie Cohanim posted a photo of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers burning on 11 September 2001, saying “never forget…vote Andrew Cuomo and save our city.”
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia posted a photo of the Statue of Liberty covered in a burqa after Mamdani won the primaries.
While others have mocked his gig as a rapper, Mr Cardamom.
Several senior Democratic leaders, such as Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were quick to endorse Mamdani; others, like Jeffries and former US President Barack Obama, waited till the very end to announce their support.
The story around the endorsements received by Mamdani adds another layer to the rumblings within the Democrats as the party prepares itself for the 2026 US midterm elections. Trump weighed in Sunday in an interview on US television series “60 Minutes,” with a back-handed endorsement of 67-year-old Cuomo, declaring that he’d rather have a “bad Democrat” than a “communist” as the next mayor of New York City.
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The Democratic Socialist darling
The Mayor of New York City has a large role in the governing of the city, from overseeing city services to proposing its budget and appointing individuals to various local government agencies.
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams stepped out of the race in September and backed Cuomo. Adams’ tenure witnessed several scandals, with the incumbent being indicted by US federal agencies for bribery and fraud, while members of his inner circle faced judicial probes.
In this environment, Mamdani’s campaign focused on three fundamental issues faced by residents every day—freezing rents, faster buses while making the service free of cost, and extending universal childcare to every New Yorker. This has energised his base.
The message has hit home at a time when the city is facing an affordability and housing crisis. Mamdani’s promise to freeze the rents of the almost one million rent-stabilised housing stock in New York City has found support across the city. Adams through his tenure has seen an annual increase in the rent for rent-stabilised houses.
In June, the rent increased by 3 per cent for tenants with a one-year lease and 4.5 per cent for those with a two-year lease. Mamdani’s campaign has continued to focus on the affordability crisis engulfing New York City, while his competitors have tried to attack the idea behind rent freezes.
Cuomo, former governor of New York, lost to Mamdani in the Democratic primaries, despite his early lead. Cuomo, whose father, Mario, was also governor of New York, ran what many considered a weak campaign during the primaries.
However, his run as an Independent candidate has found the backing of several billionaires, including former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Bill Ackman. Ackman, a prominent backer of Trump, threw his support behind Cuomo in April this year and has continued to attack Mamdani’s socialist credentials.
Bloomberg donated $1.5 million recently to a political action committee (PAC) supporting Cuomo. In the Democratic primaries, Bloomberg reportedly spent close to $8 million supporting Cuomo’s failed bid.
In June, Bloomberg publicly declared his support for Cuomo in a post on X, dubbing him the ‘best choice.’
I care deeply about the future of our city, and since leaving office, it has been difficult to watch its struggles, especially since the pandemic. In sizing up the field in the race for mayor, there is one candidate whose management experience and government know-how stand above… pic.twitter.com/Whqxc8Daql
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) June 10, 2025
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)
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