Mamdani, Cuomo face off as New York chooses mayor
NEW YORK—New York City’s voters are deciding the outcome of a generational and ideological divide that will resonate across the country on Tuesday as they choose the next mayor to run the nation’s largest city.
Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary earlier this year, faces former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
A victory for Mamdani would give the city its first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in generations, while elevating the democratic socialist to political stardom and giving his brand of economic populism one of the most visible political perches in America.
Seeking a comeback
If Cuomo comes out on top, he will have staged a remarkable political comeback four years after resigning as governor over a barrage of sexual harassment allegations.
For Sliwa, a win would put a Republican in charge of the nation’s largest city at a time when many New Yorkers are seeking a leader who can keep President Donald Trump at bay.
The race has made Mamdani a national figure as he has drawn the ire of Trump and other Republicans, who have tried to cast him as the face of a new, more radical Democratic Party. Trump has also threatened to take over the city if Mamdani wins, as well as arrest and deport the state assembly member, who was born in Uganda but is a US citizen.
Trump reluctantly endorsed Cuomo on the eve of the election, saying Mamdani would bring “disaster” to the city and encouraging Sliwa backers to vote for the former governor instead.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old state lawmaker, already defeated Cuomo once in the Democratic primary, energizing progressives to score a surprise victory over the once-powerful former governor with a campaign that focused on lowering the cost of living in one of the country’s most expensive cities.
Endorsements
This time, Cuomo is counting on support from moderates and Republicans to win. And he’s hoping incumbent Mayor Eric Adams’ late exit from the race and eventual endorsement will give him a boost among their overlapping bases of centrists, Black voters and ultra-Orthodox Jews. He’s also received the endorsement of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who donated $1.5 million to a super PAC supporting Cuomo in the final days of the contest.
Mamdani has generated national buzz and won endorsements from big-name progressives, including US Sen. Bernie Sanders and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He has promised to raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers and use the money to make city buses free and provide free, universal child care. He has also promised to freeze rent for people living in about 1 million rent-regulated apartments.
At the same time, Mamdani’s past criticism of the city’s police department and the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza have unnerved some centrists who see him as a potential setback in their effort to broaden the party’s national appeal.
