A volatile and intense mayoral election in New York is comes to an end on Tuesday, Election Day.
The Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, is seen by many as charismatic and fresh faced, but with limited executive experience and optimistic plans to make Ne York more affordable that may be hard to finance.
His chief rival, independent Andrew Cuomo, has extensive government and leadership experience, but has been dogged by a sometimes fraught record.
The Republican, Curtis Sliwa, is an off-beat activist with decades logged patrolling the city’s subways and speaking out about safety and security.
Here are five key things to watch going into the race’s final days;
Cuomo courts conservatives
Mamdani is consistently polling with a double-digit lead over Cuomo, with a recent poll from Emerson College showing him up by a whopping 25 points.
In the last days of the race, the ex-governor as he seeks to close the gap has pushed to win over conservative or Republican voters and peel away Sliwa supporters. Efforts to nudge Sliwa out of the race have not panned out.
Needing to grab those votes, Cuomo has pitched himself as the only viable alternative to Mamdani, even at times invoking President Trump when trying to appeal to that slice of the electorate. He’s been a repeat guest on Fox News, the right-leaning WABC show Sid & Friends and has traveled to conservative strongholds such as Staten Island and Brighton Beach.
On a Russian radio appearance on Friday morning, he quoted Trump, saying Sliwa is “not ready for prime time.”
“I’m asking Republicans and Democrats to vote for me because more important than Democratic or Republican is that we stop the socialists,” Cuomo told the host.
It is a somewhat risky message in a city where fear and concern over the Trump administration are widespread, but Cuomo has insisted his courting of the city’s GOP doesn’t mean he can’t take on Trump if need be.
Mamdani has seized on that issue, noting that a number of Cuomo donors are also Trump backers and arguing Cuomo is beholden to Trump.
Mamdani pitches himself to older voters
During early voting, which started last week and continues through 5 p.m. on Sunday, voters have flocked to the polls in record numbers — including voters 55 and older.
Those voters have been a weak spot for the Mamdani campaign, which has generated enthusiasm among younger voters, but has lagged somewhat among older ones.
The campaign has also likely seen a potential opening with those voters: An October poll from AARP New York/Gotham polling found that nearly 8 in 10 undecided voters were age 50+, although Cuomo has in the polls been beating Mamdani with older voters, some of whom are unfamiliar with Mamdani, uneasy about his relative lack of experience and hard-left politics.
In the Emerson poll, Mamdani nabbed the support of 69% of voters under 50, whereas 37% of voters over 50 backed Mamdani, 31% supported Cuomo and 28% said they’d vote for Sliwa.
On Thursday and Friday, Mamdani, who at 34 would be the youngest mayor in modern city history, directed outreach to older adults centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
“This was such a beautiful opportunity to both speak to seniors in our city… and also that these same seniors are the ones facing so many other pressures of the affordability crisis,” Mamdani said at a campaign stop doing tai chi with seniors on the Lower East Side.
Super PACs bankroll big money attack ads
Mamdani’s democratic socialist policies of taxing the rich and increasing taxes on businesses in order to underwrite his affordability agenda of free buses and childcare has alarmed the city’s business community.
In the final stretch of the election, new cash has flowed to PACs in support of Cuomo to fund aggressive attacks ads and text blasts.
Michael Bloomberg, billionaire and former mayor, donated a combined $5 million to two of anti-Mamdani super PACs earlier this week — making him the single biggest donor of the general election cycle.
Along with that contribution, Bloomberg, who supported Cuomo’s failed bid in the June Democratic primary, where forked over $8 million to pro-Cuomo PACs, restated his endorsement of the ex-governor.
“Cuomo has the experience toughness to stand up for New Yorkers and get things done,” Bloomberg said on social media.
Cuomo’s donors have included William Lauder, chair of the Estée Lauder Companies, members of the Tisch family, Joe Gebbia, a Trump administration official and co-founder of Airbnb and Daniel Loeb, the hedge fund manager.
The PACs have pushed out ads warning of “mayhem” in the city if Mamdani were to win, accused him of being anti-Semitic for his anti-Israel politics and have broadcasted to conservatives that Cuomo is Trump’s pick for mayor. Among the concerns of the business community is that Mamdani’s tax plan will chase employers and jobs from New York.
Mamdani has some PACs in his support, too, but there are far fewer and they’re raised much less than those in support of Cuomo.
Record-breaking turnout
While the race isn’t over til Tuesday, turnout in early voting has already smashed previous records — and both the Mamdani and Cuomo camps claim that works to their advantage.
The big turnout numbers could bode well for Mamdani, given the surge from younger, more progressive voters to pushed him to his 13-point victory over Cuomo in the primary. But since many of those showing up to the polls are older voters, the ex-governor has claimed his message — that city dwellers should fear Mamdani and his vision for the city — is landing.
“They have never seen this volume of turnout, which is great, which is great, and it’s all across the city,” Cuomo said at a Thursday campaign stop in Harlem. “The polls have no idea what they’re talking about, because they have never seen this kind of turnout before.”
Mamdani has continued to encourage supports to take to the ballot boxes, and has continued to encourage New Yorkers to knock doors and make calls in his support in outer borough neighborhoods to snag the support of undecided voters and those just now tuning into the race.
“People say: ‘We’ve got this.’ ‘It’s over.’ ‘Cuomo is cooked.’ Do not believe it,” Mamdani said in a campaign video on Thursday morning. “The billionaires who rigged our economy and tried to buy an election don’t give up easy.”
Sliwa the spoiler?
The Republican candidate faced pressure from Cuomo and others to drop out of the race to clear the field for a two-man showdown. Supporters of the former governor figured with Sliwa out, conservative voters would flock to Cuomo.
However, the bull-headed Sliwa rebuked any suggestion he drop out — plus, recent polling from Marist University shows that even if he did some of his base could actually go to Mamdani.
The poll, released Thursday, found that in the current race, Mamdani would receive 48% of the vote and Cuomo would get 32%. Sliwa got 16% of the support. But in a hypothetical head-to-head between Mamdani and Cuomo, the race gets tighter but Sliwa’s slice would be distributed among both candidates, with Mamdani ending up with 51% to Cuomo’s 44%.
Sliwa garnered attention after his fiery debate performance earlier this month, where the Guardian Angels co-founder went viral online for his colorful one-liners.
“First of all, there’s a lot of testosterone in this room,” he said at the start of the first debate.
His zinger in the frist debate, “You’re no Mario Cuomo,” aimed at son Andrew, raised eyebrows as well.
