Early voting for New York's next mayor begins Saturday with an outsider Democratic Party candidate the favorite to upend the city's politics and face down President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked him.
The twisting race has seen state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani, a self-described socialist, surge from the political wilderness to become the frontrunner in a campaign in which the current mayor bowed out and the onetime Democratic favorite lost his own primary.
The 34-year-old Mamdani's once unlikely campaign has been turbo-charged by eager campaigning by young New Yorkers in particular.
Early voting allows New Yorkers to cast a ballot from Saturday until November 2, with Election Day on November 4 and the winner taking office in the New Year.
Mamdani had 47 percent support and led Cuomo by 18 points in the latest citywide poll, conducted by Victory Insights between October 22 and 23. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, 71, was at 16 percent.
Adams, who has been mired in corruption allegations linked to his term in office, dropped out of the race on September 28 but did not initially endorse a rival.
"You can't freeze rent, but you are lying and telling people you could -- we're fighting against a snake oil salesman," Adams said Thursday with Cuomo at his side.
"Gentrifiers have raised the rent in the city... and (Mamdani's) the king of the gentrifiers." It is unclear what impact Adams's endorsement will have on the race.
"It is possible, but extremely unlikely, Cuomo can catch Mamdani," said Lincoln Mitchell, a political science professor at Columbia University, saying the former governor's "tough guy persona" dates from another era.
A day before early voting, Mamdani denounced “racist, baseless attacks” from his opponents. Speaking outside a mosque in the Bronx on Friday, Mamdani slammed his rivals for “bringing hatred to the forefront,” saying their Islamophobic rhetoric targets not only him but also the city’s nearly one million Muslim residents.
“To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity, but indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does,” Mamdani said, less than two weeks before the November 4 general election.
His remarks followed a controversial exchange on a radio show Thursday, during which his chief rival, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, laughed after host Sid Rosenberg claimed Mamdani “would be cheering” if another September 11 attack occurred. Cuomo responded, “That’s another problem,” prompting widespread outrage.
Mamdani said that while he had tried to focus his election campaign on his core message of affordability, his opponents in recent days had shown that “Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement.”
Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Muslim advocacy group CAIR Action, also slammed Cuomo’s comments as “despicable, dangerous, and disqualifying.”
“By agreeing with a racist radio host who suggested a Muslim elected official would ‘cheer’ another 9/11, Cuomo has crossed a moral line,” Elkarra said. “Cuomo’s willingness to engage in this kind of hate speech shows exactly the kind of leader he is — someone who would rather stoke fear than bring people together.”
Earlier on Friday, Mamdani secured a major endorsement from Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic Party in the US House of Representatives and representative of New York’s 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of Brooklyn such as East Flatbush, Coney Island, and Brownsville.
A new poll by AARP and Gotham Polling & Analytics places Mamdani far ahead of his opponents with 43.2 percent support, followed by Cuomo at 28.9 percent and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa at 19.4 percent. About 8.4 percent of respondents said they were undecided or preferred another candidate.
Mamdani has said publicly that he condemns the Israeli regime for committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested.
He has also said that there is no room for anti-Semitism in New York City, adding that if he were elected, he would increase funding to combat hate crimes.
On the other hand, pro-Tel Aviv Cuomo has described himself as a “hyper supporter of Israel and proud of it.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump weighed in on the race, calling Mamdani a “pure communist” during an interview with Fox News and threatening to cut off federal funding for New York City if the Democratic nominee wins.
Comments
Add new comment