NYC mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani make final push ahead of Election Day
As candidates make their final pitch to voters, President Donald Trump urged New Yorkers to vote for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in a bid to defeat Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. The president stated that voters “really have no choice.”
The campaign hurtled toward its conclusion after more than 735,000 votes were cast in the city’s nine days of early, in-person voting; That was more than four times the votes cast in the only other mayoral race that allowed early voting in 2021.
The count was well below the nearly 1.1 million early votes cast in last year’s presidential election, but large crowds were seen at some polling places on Sunday, the last day of early voting. The line at a polling place in downtown Brooklyn wrapped around the building, and at one point voting lasted an hour.
A crazy last move
Cuomo’s schedule Monday was packed with stops in every county in his effort to get out the vote. He wasted little time in attacking Mamdani. At an early point, the former governor likened a potential Mamdani administration to left-wing governments in Latin America.
“Socialism didn’t work in Venezuela. Socialism didn’t work in Cuba. Socialism won’t work in New York,” he said. Cuomo, 67, is trying to return to political office after resigning as governor four years ago following multiple accusations of sexual harassment, which he has denied. As a Democrat running as an independent, he turned to appealing to Republican voters to strengthen his centrist base, portraying himself as the only candidate who could stop Mamdani. Mamdani started the day by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise. When the sun went down he was giving a pep talk to campaigners in Queens.
“There are only 24 hours left until the polls close, let’s leave it all on the field my friends,” Mamdani told his cheering supporters. he said. “Let’s do this together. Let’s work so hard tonight and tomorrow that we ask ourselves, ‘What if?’ “We don’t have to ask the question.”
State Assemblywoman Mamdani, who would become the city’s first Muslim mayor, defeated Cuomo in the primary with an energetic campaign focused on making the city a better place to live.
Mamdani’s busy campaign weekend included nightclub appearances, watching the Buffalo Bills at a bar with Gov. Kathy Hochul, and attending a Knicks game from nosebleed seats; This contrasted with Cuomo’s courtside appearance a few weeks ago.
Sliwa, the red beret-wearing creator of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, visited a subway stop in Brooklyn, laid a wreath for a woman who died after being set on fire at the station last year, and then set out to rally supporters in the outer boroughs.
“I’m running because this city deserves safety, accountability, and leadership that won’t look the other way,” Sliwa wrote on social media.
Trump weighs in
Trump, a former New York resident, has been eyeing the race for months. The Republican president threatened to arrest Mamdani, deport him and take over the city if he won.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said New Yorkers had “no choice” but to vote for Cuomo and threw his support behind the former governor, repeating his threat that federal funds would be withheld from the city if Mamdani wins.
“Whether or not you personally like Andrew Cuomo, you really have no choice. You should vote for him and hope he does a great job,” Trump wrote.
The president also reiterated a line Cuomo emphasized in the final weeks of his campaign: “A vote for Curtis Sliwa (he looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani.”
In an interview on WABC Radio Monday evening, Cuomo was not asked directly about the president’s tacit support, but he did express agreement with Trump’s comments.
Cuomo said, “The President is right. A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani. That’s why this election is now in the hands of the Republicans.” he said.
Mamdani later spoke out against Cuomo’s “embrace of the MAGA movement.” He told supporters that Trump believes Cuomo would be the best mayor for his administration, not New Yorkers.
The fight continues on social media too
On Friday, Cuomo released another of the AI-generated ads that have been a fixture of his campaign; this time it shows a fake Mamdani trick-or-treating for Halloween. There is a disclaimer that the video is “generated by Artificial Intelligence.”
The former governor has been criticized for using artificial intelligence in ads and once removed a made-up ad that showed Mamdani eating rice with her hands and described her supporters as criminals. A campaign spokesperson said the video was posted in error.
Mamdani, meanwhile, posted a social media video of herself speaking Arabic and admitted in the ad that it “needs some work.” He had previously posted videos speaking in Spanish and Bengali.
