New York City mayoral race goes to polls amid three-way contest

• Mamdani leads by 14.7 points in RCP average.
• 734,317 early ballots cast, quadruple 2021 count.
• Trump, Musk endorse Cuomo on election eve.

Voters in New York City will choose their next mayor on Tuesday, closing out an eventful campaign featuring Democrat Zohran Mamdani, independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa 

Early voting has ended, with 734,317 ballots cast over the past nine days, more than four times the 2021 tally, Al Jazeera reported, citing the New York City Board of Elections. As of the latest RealClearPolitics average, Mamdani leads on 45.8%, a 14.7-point advantage over Cuomo (31.1%) and a 28.5-point lead over Sliwa (17.3%). 

Late on Monday, Donald Trump and Elon Musk endorsed Cuomo; it is unclear whether the last-minute backing will shift votes.

The race follows the withdrawal of incumbent Democrat Eric Adams, who left the contest on September 29 after poor polling. Adams, in office since January 2022, had faced controversies, including a federal criminal indictment on bribery and conspiracy charges that was later dismissed by a judge in April. 

This year’s contest has drawn clear lines between progressive, establishment and conservative camps in the country’s largest city.

How the voting works

Unlike the city’s primaries, which used ranked-choice voting, the general election is first-past-the-post: the candidate with the most votes wins. 

As of February, New York City had 5.1 million registered voters, about 65% Democrats, 11% Republicans and roughly 1.1 million unaffiliated. 

Registration closed on October 25 for the November 4 vote. In the last mayoral election, just over 1.1 million ballots were cast (about 21% turnout).

To be eligible to vote, residents must be US citizens, 18 or older on election day (pre-registration at 16–17 permitted), New York City residents for at least 30 days, not in prison for a felony conviction, not adjudged mentally incompetent by a court, and not registered elsewhere. 

Polling places are scheduled to open from 6am to 9pm on November 4; some local schedules vary, with openings from 8 to 10am and closings from 4 to 9pm. Early voting ran from October 25 to November 2; locations were listed by the city’s Board of Elections.

Who’s on the ballot

Zohran Mamdani, 34, the Democratic nominee and a New York State Assembly member for Astoria, has rallied liberal voters with proposals for universal free childcare, free buses and a rent freeze for roughly one million rent-regulated apartments. 

His platform also includes higher taxes on the city’s wealthiest, raising corporation tax and expanding affordable housing.

Andrew Cuomo, 67, is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani. The former governor, who resigned four years ago amid sexual harassment allegations, has centred his campaign on public safety, pledging 5,000 additional New York Police Department (NYPD) officers and a crackdown on nuisance and quality-of-life offences. 

Trump, who has labelled Mamdani a “communist”, effectively endorsed Cuomo in an interview on Sunday, and billionaire backers have urged Sliwa to step aside to consolidate the anti-Mamdani vote. Elon Musk also endorsed Cuomo on Monday.

Curtis Sliwa, 71, is the Republican candidate. His law-and-order message, vows to cut bureaucracy, and plans to boost investment outside affluent Manhattan have struggled to gain traction in polling.

Al Jazeera notes that some five million registered voters are set to cast ballots on November 4 to choose the city’s next leader.