NEW YORK (TNND) — Voters are gearing up to decide who will be the next New York City Mayor on Tuesday.
This year’s mayor’s race features Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee.
Mamdani is maintaining his lead with 46.1%, according to RealClearPolitics. Cuomo trails at 31.8% and Sliwa behind him at 16.3%.
Two other candidates listed on the ballot are Irene Estrada and Joseph Hernandez.
Estrada is a candidate from the Conservative Party, and Hernandez is running as the candidate from the “Quality of Life” party, which he founded.
Mamdani won the Democratic Primary, defeating Cuomo 56% to 44%. Mamdani has been leading the polls by double digits since winning the primary.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, endorsed Mamdani, saying that “Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy.”
After opposing Mamdani for weeks, Trump took to Truth Social to caution Jewish Americans against voting for Democratic socialist candidate for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“Any Jewish person who votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self-professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!”
On Tuesday, Mamdani posted a video that reads “Polls are now open” with a link to voting locations around the city.
Cuomo originally ran as a Democrat, switching his campaign to running as an independent after losing the Democratic Primary. Cuomo previously served as New York’s governor for ten years before he resigned after State Attorney Letitia James found he sexually harassed multiple women during his time in office.
Cuomo posted on social media, urging New Yorkers to “vote for an experience to make change, a vote for public safety, and a vote for economic opportunity.”
Both President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk have endorsed Cuomo.
When asked about Trump’s endorsement, Cuomo said, “The president does not support me. He opposes Zohran.”
Sliwa ran unopposed in the Republican Party’s primary, previously running for New York City Mayor in 2021, losing to Democratic nominee Eric Adams.
Adams initially sought re-election, but blamed the “constant media speculation” and the “campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars,” leading him to end his campaign.
“The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign,” Adams said in a video posted on social media.
Adams then backed former Gov. Cuomo in the race after lashing out at Cuomo by calling him “a snake and a liar.”
“Brothers fight,” Adams said of the former Governor. “But when families are attacked, brothers come together.”
Adams’s name is still on the ballot.
As of 2019, New York City uses ranked choice voting for the mayoral election.
According to the New York Board of Elections, every first-choice vote is counted.
If a candidate is to receive more than 50% of the first-choice votes, then that candidate wins.
Counting will only continue in rounds if no candidate received more than 50% of first-choice votes.
The last-place candidate is eliminated at the end of each round. If someone has first-choice voted for a candidate that gets eliminated, their second-choice will be counted and this process will continue until two candidates are left.
Early voting closed on Sunday, with more than 735,000 ballots cast before Election Day, with this being the first year that early voting was an option. According to the New York City Board of Elections, this is quadruple the amount of votes from the 2021 mayoral elections.
This year’s mayoral race holds the record for the highest early in-person turnout for a nonpresidential election in New York.
President Donald Trump has said that he would be hesitant to send New York City federal funding if Mamdani is elected as mayor.
“It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a Communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump said during an interview with CBS.
New York City is the most populated city in the United States, with more than 8 million people calling the Big Apple home.
Polling locations opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, giving voters 15 hours to cast their ballots.
Mamdani voted in Queens on Tuesday morning, Cuomo voted in Manhattan later in the morning on Tuesday, and Sliwa voted early. Mamdani said to the press before voting that he voted yes for housing proposals, a topic on the ballot that would fast-track affordable housing projects by giving some of the deciding power from the City Council to the mayor’s office.
Polls officially close at 9 p.m. Ballots will still be counted if voters are still waiting in line when polls close. Results could take hours after the polls close. In the 2021 mayoral election, Eric Adams was announced as the winner 20 minutes after polls closed.
All three candidates are planning on ending their day with watch parties.