With early voting ending Sunday evening and Election Day looming, the three candidates for New York City mayor hit the streets Saturday to fight for every last vote. More than 100,000 people voted early on Saturday, the biggest day of the early voting period.

Inside a Queens grocery store, independent candidate Andrew Cuomo was joined by incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. While the two fought bitterly during much of the campaign, Adams has now become one of Cuomo’s most vocal supporters, as he tries to defeat Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and Republican Nominee Curtis Sliwa.

Despite a new poll showing Mamdani with a two-to-one lead over Cuomo, a former Governor of New York who resigned in 2021, he is making a case that he is catching up to the front-runner. 

“He’s coming down. I’m going up. That’s always good,” Cuomo said.

Mamdani, an Astoria, Queens state Assembly Member who’s led every poll since the primary, has a different view.

“It’s momentum of young voters, of older voters. A momentum of New Yorkers who are hungry for change,” Mamdani told News 4.

Sliwa is also projecting optimism, as the new Emerson poll shows the Guardian Angels founder in a virtual tie with Cuomo for second place. “We can turn Queens red!” Sliwa told voters.

The upbeat tone by each contender comes as New Yorkers flock to the polls in an early voting surge — about five times higher than the last mayoral election.

Voters tell News 4 that they’re worried about the economy. “People are tired of living paycheck to paycheck and not having a voice and having people that are not advocating in our interests,” said Blanche Hatwood of Jamaica, Queens.

They’re also concerned with public safety. “You have to have the cops because the streets are a mess,” said Carl James of Tremont, The Bronx. 

Cuomo has called for hiring 5,000 new officers – an idea Adams offered this week, though it would not start until after he leaves office.

Mamdani appeared in Harlem Saturday with the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network. “I bring you the candidate that showed up,” Sharpton told the audience of Mamdani. He has been critical of Cuomo’s tone in the closing weeks of the campaign, and warned candidates: “If you can’t get a vote on your record, don’t play us against each other.”

But the Mayor raced to Cuomo’s defense. “This is not negative. It is revealing the facts,” Adams said.

Cuomo insists that it’s Mamdani who’s gone negative in his campaigning. “Pointing out that he has been offensive doesn’t make me the offender.”

Cuomo is trying to make the case that that he is the trusted pro who’ll make the city safer, while Mamdani is a socialist who’s too inexperienced to govern. And Sliwa, Cuomo believes, is a spoiler. “I think they realize he is dangerously unqualified,” Cuomo added.

Sliwa countered that “The whole campaign now is fear, fright, and hysteria. And ‘Don’t vote for Sliwa, vote for me.’ Alright. Why?” he asked.

Mamdani said today that he is not worried. “I continue to be confident, but I never let that confidence become complacency.”

Early voting concludes Sunday.  Polls are open from 9AM to 5PM.