New Yorkers headed to the polls Tuesday in the heated race for mayor of New York City. A lot is at stake for the nation’s largest city as New Yorkers face the threats of further federal funding cuts and immigration raids from President Donald Trump, on top of already skyrocketing housing costs, a homelessness crisis and other pressing issues.
By noon, 1.19 million voters had already cast their ballots on Tuesday and during nine days of early voting, already matching total turnout for the last four mayoral elections, with still nine more hours left of voting.
Despite the huge turnout, there were no major reports of long lines or disruptions at the polls as of midday.
Dee, 48, was one of those first voters, casting her ballot with her daughter before 7 a.m. at the Brooklyn Museum in Prospect Heights.
Dee, who works in the school system and declined to give her last name, said she evaluated the candidates by asking: “Who’s really for the people, who wants to hear the people, listen to the people, make sure that the people are protected, and their voice matters?” At the top of her mind were affordable housing, transportation and sanitation. “I wanna go on the trains, and I wanna be able to go into a clean space, a safe space,” she said.
Voters are also weighing ballot proposals that, among other things, attempt to tackle the city’s housing crisis. (Remember to flip your ballot!) They’ll vote for their City Council representatives, borough presidents, comptroller and, in some boroughs, for district attorney and judges.
Polls open at 6 a.m. and will stay open until 9 p.m. If you’re in line when polls close, you will still be allowed to vote, according to local election officials.
Across the Hudson in New Jersey, hoax bomb threats briefly closed some polling sites Tuesday morning, while an NYPD spokesperson said several polling sites in New York received emails “with references to terrorism,” though no polling site had closed as a result. The spokesperson said the emails are being investigated with federal partners and are thought to be part of an “elaborate swatting attempt,” a hoax report meant to trigger a law enforcement response.
What You Need to Know:
All eyes are on the heated race for mayor, where the Democratic nominee and frontrunner, 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, is vying against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Mamdani and Cuomo both cast their ballots Tuesday morning in Astoria and on the Upper East side, respectively. (Sliwa previously voted last week during the early voting period.)
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani holds a press conference after voting on Election Day in Astoria, Nov. 4, 2025. Credit: Katie Honan/THE CITY
Mamdani finally broke his silence on how he’d vote on the six ballot questions, saying he’d vote yes on the first 5 — which include many that would make it easier to build more housing — but voting against the sixth question, which would advise presidential elections be combined with local elections.
After scanning his ballot at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School in Astoria, Queens alongside his wife, Rama Duwaji, Mamdani spoke to reporters, thanking the more than 100,000 volunteers who helped bring the campaign to “brink of making history in our city.”
“It is time to finally respond with the urgency that New York has deserved, an urgency that reckons with these same New Yorkers having had to face rent hike after rent hike year after year, the same New Yorkers having to wait for buses that never come,” he said.
Cuomo arrived at the High School of Art & Design polling site on East 56th Street with his daughters Michaela and Mariah and son-in-law Tellef Lundevall.
“I believe he’s a socialist and an existential threat and not a dress-up socialist,” Cuomo said, referring to Mamdani while speaking to reporters after voting.
“Their school of socialists, this Democratic Socialists of America: government controls the means of production, no private ownership of real estate, abolish jails, decriminalize prostitution,” he continued. “This is frightening stuff, and I think that’s why you’re seeing New Yorkers react, and New Yorkers turn out. I’m offering the exact opposite.”
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo votes in Midtown East.
Mamdani catapulted into the national spotlight with his striking primary victory in June where he beat Cuomo, carving out a new Democratic coalition by galvanizing younger voters and South Asian voters, among others. Early indications suggest his pull with young voters has continued through the general.
“Mamdani represents the best New York has to offer,” said 27-year-old Alex, a first time voter in New York City, who was casting his ballot early Tuesday morning at PS 152 in Inwood. He declined to give his last name.
“I think it’s refreshing to get a candidate who’s not cynical or pessimistic about things. And then, of course, looking at a candidate like Cuomo, who’s endorsed by a president that I don’t support, it’s pretty easy to vote for whatever the antithesis of that is.”
Anna, left, and Alex voted on Election Day for Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and yes on the ballot proposals at at P.S. 152 in Inwood, Nov. 4, 2025. Credit: Claudia Irizarry Aponte/THE CITY
Alex was referring to Trump’s election eve endorsement where he railed against Mamdani and called him a Communist — saying it would, “be a Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster should Mamdani win.” Cuomo also got the last minute endorsement of billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk.
Scandal-tarred incumbent Eric Adams, who declined to run in the Democratic primary, dropped out of the race in late September and endorsed Cuomo last week. However, the mayor’s name still appeared on city ballots, which had already been set when he announced his departure from the race.
The home stretch of the campaign has been a cutthroat, with increasingly dramatic attacks on Mamdani from Cuomo and his allies attempting to associate Mamdani — who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor — with Islamic terrorism.
Cuomo has argued his decades of experience in New York political life make him the best candidate to run New York City in such a pivotal moment. That message resonated with 61-year-old voter Sharon who voted in Prospect Lefferts Gardens Tuesday morning.
“The true New York spirit. His father, I love the fact that he is a New Yorker. A true American. I don’t have to be concerned with foreign influence to a certain degree,” she said, declining to provide her last name.
Other Cuomo supporters told THE CITY they voted for him begrudgingly.
“I mean, I don’t like Cuomo. I’ll be very upset by this evening, regardless of who wins,” said Andrew Kandel, who was casting his ballot in Midtown East Tuesday morning. “I mean, if you’re faced with two bad choices, you have to choose the least bad.”
Attack ads against Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani appeared in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Nov. 4, 2025. Credit: Gwynne Hogan/THE CITY
Mamdani has consistently polled ahead with Cuomo and Sliwa splitting the remaining vote, even as some recent polls have shown Cuomo gaining ground. Mamdani has said he’s confident but not complacent, pointing to the polls the evening before the primary that all inaccurately predicted Cuomo winning handily over him.
Since the primary, the former governor doubled down in neighborhoods he did well in, trying to boost turnout and arguing that he is better suited to defeat Mamdani in a bid to lure in Republicans who would have otherwise sided with Sliwa.
Mamdani has attempted to expand his coalition and make inroads with older voters and in working-class Black neighborhoods that Cuomo carried during the primary.
Among new Mamdani voters was Rick Dalgetty, a 70-year-old retired social worker and musician who’s lived in Prospect Lefferts Gardens for 28 years. He said he didn’t vote in the primary and supported the current mayor Eric Adams. He was turned off by Cuomo’s pressure on Adams to drop out of the general election, and ultimately, he was drawn to Mamdani.
“New York City has been in a funk for a while. It’s becoming more and more unaffordable, and I believe that change is necessary,” he said. “If you don’t get everything, at least you get a discussion to start talking about things that are critical to New Yorkers.”
New York State Attorney General Tish James has an election protection hotline for voters if you encounter any problems at your polling site.
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