United States Republican President Donald Trump says he will restrict federal funds for New York City if Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the city\u2019s mayoral elections, to be held on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Monday that \u201cit is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required\u201d, if Mamdani wins the race.<\/p>\n
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Polls show Mamdani leading against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who is the Republican nominee.<\/p>\n
According to the latest RealClearPolitics polls on Monday, Mamdani led with 45.8 percent, maintaining a 14.7-point advantage over Cuomo\u2019s 31.1 percent and a 28.5-point lead over Sliwa\u2019s 17.3 percent.<\/p>\n
On the final day of campaigning on Monday, the mayoral candidates raced across New York City\u2019s five boroughs after months of back-and-forth barbs, social media hits<\/a> and saucy debates.<\/a><\/p>\n As the closely-watched election day edged closer, Mamdani led a sunrise walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, flanked by hundreds of supporters, before kicking off the day with a speech at City Hall.<\/p>\n Cuomo, on his part, denounced socialism in the Bronx, visited seniors in Chinatown, and popped off an X post<\/a> calling Mamdani a \u201cposer\u201d.<\/p>\n And Republican candidate Sliwa greeted supporters in the Coney Island neighbourhood of Brooklyn in his signature red hat, as he spoke at a subway station where a woman was killed on a train last year.<\/p>\n Mamdani and Cuomo\u2019s duelling campaigns have reflected their positions in the New York race: the son of another former New York governor, steeped in the liberal Democratic political establishment, versus a young and little-known assemblyman who would be the city\u2019s first Muslim, first person born in Africa and the first person of South Asian descent to lead New York City.<\/p>\n The mayoral race, which has captured outsized global attention, has seen a record 735,317 early votes cast<\/a> over the past nine days, more than four times the total for the 2021 election, according to the New York City Board of Elections.<\/p>\n \u2018Our time is now\u2019<\/p>\n Mamdani, a 34-year-old New York state assemblyman, has galvanised New Yorkers<\/a> with an optimistic, multilingual campaign that promised free buses, rent freezes and universal childcare, partially paid for by taxing the city\u2019s wealthiest residents.<\/p>\n He reiterated that Trump had signalled his support for Cuomo<\/a> in a 60 Minutes interview. In recent weeks, Cuomo has appealed to conservatives<\/a> as a way to up his polling numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf [Cuomo is] elected as mayor, our city will descend deeper into the darkness that has forced too many of our neighbours to flee, and made it impossible for working people to live lives of dignity,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n In his City Hall speech on Monday, Mamdani seemed to embrace the seismic shift<\/a> that his campaign has represented for New York\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were few in this city who dared to imagine that we could win, and what it would mean for a city that has \u2013 for too long \u2013 served only the wealthy and powerful, at the expense of those who work through sunrises and sunsets,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n Moments later, the crowd broke out in cheers of, \u201cOur time is now!\u201d<\/p>\n