New York
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.
