- New Yorkers elect Zohran Mamdani, sparking showdown with Trump.
- Voters in Virginia and New Jersey weigh the rebirth of the Democratic Party on Tuesday.
- Mamdani promises cost reductions, but faces opposition over federal funds.
New Yorkers are expected to elect leftist Zohran Mamdani as mayor on Tuesday, opening a new front of opposition to Donald Trump and raising the specter of reprisals from the president against the city where he made his name.
As Mamdani’s rise grabs headlines, off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey will be seen as even more critical indicators of America’s political mood, nearly 10 months into Trump’s murderous right-wing reign.
Democratic victories there will be seen as a sign that the beleaguered opposition is coming back to life ahead of next year’s midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
Mamdani, who describes himself as a socialist and has campaigned on lowering costs for ordinary New Yorkers, led by seven points with 41% of the vote in the latest AtlasIntel poll.
The 34-year-old was closely followed by former state governor Andrew Cuomo with 34%.
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, founder of the citizen crime patrol group Guardian Angels, was with 24% — a margin that could sway the vote if enough of his supporters turn to Cuomo.
Polling stations were scheduled to open at 6:00 a.m. (11:00 GMT) and close at 9:00 p.m., while early voting, which ended on Sunday, saw more than 735,000 people vote according to election officials, the highest number ever recorded.
A total of 1.14 million votes were cast in 2021, which saw the election of current Mayor Eric Adams, who withdrew after his re-election campaign struggled to build momentum amid scandals and corruption allegations. He supported Cuomo, 67.
“Are you ready to win?”
In a final vote push, Mamdani toured nightclubs over Halloween weekend, making a stop at an event called “Papi Juice,” without abandoning his signature dark costume.
If elected, he would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, and far-right Republicans have scorned a video he released in Arabic to supporters in the famously diverse city.
Cuomo visited all five of the city’s boroughs on Monday, while Sliwa crisscrossed the city to deliver his “tough on crime” message.
The race focused on the cost of living, crime and how each candidate would handle Trump, who has threatened to withdraw federal funds from the city.
“If communist candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the election for mayor of New York, I am very unlikely to contribute federal funds, other than the minimum required, for my beloved first home,” Trump wrote on social media.
Mamdani fired back at a canvassing event in Queens on Monday.
“What was rumored, what was feared, became unapologetically obvious: the ‘MAGA’ movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo,” he said.
Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, said a Mamdani victory would trigger a “showdown” with Trump.
“Trump will deal with New York more aggressively,” he said. “There will be some sort of political confrontation.”
Mamdani’s unlikely rise to the top of America’s largest city has also sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party, which is struggling to decide whether to take a centrist or left-populist path.
“I think it has to be a party that Americans can identify with and not just be a reflection of a few people engaged in politics,” Mamdani said at a dance with seniors Friday.
Great test of the American mood
Voters in the states of New Jersey and Virginia will choose a new governor on Tuesday.
Democratic Party candidate Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, faces Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a Trump-backed businessman, neck and neck according to a poll.
In the Virginia gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger has far outpaced Virginia’s Republican lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, in the polls.
Both camps brought out the big guns, with former President Barack Obama rallying support for Spanberger and Sherrill at two separate events over the weekend and Trump scheduling tele-rallies for Virginia and New Jersey on the eve of the vote.
Obama also reportedly spoke to Mamdani over the weekend but – reflecting internal party debate – backed away from supporting him.
