Mamdani

The emotional speech against Islamophobia from the NYC mayoral race frontrunner comes a day before early voting begins.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani gave an emotional speech addressing “racist, baseless attacks” from his opponents, a day before early voting begins in the race he is projected to win.

Speaking outside a mosque in the Bronx on Friday, Mamdani criticised his opponents for bringing “hatred to the forefront”, noting that their Islamophobia not only affects him as the Democratic nominee for mayor but also close to one million Muslims living in New York.

“To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity, but indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does,” Mamdani said in his speech, less than two weeks ahead of the November 4 general election.

Mamdani, who is currently a member of the New York State Assembly, said that while he had tried to focus his election campaign on his core message of affordability, his opponents in recent days had shown that “Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement”.

His speech also came a day after his top opponent, former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, laughed after radio host Sid Rosenberg said that Mamdani “would be cheering” if another September 11 attack occurred.

Cuomo, who is a member of the Democratic Party but lost the Democratic primary election to Mamdani in June, responded in agreement with Rosenberg: “That’s another problem.”

Basim Elkarra, the executive director of Muslim advocacy group CAIR Action, described Cuomo’s appearance on the radio programme as “despicable, dangerous, and disqualifying”.

“By agreeing with a racist radio host who suggested a Muslim elected official would ‘cheer’ another 9/11, Cuomo has crossed a moral line,” Elkarra said.

“Cuomo’s willingness to engage in this kind of hate speech, on this kind of platform, shows exactly the kind of leader he is: someone who would rather stoke fear than bring people together,” he said.

Speaking on Friday, Mamdani said he had also been “slandered” by Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa on the debate stage, “when he claimed that I support global jihad”, and faced advertisements from Super Political Action Committees that “imply that I am a terrorist, or mock the way I eat”.

He also shared his memories of his “aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab”, and a staff member who had the “word terrorist spray painted” on their garage, as well as the advice he had received that he “did not have to tell people” he was Muslim, if he wanted to win elections.

Top Democrat endorses Mamdani on eve of early voting

Earlier on Friday, Mamdani received a long-anticipated endorsement from Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic Party in the US House of Representatives and the representative of New York’s eighth congressional district, which includes the Brooklyn neighbourhoods of East Flatbush, Coney Island and Brownsville.

While Mamdani has earned endorsements from top Democrats, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and independent Senator Bernie Sanders, the vocally pro-Palestinian candidate has struggled to win over other top New York Democrats, such as Senator Chuck Schumer.

Despite the reluctance of some establishment figures within the Democratic Party, Mamdani resoundingly won the party’s primary election to choose its candidate for the general election back in June.

Current NYC Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who did not contest the primary after facing corruption allegations, endorsed Cuomo this week after withdrawing from the race, although his name will still appear on the ballot.

A recently published poll from AARP and Gotham Polling and Analytics shows Mamdani well ahead of his opponents with the support of 43.2 percent of voters.

He is followed by Cuomo with 28.9 percent and Sliwa with 19.4 percent, while 8.4 percent said they were undecided or preferred another candidate.

Cost of living was the main issue for nearly two-thirds of voters, with public safety and housing affordability also areas of concern, in the same poll.

NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, pledged Friday to further embrace his Muslim identity in response to growing attacks by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his surrogates that he characterized as “racist and baseless.”

Encircled by faith leaders outside a Bronx mosque, Mamdani spoke in emotional terms about the “indignities” long faced by the city’s Muslim population, choking back tears as he described his aunt’s decision not to ride the subway after the Sept. 11 attacks because she didn’t feel safe being seen in a religious head covering.

He recounted how, when he first entered politics, an uncle gently suggested he keep his faith to himself.

“These are lessons that so many Muslim New Yorkers have been taught,” Mamdani said. “And over these last few days, these lessons have become the closing messages of Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams.”

At a news conference later Friday, Cuomo accused Mamdani of “playing the victim” for political purposes and denied that Islamophobia existed on a wide scale in New York.

Throughout the race, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has been criticized by Cuomo and others over his criticism of Israel’s government, which he had accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

But the tone of those attacks have amped up in recent days, drawing allegations from some Democrats that Cuomo’s campaign is leaning into Islamophobia in the final stretch of the campaign.

Appearing on a conservative radio station Thursday, Cuomo appeared to laugh along at host Sid Rosenberg’s suggestion that Mamdani would “be cheering” another 9/11 attack. “That’s another problem,” Cuomo replied.

A Cuomo social media account posted, then removed, a video depicting Mamdani eating rice with his hands and describing his supporters as criminals. A campaign spokesperson said the video was posted in error.

At an event endorsing the former governor, Mayor Eric Adams invoked the possibility of terrorist attacks in New York City, seeming to suggest — without explanation — they would be more likely under a Mamdani administration.

“New York can’t be Europe. I don’t know what is wrong with people,” Adams said, standing alongside Cuomo. “You see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism.”

At a debate earlier this week, Sliwa, the Republican nominee, falsely smeared Mamdani as a supporter of “global jihad.”

Asked about Rosenberg’s comments, Cuomo said he “didn’t take the remarks seriously at the time.”

“Of course I think it’s an offensive comment. But it did not come out of my mouth,” he added.

Messages left with Adams’ and Sliwa’s campaign were not immediately returned.

In his speech Friday, Mamdani said he was aiming his remarks not at political opponents but at his fellow Muslim New Yorkers.

“The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker,” he said. “And yet for too long we have been told to ask for less than that, and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive.”

“No more,” he said.

To that end, Mamdani said he would further embrace his Muslim identity, a decision he said he consciously avoided at the start of his campaign.

“I thought that if I behaved well enough, or bit my tongue enough in the face of racist, baseless attacks, all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,” Mamdani said. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.”

He continued: “I will not change who I am, how I eat, for the faith that I’m proud to call my own. But there is one thing that I will change. I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.”

Mamdani, who won the primary in stunning fashion, has faced skepticism from some in the Democratic establishment, particularly over his criticism of Israel. On Friday, Mamdani earned the endorsement of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

Cuomo told reporters that Mamdani’s criticism of Israel had made Jewish people afraid to leave their homes.

He also rejected Mamdani’s claim that Muslim New Yorkers have been made to feel uncomfortable in their own city.

“Don’t tell me New Yorkers are Islamophobic. They’re not,” Cuomo said.

“What he is doing is the oldest, dirtiest political trick in the book: divide people,” Cuomo said.

Offenhartz writes for the Associated Press.

Oct. 24 (UPI) — U.S. House Democratic Party leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday endorsed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, 11 days before the Nov. 4 election.

Jeffries hasn’t issued a public statement but his endorsement was confirmed in a statement to The New York Times, with sources telling USA Today and Politico about the House minority leader’s plans.

Early voting begins Saturday.

Mamdani, who was born in India and raised in Uganda, is attempting to become the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Jeffries, who serves Brooklyn in New York, had held off endorsing Mamdani, who is a state assembly member serving Queens since 2020.

The state’s two U.S. senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, haven’t endorsed Mamdani.

Mamdani has been endorsed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letita James.

Also, he has been backed by New York Reps. Jerry Nadler, Adriano Espaillat and Yvette Clarke. Two other House members, Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, have said they don’t plan to endorse in the election.

And New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said he doesn’t plan to endorse him.

In the June 24 primary, Mamdani, 34, defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, and Mayor Eric Adams, 65. His opponents then chose to run as independents, but Adams dropped out on Sept. 28 and endorsed Cuomo on Thursday.

Mamdani is favored to defeat Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, 71, a Guardian Angels founder and radio show host. President Donald Trump has pressured Sliwa to drop out to give a better chance for Cuomo over Mamdani, whom he has labeled as a Communist.

Jeffries told The New York Times said they have had “areas of principled disagreement,” including Israel’s war in Gaza, but agreed on other matters, such as the desire to retain New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” Jeffries wrote.

“In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”

Jeffries first met with Mamdani in July in Brooklyn before the primary. They met again in August.

Jeffries had said he was focused on the federal government shutdown rather than the New York City race.

“Stay tuned,” he told reporters this week in Washington. “I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to articulate my position, and I will momentarily, at some point, in advance of early voting.”

Jeffries has questioned how Mamdani would implement his policies and combat antisemitism and gentrification.

“We’ve got to figure out moving forward how we turn proposals into actual plans so that he is successful if he becomes the next mayor, because we need the city to be successful,” Jeffries told CNN last month.

Jeffries noted that his district, which includes historically Black communities, has “been subjected to gentrification and housing displacement.”

Mamdani has sharply criticized Israel and the war in Gaza, which Mamdani describes as genocide.

During Wednesday’s debate, he said: “I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls the city home. All 8.5 million New Yorkers, and that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I’ve shared about Israel and Palestine.”

Hundreds of rabbis had signed a letter criticizing him.

And powerful real estate and finance industries have donated millions of dollars to political action committees opposing his candidacy.

NEW YORK — A few weeks before his stunning loss to Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo put forth a political calculus long accepted as fact in New York: “Being a Democrat,” he said, “it’s synonymous that you support Israel.”

Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, could be on the cusp of shattering that convention.

An unstinting supporter of Palestinian rights, the 34-year-old democratic socialist has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, backed the movement to boycott the country’s goods and pledged to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he sets foot in New York.

In a city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, where mayors have long been expected to make the long pilgrimage to the Jewish state, Mamdani identifies proudly as an “anti-Zionist.”

While he says he supports Israel’s right to exist, he describes any state or social hierarchy that favors Jews over others as incompatible with his belief in universal human rights.

City officials, Mamdani often points out, have no say in American foreign policy. And he has consistently and emphatically rejected claims that his criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism, promising to work closely with those whom he doesn’t agree with if elected.

But as Cuomo and others have framed the race as a referendum on Israel, political observers say a Mamdani victory could reverberate far beyond New York, offering permission for Democrats to speak out on an issue long seen as a third rail of politics.

“This race is a proxy for where the party goes from here in terms of support for Israel — and that’s causing a lot of consternation,” said Basil Smikle, a former chief executive of the state’s Democratic Party. “We’re treading in territory that we’ve not really dealt with before.”

The ‘most important’ issue in the race

From the beginning, Cuomo has staked much of his political comeback on painting himself as a defender of Jewish security, both in New York and the Middle East.

Shortly before launching his campaign, he announced that he had joined Netanyahu’s legal defense team to defend the prime minister against war crimes charges brought by the International Criminal Court. He cast antisemitism as the “most important” issue facing the city and himself as a “hyper aggressive supporter of Israel.”

Mamdani’s own views, he said, presented an “existential” threat to New Yorkers.

Other candidates quickly rushed to burnish their own pro-Israel credentials, including Mayor Eric Adams, who announced he would run on an “EndAntisemitism” ballot line.

As they competed for support among Brooklyn’s prominent rabbis and other Jewish voters, each equated protests for Palestinian rights with support for terrorism and backed a contentious definition of antisemitism that includes certain criticism of Israel.

Days before dropping out last month, Adams shared a smiling photo with Netanyahu.

The strategy appeared willfully ignorant of polls showing growing public disapproval in the U.S. of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, according to Alyssa Cass, a longtime Democratic strategist.

She said a handful of deep-pocketed campaign donors and some city news outlets “created an impression that you could not ever question Israel, and that impression was completely divorced from reality.”

“The unique dynamics in New York were masking a broader, larger migration in public opinion that had been brewing for some time,” Cass added. “They didn’t realize that the ground beneath them had shifted.”

Shifting political winds

Still, with less than two weeks to go before the election, Cuomo has only leaned into the issue, claiming at Wednesday’s debate that Mamdani had “stoked the flames of hatred against the Jewish people.”

The broadsides have won support from the Anti-Defamation League and pro-Israel donors, like the hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman. But there is little indication that the strategy is working among ordinary New Yorkers.

In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in early October, 41% of likely voters in New York City said Mamdani’s views on Israel aligned closest with their own, compared to 26% for Cuomo.

A Fox News poll conducted in mid-October found that 50% of registered voters in New York said they identified more with the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict, compared to 44% who identified more with the Israelis.

Those numbers have alarmed some Jewish leaders, who have laid at least some of the blame at Mamdani’s feet. In an open letter circulated this week, 650 rabbis warned that his candidacy has contributed to “rising anti-Zionism and its political normalization.”

Amy Spitalnick, the chief executive of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, cautioned against drawing a direct link between Mamdani’s popularity and his pro-Palestinian stance.

She noted that most Jewish voters remain strong supporters of Israel, lamenting the fact that neither Mamdani nor Cuomo had articulated “the liberal nuanced perspective that most New York Jews hold.”

“Mamdani’s views on Israel matter, but it’s not the issue on which the majority of New Yorkers are voting,” she added. “If he wins, it’s because he ran a compelling campaign on making this city more affordable.”

Weaponization and authenticity

In debates and interviews, where Mamdani often faces a barrage of questions about his views on the Israel-Hamas war, he is quick to shift the focus to his platform, which includes freezing the rent for regulated apartments, making buses free and lowering the cost of child care.

“I have denounced Hamas again and again,” an exasperated Mamdani said during a debate last week. “It will never be enough for Andrew Cuomo.”

At Wednesday’s debate, Mamdani again spoke of his proposal to increase funding for hate crime prevention and his recent outreach to Jewish voters about their fears of antisemitism.

“They deserve a leader who takes it seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs, not one who weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage,” he added.

But despite months of vitriolic backlash, Mamdani has stood firm on his core criticism of Israel. In his statement marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, he condemned both Hamas’ “horrific war crimes” and Israel’s occupation, apartheid and “genocidal war” in Gaza.

Whether or not those views are shared by the broader electorate, the consistency of the message has served as “proxy for authenticity” in the minds of voters, according to Peter Feld, a progressive political consultant.

And it has offered a sharp contrast with not only Cuomo, but other pro-Israel Democrats in New York, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Both have spent weeks rebuffing questions about whether they will endorse Mamdani, indicating they were still meeting and speaking with the Democratic nominee.

“The allies divided up Europe in fewer meetings,” scoffed Cass. “At this point, they’re ignoring the majoritarian view of their voters, and there’s no way around that.”

In recent weeks, Feld said he had spoken to several potential candidates weighing primary challenges to other pro-Israel Democratic incumbents.

“Mamdani changed how candidates and donors think about what is politically possible,” Feld said. “We’ve seen that siding with Palestine over Israel doesn’t make you radioactive. It shows voters that you’ll stick to your principles.”

Offenhartz writes for the Associated Press.

Frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa faced off in the final debate of the New York City mayoral race on Wednesday, in a final push to woo voters before the November 4 vote.

But the attack lines they deployed against each other, and their defences, were mostly along predictable lines, as their track records, United States President Donald Trump and Israel’s war on Gaza dominated their clash at LaGuardia Community College in the borough of Queens.

Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, maintains a sizeable lead in the polls, after surging to a surprise victory in the June primary on a platform of affordability: pushing free buses, rent freezes, and universal childcare, paid for, in part, by raising taxes that favour the wealthy.

Cuomo has sought to portray Mamdani’s promises – most of which would require buy-in from state lawmakers – as unrealistic and has repeatedly taken aim at the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist’s lack of experience in governing. The race has narrowed since the current mayor, Eric Adams, exited the race, leaving just Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliva in the contest.

Here were the top takeaways from the debate:

Experience versus the future

The night began with Cuomo and Mamdani hammering home the themes that have defined the final stretch of the race.

Cuomo called himself the candidate who “can get it done, not just talk about it”.

“He’s never run anything, managed anything. He’s never had a real job,” he said of Mamdani.

Mamdani called himself the “sole candidate running with a vision for the future of this city”.

“He is a desperate man lashing out because he knows that the one thing he’s always cared about, power, is now slipping away from him,” Mamdani said of Cuomo.

Later in the night, Sliwa took a swipe at both his opponents: “Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City.”

Countering Trump

The US president has loomed large over the New York City mayoral race. Wednesday’s debate also came hours after immigration agents raided Manhattan’s Chinatown, an escalation of federal enforcement measures in America’s largest city.

Trump has pledged to deploy the National Guard and to cut federal funding to the city if Mamdani is elected. Cuomo, who shares many of the same donors as Trump, has seized on those threats to portray a win for his rival as dangerous for the city.

“[Trump] has said he’ll take over New York if Mamdani wins, and he will, because he has no respect for him. He [Trump] thinks he’s a kid, and he’s going to knock him [Mamdani] on his tuchus,” Cuomo said.

“I believe [Trump] wants Mamdani, that is his dream, because he will use him politically all across our country, and he will take over New York City,” he said. “Make no mistake, it will be President Trump and Mayor Trump.”

Mamdani called Cuomo “Donald Trump’s puppet”.

“You could turn on the TV any day of the week, and you will hear Donald Trump share that his pick for mayor is Andrew Cuomo, and he wants Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor, not because it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him,” he said.

Support for Palestine again looms large

Mamdani was again asked about his staunch support for Palestinian rights, which Cuomo has repeatedly decried, baselessly, as anti-Semitic.

Mamdani said he “will be the mayor who doesn’t just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them”. He said Cuomo was using false claims of anti-Semitism to “score political points”.

Cuomo accused him of stoking “the flames of hatred against Jewish people”.

Sliwa falsely accused Mamdani of endorsing “global jihad”.

“That is not something that I have said and that continues to be ascribed to me,” Mamdani responded, “and frankly, I think much of it has to do with the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election.”

Mamdani announces pick for police commissioner

The leading candidate also broke some news during the debate, announcing he would ask current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on in her post if he wins.

That may upset some of Mamdani’s supporters, who could see the police chief, who is serving under current Mayor Adams, as out of step with the police reforms he has promised.

Tisch, whose family is worth billions, has championed increasing so-called “quality of life” enforcement that critics say disproportionately harms minority communities. She has also pushed to make some criminal laws stricter.

Cuomo grilled on sexual assault

Cuomo was repeatedly asked by his opponents about the sexual misconduct allegations from his employees that saw him leave his post as New York governor early in 2021.

Investigators with the state attorney general later found that Cuomo had “sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees”.

Cuomo has claimed the cases have been closed “legally”, but litigation in several cases continues.

During the debate, Mamdani revealed that one accuser, Charlotte Bennett, who Cuomo is currently suing for defamation, was in the audience.

“What do you say to the 13 women who you sexually harassed?” he asked Cuomo.

Cuomo pushed back, arguing that the sexual harassment cases have been dropped. “What you just said was a misstatement, which we’re accustomed to,” he responded to Mamdani.

Oct. 22 (UPI) — The top two candidates to become New York’s next mayor lashed out at one another Wednesday in their second and final general election debate two weeks before the election.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, is running as an independent after Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, 34, defeated him in the city’s Democratic Party primary.

In 2020, Mamdani, a Muslim, became the first Ugandan and South Asian man to serve in the state chamber. Cuomo was governor from 2011 until 2023, when he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Also on stage was Guardian Angels founder and radio show host Curtis Sliwa, 71, who secured the Republican Party’s nomination and is vowing not to drop out of the race to close Cuomo’s gap.

During the 90-minute debate, they agreed on one issue: a federal crackdown by U.S. Immigration and Law Enforcement. But they disagreed how to best deal with President Donald Trump

Mamdani is polling as the favorite to win New York City’s mayoral election, which is scheduled for Nov. 4, but Cuomo has closed ground in recent polls, though Mamdani has a double-digit lead, according to CBS News. Early voting starts Saturday.

An AARP/Gotham Polling poll released on Monday shows Mamdani with 43.2%, followed by Cuomo at 28.9% and Sliwa at 19.4%. In a head-to-head race, Mamdani prevails 44.6% to 40.7% for Cuomo.

Trump would prefer Cuomo over Mamdani and has asked Sliwa to drop out.

“He has no respect for him,” Cuomo said about Trump, who has called his opponent a Communist. “He thinks he’s a kid and he’s going to knock him on his tuchus.”

Cuomo called Mamdani divisive and lacked experience. Mamdani responded that Cuomo was a “desperate man lashing out.”

Sliwa also noted Mamdani’s lack of experience, saying his resume could “fit on a cocktail napkin.” And he said that Cuomo has enough failures to “fill a library.”

Mandani’s experience was punctuated during an exchange on housing policy.

“The governor doesn’t build housing in New York City,” Cuomo said in response to a question.

“Not if it’s you,” Mamdani responded.

“I did things; you have never had a job,” Cuomo said, pointing toward Mamdani and drawing applause from the crowd. “There is no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8.5 million lives. You don’t know how to run a government.”

In describing his opponent’s limited experience, Cuomo said: “You don’t know how to handle an emergency, and you literally never proposed a bill on anything that you’re not talking about in your campaign.”

Mamdani said Cuomo was “creating his own facts.”

“We just had a former governor say in his own words that the city has been getting screwed by the state,” Mamdani said. “Who was leading the state? It was you, governor.”

Cuomo has referred to his opponent as “de Blasio lite” and “de Blasio 2.0.” Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, was the city’s mayor from 2014 until 2021 and has backed Mamdani.

Mamdani has not been endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Democrats of New York.

Mamdani’s opponents have accused him of promoting antisemitism.

“You’re the savior of the Jewish people? You won’t denounce ‘Globalize the Intifada,’ which means ‘Kill Jews,'” Cuomo said, noting that hundreds of rabbis had signed a letter criticizing him. “There’s unprecedented fear in New York.”

Mandani said: “I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls the city home. All 8.5 million New Yorkers, and that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I’ve shared about Israel and Palestine.”

He described his own Jewish family members, saying that members of the community were “scared.”

The debate at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College was moderated by Errol Lewis of NY1, Brian Lehrer of WNYC and Katie Honan of The City and aired live on Spectrum News’ NY1 and via streaming.

Cuomo favors city oversight of the New York City Transit’s budget, while Mamdani has advocated for revising how the city’s Department of Education approves contracts, WABC-TV reported.

Sliwa is running as a law-and-order candidate and on Wednesday morning said he is ending his conservative talk show on WABC Radio due to the station hosting Cuomo several times in recent weeks.

WABC Radio owner John Catsimatidis and program host Sid Rosenberg each have advocated for Sliwa to end his campaign in favor of Cuomo, according to WABC-TV.

After the debate, Cuomo went to the New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden with Mayor Eric Adams, who lost in the Democratic primary and dropped out as an independent.

Oct. 16 (UPI) — With less than three weeks before New Yorkers head to the polls to select the city’s 111th mayor, candidates Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent Andrew Cuomo squared off for a heated debate Thursday night in Manhattan.

Though a trio of candidates stood before lecterns at WNBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center studios, the debate was mainly a fight between Mamdani, the New York City assemblyman leading in the polls, and Cuomo, the former governor of New York State, leaving Sliwa, founder of the nonprofit crime prevention Guardian Angels organization, trying to enter the fray.

Leadership

Cuomo, who left the New York governor’s mansion in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, was quick to attack Mamdani, saying the New York assemblyman’s inexperience makes him unfit to oversee a 300,000-employee city workforce and a multi-billion-dollar budget.

“This is no job for on-the-job training,” he said. “And if you look at the failed mayors they’re ones that have no management experience. Don’t do it again.”

Mamdani, in rebuttal, attempted to frame Cuomo as an out-of-touch politician backed by wealthy donors, while pointing to his successes in the state’s assembly as proof of his own experience.

The former governor said Mamdani’s answer was proof of his lack of experience — and a lack of experience in leading New York could have deadly consequences.

“This is not a job for a first timer,” Cuomo said. “Any day you could have a hurricane, God forbid, a 9/11, a health pandemic. If you don’t know what you’re doing people will die.”

“If we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their deaths in nursing homes?” Mamdani replied, referring to a public scandal over how Cuomo’s administration handled COVID-19 in nursing homes and other elder-care facilities.

Sliwa, who has taken a tough-on-crime stance, attempted to interject into the conversation, at one point telling the moderators that he was being “marginalized.”

He then attempted to set himself apart from the two men who have held political seats, by emphasizing that he is not a politican, and referring to Cuomo as the “architect” and Mamdani the “apprentice.”

“Thank God I’m not a professional politician because they have helped create this crime crisis in the city that we face and I will resolve [it],” he said.

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump’s presence and ongoing immigration crackdown have loomed large over the race and ahve put a greater spotlight on Mamdani, who was recently little known outside of the city, as the American leader has called him and his left-leaning policies out on social media.

Asked what he would say to Trump in their first phone call, Mamdani said he would tell the American leader that he is willing to work with him to help raise the living standards of New Yorkers, but if that he seeks to cut funds to the city “he’s going to have to get through me as the next mayor.”

Cuomo similarly offered that he’d like to work with Trump “but Number One, I will fight you every step of the way if you try to hurt New York.”

Sliwa criticized both candidates for trying to act “tough” when doing so would only end up hurting New Yorkers.

“They want to take on Donald Trump. Look, you can be tough, but you can’t be tough if its going to cost people desperately needed federal funds,” he said, stating he would sit down with the president and negotiate.

“But if you try to get tough with Trump, the only people who are going to suffer from that are the people of New York City.”

Israel-Hamas

With the first phase of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal underway, moderators called on Mamdani to clarify previous statements he has made about the Palestinian militant group specifically about whether it should disarm.

In response, Mamdani said he was “proud” to be among the first New York elected officials to call for a cease-fire, which he defined as meaning “all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons.”

Sliwa then jumped in to chastise Cuomo and Mamdani for neither applauding Trump for securing the cease-fire deal.

Cuomo then rebutted that he did applaud Trump and his administration, using the topic to accuse Mamdani and his stance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as coded language meaning “Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state.”

Mamdani then clapped back that “occupation” is an international legal term that “Mr. Cuomo has no regard for” as he has joined the legal defense team of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their fight against arrest warrants at the International Criminal Court.

He was then pressed on his previous reluctance to condemn the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which to some is a pro-Palestinian slogan of resistance against oppression and to others as encouragement of violence against Jews.

Sliwa also lashed out at Mamdani, stating “Jews don’t trust you’re going to be there for them when they are victims of anti-Semitic attacks.”

The second mayoral debate is scheduled for Oct. 22.

Early voting opens Oct. 25. The election is to be held Nov. 4.

Zohran Mamdani, born in Uganda and raised in New York, is in the lead to become the city’s next mayor. His complex identity has sparked debate in the United States. From questions about race to immigrant experiences, his story is challenging the way Americans think about identity, politics, and who gets power.

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that he is ending his campaign for reelection.

In a video released on social media, Adams spoke with pride about his achievements as mayor, including a drop in violent crime. But he said that “constant media speculation” about his future and a decision by the city’s campaign finance board to withhold public funding from his reelection effort made it impossible to stay in the race.

“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” Adams said.

The one-term Democrat’s decision to quit the race comes days after he repeatedly insisted he would stay in the contest, saying everyday New Yorkers don’t “surrender.”

But speculation that he wouldn’t make it to election day has been rampant for a year. Adams’ campaign was severely wounded by his federal bribery case — since dismissed by the Justice Department after he agreed to cooperate with President Trump’s immigration crackdown — and liberal anger over his warm relationship with Trump. He skipped the Democratic primary and got on the ballot as an independent.

In the video, Adams did not directly mention or endorse any of the remaining candidates in the race. He also warned that “extremism is growing in our politics.”

“Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer [is] to destroy the very system we built over generations,” he said. “That is not change, that is chaos. Instead, I urge leaders to choose leaders not by what they promise, but by what they have delivered.”

Adams’ exit could potentially provide a lift to the campaign of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow Democratic centrist running as an independent, who has portrayed himself as the only candidate able to beat the Democratic Party’s nominee, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani.

It was unclear, though, whether enough Adams supporters would shift their allegiance to Cuomo to make a difference.

Mamdani, who, at age 33, would be the city’s youngest and most liberal mayor in generations if elected, beat Cuomo decisively in the Democratic primary by campaigning on a promise to try to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

Republican Curtis Sliwa also remains in the race, though his candidacy has been undercut from within his own party. Trump in a recent interview called him “not exactly prime time.”

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has endorsed Mamdani, said in a statement after the mayor’s announcement that she has been proud to have worked with Adams for the last four years, and that he leaves the city “better than he inherited it.”

Offenhartz and Izaguirre write for the Associated Press.

Sept. 15 (UPI) — With less than two months before the New York City mayoral election, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has endorsed fellow Democrat Zohran Mamdani to lead the city.

Hochul, also a Democrat, issued her endorsement Sunday, penning a New York Times opinion piece.

“The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought,” she said.

“I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.”

Mamdani is the frontrunner in the four-person race that includes incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo running as independents and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Recent polling shows Mamdani has 43% of the support of respondents compared to 28% for Cuomo.

The New York State assemblyman is a democratic socialist democrat who is campaigning on a platform to implement a rent freeze, make bus transit free, offer free childcare for those aged 6 weeks to 5 years and raise the corporate tax rate while taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers a flat 2% tax.

In her essay, Hochul said they discussed several issues, including the New York Police Department, which, according to Hochul, they agreed on the importance of ensuring strong leadership.

The announcement came days after Mamdani told The New York Times in an interview that he intended to apologize for a comment he made in 2020 calling the NYPD “racist,” among other insults.

Hochul also said that New York needs leaders who are willing to put aside their differences in order to stand up against President Donald Trump.

“Mr. Mamdani and I will both be fearless in confronting the president’s extreme agenda — with urgency, conviction and the defiance that defines New York,” the governor said.

“And we must never allow Mr. Trump to control our city like the king he wants to be. Anyone who accepts his tainted influence or benefits from it is compromised from the start.”

Mamdani, in a statement on X, on Sunday night thanked Hochul for her endorsement, saying he is grateful for the governor’s support “in unifying our party, her resolve in standing up to Trump and her forces on making New York affordable.

“I look forward to the great work we will accomplish together,” he said.

“Our movement is only growing stronger.”

The governor of New York state, Kathy Hochul, has endorsed Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a staunch pro-Palestinian advocate who has campaigned for a more equitable allocation of the city’s resources, for mayor ahead of a closely watched November election in the financial capital of the United States.

Writing in The New York Times, the state leader said on Sunday she made her decision after “frank conversations” with her fellow Democrat, who resoundingly won the support of the party’s voters in a primary election in May.

“In our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighbourhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family,” Hochul wrote in the city-based newspaper.

“I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support,” Hochul added.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old left-wing politician who has promised to make buses free and freeze rents for subsidised tenants, won 56.4 percent of votes among registered Democrats in the primary race, easily beating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Yet Cuomo, a pro-Israel candidate who joined a team of lawyers defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against war crimes allegations in Gaza, has taken the unusual move of choosing to stay in the race, reflecting a continued divide within the Democratic Party.

While recent polls suggest Mamdani has a 22-point lead among New York voters, some prominent New York Democrats have appeared hesitant to back him, including US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres, and, until recently, Hochul — though the governor had been more positive in comments about Mamdani than the others.

Speaking in Iowa on Saturday, Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen criticised his Democratic colleagues for failing to endorse Mamdani, accusing them of the “kind of spineless politics” that “people are sick of”.

“They need to get behind him, and get behind him now,” Van Hollen said.

Mamdani, who has campaigned alongside independent Senator Bernie Sanders and progressive Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal in recent days, has received fewer endorsements from centrist Democrats like Hochul, less than two months out from the November 4 general election.

Thanking the governor for her announcement on Sunday, Mamdani acknowledged Hochul’s “support in unifying our party” as well as her “focus on making New York affordable”.

He also praised “her resolve in standing up to Trump”.

Trump has also weighed in on the race, saying Mamdani being “up by 20” in a recent poll shows there is a “rebellion against bad candidates … they’re tired of it”.

“I’m not looking at the polls too carefully, but it would look like he is going to win, and that is a rebellion,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” on Fox News on Friday, describing Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, as “my little communist mayor”.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed Mamdani with 45 percent support among likely voters, and a comfortable 22-point lead over his closest rival, Cuomo, with 23 percent.

Repeat Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, who cofounded the Guardian Angels to combat “violence and crime” on the New York subway in the 1970s, is polling at 15 percent, according to the Quinnipiac poll, while embattled incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, running as an independent candidate, has just 12 percent support.

Trump has dismissed Sliwa as a candidate, describing the Republican candidate known for his trademark red beret as “not exactly prime time”.

Mamdani, meanwhile, has portrayed Adams as a “puppet” of Trump’s following meetings between the mayor and the US president and his team. Trump has described Adams as a “very nice person” but has denied recent reports that he offered the mayor an ambassadorship.

NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday urged New Yorkers to vote for Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City, giving the Democratic nominee one of his most significant endorsements to date in the contest to lead the nation’s biggest city.

Writing in the New York Times’ opinion section, Hochul said that while she and Mamdani diverged on some issues, they came together on the importance of addressing the affordability crisis in the city and across the state.

“But in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family,” wrote Hochul, a fellow Democrat. “I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support.”

The stunning success of Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, in the race for New York City mayor has exposed divisions within the Democratic Party as it struggles to repair its brand more than half a year into Donald Trump’s presidency. Hochul’s endorsement is the latest sign that Democratic leaders who had been skeptical of Mamdani’s left-leaning views are beginning to consolidate around him.

Mamdani thanked Hochul for the boost, saying it’s a sign that “our movement is growing stronger.”

“Governor Hochul has made affordability the centerpiece of her work. I look forward to fighting alongside her to continue her track record of putting money back in New Yorkers’ pockets and building a safer and stronger New York City where no one is forced to leave just so they can afford to raise a family,” Mamdani said in a statement Sunday night. “I’m grateful to the Governor for her support in unifying our party — as well as the work she’s done standing up to President Trump, securing free lunch meals for our kids, and expanding access to childcare.”

In recent weeks, the other candidates in the race — former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa — have intensified their criticism of Mamdani over his platform and past statements ahead of the city’s general election in November.

U.S. House Republican Leadership Chair Elise Stefanik, a New York congresswoman, said Hochul’s endorsement is a sign that the governor is moving left to shore up falling poll numbers.

“At the exact moment when New Yorkers are looking for strong leadership from their Governor with a majority opposing Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul embraces this raging Communist who will destroy New York making it less affordable and more dangerous — once again putting criminals and communists first, and New Yorkers LAST,” Stefanik said in a Sunday statement.

Mamdani soundly defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary. Cuomo has since relaunched his campaign as an independent. Adams, a Democrat, skipped the primary to run as an independent in November. Sliwa ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Hochul served as lieutenant governor to Cuomo and replaced him after he stepped down in 2021 following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations. He denied wrongdoing during the campaign, maintaining that the scandal was driven by politics.

NEW YORK — President Trump on Friday dismissed Curtis Sliwa — his own party’s New York City mayoral candidate — as “not exactly prime time” and even disparaged his affinity for cats, as pressure mounts for Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani ‘s rivals to drop out of the race.

Trump has warned that Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker and democratic socialist, will likely cruise to victory over Sliwa, Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Nov. 4 unless two of those candidates dropped out. The New York-born Republican thinks Cuomo could have a chance in a one-on-one race.

On a Friday appearance on “Fox & Friends”, he threw cold water on Sliwa’s mayoral hopes, even taking a shot at the red beret-wearing candidate’s vow to fill the official residence of the New York City mayor with rescue cats if he does win.

“I’m a Republican, but Curtis is not exactly prime time,” Trump said bluntly.

“He wants cats to be in Gracie Mansion,” the president added. “We don’t need thousands of cats.”

Mamdani became the presumed favorite in the race after winning the Democratic primary over Cuomo, who is now running as an independent in the general election. Adams, a Democrat, skipped the primary due to his campaign being sidelined by a now-dismissed federal bribery case.

Two polls conducted in early September, one by the New York Times and Siena University, the other by Quinnipiac University, each showed likely voters favoring Mamdani over Cuomo, with Adams and Sliwa behind Cuomo.

The Quinnipiac poll suggested the gap between Mamdani and Cuomo could narrow if Adams dropped out. The Times/Siena poll suggested that if both Adams and Sliwa withdrew, Mamdani’s advantage over Cuomo could shrink even further.

A campaign spokesperson on Friday stressed that Adams has no intention of stepping down from office or abandoning his reelection bid — though confirmed he is commissioning a poll to gauge his support.

“He just wants to look at all factors,” said Todd Shapiro said. “There’s nothing on the table right now. He’s looking at polls just like he’s doing everything else.”

The mayor, he added, would have more to say on the polling itself next week.

“He’s still very popular,” Shapiro said. “He’s running on a record of success.”

Adams in recent weeks has sought to rebuff questions of whether he might accept an alternate job offer amid reports that he had been approached about potentially taking a role with the federal government.

In a radio interview Friday, Sliwa — the founder of New York’s Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol group — said Trump seems to be responding “to what people are telling him about me without really knowing much about me of late.”

“I would hope the president would revisit my history, not only with him but in this city,” Sliwa said on 710 WOR.

The outspoken New Yorkers both rose to prominence in the late 1970s, but Sliwa has said they haven’t spoken in years, possibly because he’d been critical of Trump at times, both on his long-running radio show and as a candidate.

In a follow up email, Sliwa also defended his love of cats, adding that “animal welfare” is among the issues “New Yorkers care about” that he hopes to focus on, if elected.

“New Yorkers care for people and for animals, and so do I,” he said. “I am proud of my wife, Nancy, who has devoted her life to fostering, caring for, and saving animals, and fighting for them when no one else would.”

Sliwa has sheltered a large collection of rescue cats in his Manhattan apartment and has noted that Gracie Mansion is far more spacious.

“We’ll be able to house unwanted cats and dogs right in the lawn, the great lawn they have,” he said recently on his radio show.

Marcelo writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 7 (UPI) — New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani says former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be disqualified from the race due to an alleged call with the president.

That Cuomo recently spoke with President Donald Trump regarding the city’s mayoral race is in doubt, but Mamdani called the potential of such a conversation “disqualifying” for Cuomo.

“This is not just a shady backroom deal by a cynical politician; it is disqualifying,” Mamdani said in a prepared statement on Wednesday.

He also held a news conference on Thursday morning and was interviewed by a local radio station to address that matter, despite denials that such a conversation happened between Trump and Cuomo.

“The fact is, the president has three candidates in this race,” Mandani told WNYC public radio on Thursday morning, as reported by the New York Intelligencer.

“One that he’s directly been in touch with, another that he bailed out of legal trouble and now functionally controls, and the final one literally being a member of the same Republican Party,” Mamdani told WNYC.

Trump and Cuomo “in recent weeks” spoke over the phone, but representatives for both have denied it, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

When asked by reporters if he had spoken with Cuomo, Trump said, “No, I haven’t.”

A spokesman for Cuomo, likewise, denied that any recent conversation occurred between Trump and Cuomo.

“As far as I know, they have not discussed the race,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told the Times in a prepared statement.

Mandani defeated Cuomo in the Democratic Party’s primary for the New York City mayoral race, but Cuomo has continued his candidacy as an independent.

Mayor Eric Adams also seeks re-election as an independent, while Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is the Republican Party’s candidate.

The Trump administration recently dropped a federal case against Adams after a grand jury in September indicted him on federal charges accusing Adams of bribery, campaign finance and conspiracy.

Trump said the charges against Adams were “politically motivated” due to the mayor’s assistance with federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Cuomo resigned as New York’s governor in 2021 amid an impeachment investigation regarding accusations of sexual harassment.

The president has expressed concerns about Mamdani, whom Trump has called a “communist” whose election would be disastrous for New York City.

Trump was born and raised in New York City and has property and business interests there.

Zohran Mamdani campaigned for the Democratic nomination for New York mayor on the promise that he would make the largest city in the United States an affordable one.

The 33-year-old Democratic socialist proposed plans that would transform the city – including a free bus programme and freezing rent increases on rent-stabilised apartments – paid for by a heightened income tax for millionaires and an increase in the corporate tax rate.

Those promises catapulted him to ultimately win the mayoral primary 12 points ahead of his next closest competitor, Andrew Cuomo, who had been endorsed by the likes of former President Bill Clinton.

McKayla Lankau, a 25-year-old tech worker, had canvassed for Mamdani’s campaign. She lives in Bushwick, a Brooklyn neighbourhood which Mamdani won by a 79-point margin, and said housing was among the many economic policies that emboldened her to vote for Mamdani.

“I believe that if people are living a better life in a more affordable community, we all will, and Zohran’s campaign fulfilled that from my perspective,” said Lankau.

As the cost of living rises and US President Donald Trump continues a rightward march as he shapes political discourse, many voters feel Democratic leaders have offered little more than symbolic gestures and strongly worded statements.

Mamdani, a three-term state assembly member, presented something different– a campaign centred around grassroots organising over big donors, detailed policies over vague slogans, and the kind of charisma and gravitas that defined other change candidates like Barack Obama’s successful presidential bid in 2008 or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s surprise win of the House of Representatives in 2018.

Affordability was central to Mamdani’s message – and it resonated. But Mamdani also faces another side of New York – the ultra-wealthy investor class. They are the ones who have made New York City known as the epicentre of global finance and commerce. They are a powerful force to be reckoned with, and they are not happy.

“They are mad that they lost, and they’re used to getting their way. They’re used to setting the rules…. Mamdani ran a transparent, clear campaign and New Yorkers showed up in droves to support it,” political strategist Adin Lenchner of Carroll Street Campaigns told Al Jazeera.

Some investors and lenders are threatening to pull out of deals amid fears of new taxes and regulations. Michael Comparato, a managing director at Benefit Street Partners, said he walked away from a $300m hotel investment in New York. “The financial capital of the world could be in the hands of a socialist. Hard to fathom,” he posted on LinkedIn. Comparato did not respond to requests for comment.

While Democratic socialism – an ideology that believes in shifting power from corporations to workers within the framework of a capitalist democracy – is different from socialism, that sentiment echoed across the city’s financial power players.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said he was “gravely concerned” about Mamdani’s rise, warning that the city would become “economically unviable”. He pledged to support a more “centrist” candidate. Pershing Square, his firm, declined to comment.

“The fear isn’t about economics, I think it’s about power,” Lenchner said. “That doesn’t mean the policy is unsound. I think affordability is economic growth.”

Mamdani’s funding proposals are ambitious but not unprecedented. He would raise the city’s corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent – matching New Jersey next door – up from the current corporate tax rate of up to 7.25 percent. Fortune 500 firms like Johnson & Johnson and Prudential Financial base their headquarters in New Jersey despite its higher rate. Mamdani’s campaign estimates this would generate $5bn annually.

Historically, higher rates haven’t driven business away. In the late 1990s, private sector employment grew at an annualised pace of 2.6 percent, while wages and private sector salaries increased by 9.6 percent.

“I think there’s a lot of exaggeration here on the part of the wealthy investor class on how much this is going to economically harm New York,” Daniel Wortel-London, professor of history at Bard College and author of The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, told Al Jazeera.

Mamdani also proposes a new tax of an additional 2 percent on individuals earning more than $1m. That is projected to raise another $4bn annually. Today, earners who make $1m already pay a combined federal, state and local tax burden of about 46 percent (37 percent of that is the federal income tax set by the federal government).

Currently, the marginal local rate for someone making $40,000 (3.82 percent) is nearly identical to a millionaire’s (3.88 percent), due to New York City’s flat local tax structure for anyone making more than $50,000 annually.

Still, Mamdani can’t unilaterally change tax policy. Any adjustments would require approval from Governor Kathy Hochul. Wortel-London says that shared priorities between Mamdani and Hochul – such as expanding childcare – could create opportunities for collaboration, including on free bus service proposals that would also need state buy-in.

The state already raised personal income taxes on millionaires in 2021 under then-Governor Cuomo, pushing rates to 46 percent (when state, local and federal income taxes are combined), the highest in the country.

Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and a former Trump White House communications director, warned in a podcast with journalist Katty Kay that Mamdani’s platform could accelerate the migration of wealthy residents to states like Florida. Scaramucci did not reply to a request for comment.

To an extent that is true, according to the Citizen Budget Commission, a New York-based nonpartisan think tank. Because of the millionaire migration, the city missed out on $2bn of tax revenue that ended up going elsewhere.

As per the data, the net negative migration for the highest income earners was highest in 2020 and 2021 – when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak and could have been a major contributing factor behind the move, as was the case all over the country with people moving out of cities – and began trending back towards historical rates in 2022.

With the exception of that period, high-income earners did not leave at a significantly higher rate before or after.

However, just because millionaires are moving out doesn’t mean that new ones aren’t moving in. According to a Henley & Partners report, New York has gained more new millionaires than any other city in the world – up 45 percent from 2014 to 2024.

“Most high earners really don’t relocate just to avoid taxes. They certainly don’t really relocate across the country. Most high-earners are staying in the city for prestige or their family or a culture. I think there have been scares before. We’ve seen it when [former Mayor] Bill de Blasio got in. They were also worried about tax hikes, and they didn’t leave in droves,” Wortel-London said.

Rather than courting the ultra-wealthy, Mamdani’s economic pitch is aimed at small businesses, which employ the majority of New Yorkers. He plans to appoint a “Mom-and-Pop Tsar” to cut red tape, streamline permits, reduce fees and fines (including not charging first-time offenders), and increase funding for small business support agencies by 500 percent. His platform promises to cut business fees in half.

How realistic are the plans?

Nowhere is Mamdani’s message more resonant than in housing. As rents skyrocket, nearly half of New Yorkers say they’ve considered leaving the city, according to the think tank, the 5boro Institute.

His campaign promised to freeze rent increases on rent-stabilised units, which account for about 28 percent of New York’s housing stock, which is important to voters like Lankau, who currently lives in one. These are typically buildings built before 1974 with six or more units. While some newer buildings opt in, they do so in exchange for tax breaks.

Under the current law, rent increases are approved annually by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, an independent panel appointed by the mayor. Mayor Eric Adams, the incumbent, approved a combined 9 percent hike in his first three years in office, followed by another 4.5 percent earlier this month. If elected, Mamdani would appoint new members to this board and seek to reverse course.

But the proposal has drawn criticism. The New York Apartment Association (NYAA) – a pro-landlord group that backed Cuomo – says a freeze could worsen the city’s housing shortage. Landlords, they argue, may choose to leave apartments vacant rather than perform costly repairs that can’t be recouped through rent increases due to a 2019 law. As a result, tens of thousands of rent-stabilised units are currently vacant.

“Freezing rents will just accelerate the distress and physical decline of these buildings,” NYAA CEO Kenny Burgos told Al Jazeera.

Mamdani’s platform doesn’t currently include a proposal to address these vacancies or to cap rent increases on market-rate apartments directly.

But to elevate pressure on the housing market, which does indirectly impact the cost of market-rate apartments, the campaign has proposed building 200,000 new affordable units over 10 years – tripling the city’s current pace. His housing plan also includes overhauling zoning laws, eliminating parking minimums, and supporting mixed-use development.

“I think those two, hand in hand, [freezes on rent-stabilised units and plans to build more housing] would be the kind of holistic programme that would make New York more affordable,” Lenchner said.

It remains unclear whether Mamdani would adopt policies proposed by Brad Lander, the third-place primary finisher who endorsed him. Lander had proposed converting some city-owned golf courses into housing. Lander did not respond to a request for comment.

Mamdani also wants to raise the city’s minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030 – up from $16.50. A Cornell University study estimates a true living wage in New York would be $28.54, meaning Mamdani’s proposal would exceed that. It would also tie future increases to inflation and productivity metrics.

Even so, the gap between “living” and “comfortable” is wide. A SmartAsset study found that a New Yorker would need to earn $66 per hour to live comfortably. Mamdani hopes to relieve some of that pressure through policies like universal childcare, free bus service and a public grocery store option.

The city-run grocery store plan would start with one location in each borough to address food deserts. Much similar to city-owned hospitals or public housing, it would not replace the private sector but augment it. Regardless, this proposal has sparked backlash from John Catsimatidis, the Republican megadonor and owner of Gristedes, a local grocery store chain. He threatened to close his stores if Mamdani wins.

Catsimatidis, who donated over $500,000 to Republicans this year, according to Federal Election Commission records, did not respond to a request for comment.

Grocery costs remain politically sensitive. The latest Consumer Price Index shows grocery prices are up 2.4 percent over last year.

Mamdani also wants to make city buses permanently free. He championed a successful pilot programme in the State Assembly, which boosted weekday ridership by 30 percent and weekend ridership by 38 percent. Making that permanent would require cooperation from state leaders and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which is state-run, and might require some concessions on his part.

“The kind of momentum and energy behind this campaign makes a powerful case in arguing before Albany to make those kinds of investments, giving him that kind of public mandate to pressure state lawmakers to move this kind of proposal forward,” Lenchner said.

This, however, comes as the MTA is under additional pressure from the federal government. The US Department of Transportation recently threatened to withhold funding over New York’s congestion pricing plan, a toll on cars entering parts of Manhattan during peak hours, designed to fund transit improvements.

The political calculus

Like any mayor, Mamdani wouldn’t govern in a vacuum. He’d have to navigate complex City Council dynamics, work with borough presidents and contend with powerful interest groups.

Democrats have struggled across the country because they have such a broad coalition, suggesting little conviction on policy positions which has turned off their base. Even if Mamdani’s proposals are seen as more “radical”, he enters negotiations with a clear starting point and non-negotiables – something Republicans mastered a decade ago when they embraced it and Democrats still have not figured out, Lenchner suggested.

“It’s hard to think in recent memory of a campaign that spoke with such clarity about its objectives, about its convictions, about its moral clarity, and about its practical policy objectives,” Lenchner added.

To win in November, he’ll need to expand his coalition, particularly among Jewish and Black voters where he underperformed.

In a city still defined by finance, Mamdani will also have to show he can hold Wall Street accountable without alienating it. His campaign appears to be trying. The Partnership for New York City – a business group representing more than 300 top firms – hosted a meeting between Mamdani and executives, at the campaign’s request, which according to reporting from the outlet The City, went well and attendees left feeling that he was “willing to listen” and “find solutions to the city’s challenges that will work for all” but they were sceptical if he was genuine.

Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

July 17 (UPI) — California Democratic congressional lawmaker Ro Khanna announced on Fox & Friends Thursday morning that he will endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York.

“He spent a lot of time talking about the cost of living in New York, in this country, and how we address it,” Khanna said. He said Mamdani is a “very charismatic, relatable person.”

Host Lawrence B. Jones asked Khanna if he agrees with Mamdani’s views on Israel. Mamdani has said that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to New York, he’d have him arrested.

He answered that he doesn’t agree with Mamdani on every issue. He argued that the Democratic party should focus more on the working class. It should work to raise wages and have a more economically populist agenda.

Since Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor, he’s been seeking endorsements from higher-ranking progressives. Khanna fits that bill.

The endorsement came after a breakfast meeting in New York hosted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., where Mamdani met with a variety of Democratic representatives.

Other endorsements Mamdani has gained include: Reps. Jerry Nadler,D-N.Y., and Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. Espaillat initially endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo on Monday formally announced he is running as an independent for mayor, three weeks after he lost to Mamdani.

Former Mayor Eric Adams announced last month that he will also run as an independent.

Mamdani is expected to meet soon with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., The Hill reported.

New York City, the US: Swinging around a tree mimicking the signature open-arm lean of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, Zohran Mamdani asks, “Hey! Have you ever voted before?” An enthusiastic group of Hindi/Urdu-speaking New Yorkers respond: “Yes!”

In the June 4 video posted on X, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist member of the New York State Assembly then explains ranked choice voting using mango lassi, a yoghurt-based drink from the Punjab region of India, amid clips from popular Bollywood films and scores.

This is just one example of the kinds of videos populating Mamdani’s social media leading up to his 56 percent win in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary on July 1.

Mamdani was relatively unknown before the primary election, polling as low as one percent in an Emerson College survey in February 2025. But his grassroots campaign mobilised a multicultural coalition of voters, in part, by speaking directly to them — in their native tongue.

The government of New York state estimates that New Yorkers speak more than 800 languages, and as many as 2.5 million struggle with communicating in English. Experts, however, say Mamdani successfully used his skills in multiple languages to appeal to voters who often are not targeted by mainstream election campaigns, highlighting policy proposals targeting voters’ biggest concerns, like affordability.

Moments after ranked-choice voting totals were finalised, Mamdani’s team posted a campaign message garnering more than 5.7 million views on X alone, explaining a five-point breakdown of “What We Won on Election Day”: Trump voters, Adams voters, new voters, coalitions and turnout.

“Most campaigns focus on ‘triple primes’ – New Yorkers who voted in the last three primaries,” said Mamdani. “But this strategy ignored most of our city. We knew we could turn them out if they saw themselves in our policies.”

Speaking between clips of himself using Hindi, Urdu and Spanish, Mamdani explained, “We ran a campaign that tried to talk to every New Yorker, whether I could speak their language or simply tried. And the coalition that came out on Tuesday reflected the mosaic of these five boroughs.”

Among the areas Mamdani won by large margins were South Asian neighbourhoods such as City Line, Ozone Park and Jamaica Hills; Latino neighbourhoods including Corona, Washington Heights, Pelham Bay and Woodhaven; and Chinese communities in Flushing, Chinatown and Bensonhurst.

A Ugandan-born South Asian Muslim immigrant himself, Mamdani speaks both Hindi and Urdu – a fluency that allowed him to extend his reach to voters through social media videos.

Soniya Munshi, associate professor in urban studies and adviser to Asian-American community studies at Queens College, told Al Jazeera that these types of videos worked as conversation starters through Bollywood references that span the decades – from the 1970s onwards – recognisable to many South Asian diasporas of different ages and with different pathways to the US.

“I saw his Hindi/Urdu video move from Instagram to text chats among second-generation South Asians to WhatsApp family threads to discussions about Zohran’s platform for an affordable NYC,” said Munshi, who herself is a second-generation South Asian New Yorker. “These videos opened up a bigger conversation with friends, families and communities about our experiences, our conditions, our own hopes for the city we call home, and they also moved voters to come out for Mamdani.”

Cultural references and direct messaging

More than half of New York City’s South Asian population is of Indian descent, but Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities have seen the most growth over the past two decades. South Asians now make up 22.5 percent of the city’s Asian population, most of them immigrants. Mamdani’s campaign materials – in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali and other languages – spoke directly to immigrant New Yorkers about the material issues affecting their lives.

“It’s critical to note the significance of Mamdani’s videos in Hindi/Urdu and Bangla,” said Munshi. “These two communities are among those with the highest levels of limited English proficiency households, essential workers, and poverty rates of all immigrant groups in NYC … Ultimately, what made these South Asian language videos so powerful was the culturally relevant references combined with the direct message of his vision and platform.”

Chowdury Md Moshin, 68, a native of Bangladesh who now lives in Jackson Heights, sat in Travers Park on a warm late June day reading a newspaper, his stark white hair and shirt contrasting with the bright green of the swaying trees around him.

A speaker of Bengali or Bangla himself, Moshin appreciated hearing from a mayoral candidate speaking a language he understands.

“I think he will be a good mayor and will make New York City cleaner,” said Moshin. “I love him.”

In one of the videos posted during the final push before the Democratic primary election, Mamdani demonstrated ranked-choice voting with Council Member Shahana Hanif’s 39th New York City Council District, using a plate of mishti doi, a sweet yoghurt dessert from the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent.

“His Bangla-language video with Shahana Hanif, the first Bangladeshi Muslim woman to serve as city councilperson in NYC, was also significant,” said Munshi. “Bangla is not a South Asian language Mamdani is fluent in, and we see him making a good effort to speak with Hanif about the election.”

The digital agency behind this content, as well as Mamdani’s first viral video with over 3.5 million views on X, is called Melted Solids. The Brooklyn-based collective, founded in 2019 by Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw, has worked with Mamdani on various campaigns since as early as 2021.

In an interview with Adweek, Saslaw spoke to the 2025 primary, saying, “I’m [a] marketer and storyteller, and what I thought was necessary and needed in the political space was the ability to speak to regular New Yorkers, like using advertising … as a vessel to hear their concerns.”

Mara Einstein, digital marketing critic and author of Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults, told Al Jazeera that, “They [Melted Solids] know him, which is why they could produce content that conveyed his specific voice.”

“They are also not a traditional agency,” added Einstein. “What Melted Solids did that was different is get rid of the red, white, and blue colour scheme that has dominated political campaigns. Purple and yellow/gold [colours used by Mamdani’s campaign for flyers, signs and branding] is striking and unexpected. The typography harkens back to grocery store signs, giving it a neighbourhood-y, everyman feel.”

‘I like how he talks’

For a campaign run on affordability and reaching every New Yorker, this analysis bodes well. But ultimately, experts say that Mamdani’s social media engagement performed well because his vision and platform were at the core of all of his content.

“The social media content was delightful to watch, well-produced, and engaging, but what was most important was that it had substance,” said Munshi. “It gave us something to talk about that was bigger than Mamdani as an individual or even his campaign. It activated something at a collective level.”

Outside the polls in Woodside on election day, Munshi asked an older Spanish-speaking Latina woman whom she planned to vote for. The woman reached into her purse, pulled out a worn Working Families Party flyer, and pointed to Mamdani’s face. “Him,” she said. “I like how he talks.”

“To me, this indicated that Mamdani’s communication wasn’t just about the language he is speaking in,” said Munshi. “But how he used language – clear, simple, focused, relatable to New Yorkers who are concerned with their everyday needs in this city.”

With five months until the general election, Mamdani and Melted Solids still have work to do as they face off against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is backed by US President Donald Trump.

But if former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s failed 2025 mayoral bid – backed by $25m raised by the super PAC Fix the City – is any indication, Einstein said, “No marketing, no matter how good it is, can sell a bad product. Cuomo is evidence of that.”

US Republican president slams Zohran Mamdani as a ‘communist’, says Andrew Cuomo has a ‘good shot of winning’.

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has backed former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to run as an independent in the New York City mayoral race, renewing his attack against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.

Asked about Cuomo’s decision to stay in the contest after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, Trump said on Tuesday that the former governor can still win in the general election in November.

“I think he should stay. I think he has a shot,” Trump told reporters.

The former governor, 67, announced on Monday his intention to run as an independent after handily losing the Democratic contest to Mamdani last month.

But Cuomo has a mountain to climb in the overwhelmingly Democratic city, especially given that he will be competing for the anti-Mamdani vote with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

In an early sign of the challenges he is facing, Cuomo’s announcement on X received a flood of negative responses, with many citing his sexual harassment scandals.

Cuomo resigned as New York governor in 2021 after facing mounting sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.

On Tuesday, Trump, a native New Yorker who moved to Florida after his first term as president in 2021, stopped short of fully endorsing Cuomo.

Asked whether he prefers Cuomo to win, Trump said: “I don’t want to say. I’m a Republican; he’s a democrat or an independent.”

“I think Andrew would have a good shot of winning. He’s got to run a tough campaign. You know, he’s running against a communist,” he added, referring to Mamdani.

The US president has been increasingly critical of Mamdani, 33, a left-wing state legislator who has made affordability the key component of his campaign.

Accusing Democrats of being communists or communist sympathisers is a frequent, misleading attack line by some Republicans. Analysts have told Al Jazeera that Mamdani’s platform does not contain the key tenets of communism, such as government takeover of industry and private property.

Last week, Trump suggested that he could use the “tremendous power” of the White House to take over New York City if Mamdani wins.

“As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York,” Trump wrote in a social media post earlier this month.

“Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it ‘Hot’ and ‘Great’ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”

Many of the president’s close allies, including several members of Congress, have deployed overtly Islamophobic language to attack Mamadani, who is of South Asian descent.

Last month, the White House said that baseless allegations that Mamdani has supported “terrorism” in the past “should be investigated”, with the intent of revoking his US citizenship.

Some close Trump allies, including billionaire Bill Ackman, backed Cuomo during the primaries.

The race to lead the largest US city has been capturing national and international headlines, in part due to the attacks on Mamdani over his support for Palestinian rights.

On Tuesday, Mamdani’s campaign sarcastically congratulated Cuomo on winning Trump’s backing.

“Obviously, this triumph speaks for itself. The question now is whether Cuomo will embrace Trump’s support publicly or continue to just accept it in private,” the campaign said in a statement.

NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he will campaign for mayor of New York City as an independent candidate, staying in a crowded field running against left-wing Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani.

In a video, Cuomo, who last month suffered a bruising loss to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, announced he was making another run to combat the progressive Mamdani, who he said “offers slick slogans but no real solutions.”

“The fight to save our city isn’t over,” Cuomo said. “Only 13% of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November and I am in it to win it.”

Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams also is running as an independent in the general election, and Curtis Sliwa — founder of the 1970s-era Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol — is again on the Republican line.

People opposed to Mamdani’s agenda, which includes higher taxes on the wealthy, have called on donors and voters to unite behind a single candidate for the November election. They fear multiple candidates will splinter the anti-Mamdani vote, increasing the Democrat’s chances to win.

Mamdani’s campaign responded to Cuomo’s announcement by saying the ex-governor and mayor are cozying up to “billionaires and Republicans” while the Democratic nominee remains focused on affordability issues.

“That’s the choice this November,” campaign spokesperson Jeffrey Lerner said in a statement.

Cuomo’s decision to continue on in the race is the latest chapter in his comeback attempt, launched almost four years after he resigned as governor in 2021 following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations. He denied wrongdoing during the campaign, maintaining that the scandal was driven by politics.

Cuomo was treated as the presumed front-runner for much of the Democratic primary, with the former governor boasting deep political experience, universal name recognition and a juggernaut fundraising operation. He limited media interviews, held few unscripted events and avoided mingling with voters.

That strategy contrasted with Mamdani’s energetic street-level campaign centered around affordability issues. The 33-year-old amassed a legion of young volunteers who blanketed the city to build support, while the candidate’s savvy social media persona won him national acclaim.

Lagging behind Mamdani in the vote count, Cuomo conceded the race last month on primary night. Final results released after the city ran through its ranked choice voting calculations showed Mamdani besting the former governor by 12 percentage points.

Despite the Democratic primary loss, Cuomo had also qualified to run on an independent ballot line in November under a party he created called “Fight and Deliver.”

As he weighed whether to stay on as an independent, Cuomo began losing support from traditional allies. Key labor unions backed Mamdani, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, an influential Black leader, urged Cuomo to step aside.

Some deep-pocketed contributors have meanwhile aligned behind Adams, who is running as an independent. Although he’s still a Democrat, Adams pulled out of the primary shortly after a federal judge dismissed a corruption case against him at the request of President Trump’s Justice Department, arguing that the case had sidelined him from campaigning.

Cuomo, 67, served as governor for over a decade and modeled himself as a socially progressive Democrat who got things done. He pushed through legislation that legalized gay marriage and tackled massive infrastructure projects, such as a three-mile bridge over the Hudson River that he named after his father.

Cuomo’s national profile peaked in the early days of the nation’s COVID-19 outbreak during his televised daily briefings. The governor leavened stern warnings for people to wear masks with heartfelt expressions of concern for his elderly mother or brotherly banter with Chris Cuomo, a TV journalist.

His reputation was soon tainted when it emerged that the state’s official count of nursing home deaths had excluded many victims who had been transferred to hospitals before they succumbed.

Cuomo resigned shortly after New York’s attorney general released the results of an investigation that found he had sexually harassed at least 11 women.

United States President Donald Trump is threatening to strip away citizenship from some naturalised citizens, including billionaire Elon Musk and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. In a country where more than 25 million people are naturalised citizens, who is really at risk?