NEW YORK CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Decision day has arrived for New Yorkers, as the nation watches to see if the Big Apple will select as its next mayor a man so far to the left that even many conservative Republicans are pulling for liberal former state Gov. Andrew Cuomo to prevail rather than their own party’s nominee.
New York state assemblyman and self-described “democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani shocked the country when he defeated Cuomo for the Democratic mayoral nomination on June 24 given his radical background, which included adopting the Marxist battle cry of “seizing the means of production,” advocating defunding the police, and calling for government-run grocery stores, among other left-wing causes.
He went on to face scandal-plagued incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who withdrew from the Democrat primary to run as an independent; radio personality and anti-crime activist Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee; and Cuomo, who has remained in the race as an independent. Adams withdrew his candidacy at the end of September. If elected, Mamdani would become New York’s first Muslim mayor.
Mamdani set off a panic that crossed partisan lines, as a marker for just how radical voters in the city have become, even dividing some Democrats. Since the primary, examples of his radicalism have continued to accumulate, most alarmingly his association with Islamic radicals.
As detailed by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Mamdani’s campaign received significant financial support from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and related groups and activists accused of ties with and sympathy for Islamist terrorists; has vowed to block virtually all cooperation with federal immigration enforcement; champions government-funded childcare for every New Yorker up to age five; wants government control of utility companies; supports raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour; and more.
Last month, a November 2023 photograph surfaced of Mamdani and Democrat Councilman Yusef Salaam smiling with Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, whom he called “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century.” Federal prosecutor had named Wahhaj as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and while the imam denies that charge, he did publicly vouch for terrorist leader Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called “blind sheik,” as a “respected scholar.”
Such ties already had people challenging the idea of him leading the city so fatefully scarred by the September 11, 2001, terror attacks — an incongruity only reinforced when he gave remarks focusing on Muslim Americans victimized by the reaction to 9/11, in particular “the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in a hijab.” Internet sleuths quickly determined Mamdani’s aunt did not wear a hijab, prompting him to claim he had been referring to his father’s cousin, rather than his literal aunt.
Nevertheless, Mamdani built up a commanding lead over Cuomo, with Sliwa a distant third. The shock that someone as extreme as Mamdani could win, paired with the Republican nominee’s underperformance in the polls, has prompted even many who long opposed Cuomo’s left-wing record to hope he wins and call for Sliwa to drop out, on the belief that his votes combined with Cuomo’s could top Mamdani’s.
“I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or another, but if it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time,” President Donald Trump put it on 60 Minutes over the weekend.
“I don’t know how many times I have to say it. I’m the only Republican candidate. I’m the law and order candidate. Why would I want to drop out?” Sliwa has said in response to the pressure, framing his run as giving New Yorkers a choice rather than leaving the race to “billionaires, influences and insiders.”
Newsweek reports that Mamdani leads Cuomo by 16 points in both Marist and Fox’s final polls of likely voters before the election, with Sliwa garnering 16 and 15 points total, respectively. AtlasIntel also has the socialist leading Cuomo, but by a much closer 4.5 points, with Sliwa at 15.5 percent.
New Yorkers will be able to cast their votes today until 9PM local time.