Live Updated
Nov. 2, 2025, 9:23 p.m. ET
N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race: Early Voting Ends With More Than 735,000 Ballots Cast
Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa traveled across the boroughs to close out the final weekend of the campaign, as New Yorkers headed out to vote in droves.
Updated
Nov. 2, 2025, 9:23 p.m. ET
Benjamin Oreskes and
Matthew Haag
New York City’s candidates for mayor fanned out across the city on Sunday, delivering closing messages at churches and rallies and urging supporters to cast their ballots on the last day of early voting. Polls are now closed, but will be open again on Tuesday, Election Day, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
President Trump waded in on Sunday night, offering a backhanded endorsement of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. The president, a Republican, said on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he was “not a fan of Cuomo,” but “if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time.”
Mr. Trump continues to refer to Mr. Mamdani as a communist, but he is actually a democratic socialist. The president also said that if Mr. Mamdani was elected it would be “hard” for him to give money to New York City.
The president’s words could help Mr. Cuomo as he hunts for last minute Republican votes toward him, but it could also hurt the candidate with Democrats.
Mr. Trump did not mention Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee. Mr. Trump has previously dismissed Mr. Sliwa as unserious, and made light of his decision to foster multiple rescue cats.
Earlier, Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Cuomo, who is running as an independent, started their days with appeals to Black voters on separate calls with a morning radio show. Just before noon, Mr. Sliwa campaigned through Brighton Beach, his second stop of the day in Brooklyn.
“It’s so important to vote, even if you don’t vote for me,” Mr. Sliwa said.
As they campaigned, all three candidates contended with masses of people running in another contest:
the New York City Marathon. They briefly intersected on Sunday afternoon, when
Mr. Mamdani, who ran in the event in 2022 and 2024, cheered on runners during a campaign stop in Greenpoint in Brooklyn. He later watched a Buffalo Bills game with Gov. Kathy Hochul at a sports bar in Astoria, Queens, before slipping into the nosebleeds at Madison Square Garden to catch the Knicks.
About 735,000 voters submitted early ballots, far more than were cast at the same point in the last mayoral race four years ago. On Sunday alone, the last day of early voting, about 151,000 people voted, the most of any day since the polls opened.
Though voting behavior
has shifted in recent years, the large turnout reflected New Yorkers’
heightened interest in the race, in which Mr. Mamdani emerged as the front-runner after his shock win over Mr. Cuomo in the June Democratic primary.
Later on Sunday, both candidates addressed church congregations. Mr. Mamdani spoke at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, then joined about 100 campaign volunteers gathered nearby for a last-minute get-out-the-vote effort in the neighborhood. They joined a network of 6,700 Mamdani volunteers across the city who were aiming to knock on more than 200,000 doors on Sunday, which would set a campaign record for most doors knocked in a day.
Mr. Cuomo went to two churches in the Bronx and met with a handful of voters at a cafe on Arthur Avenue.
Here’s what else to know:
- Obama and Mamdani: Mr. Mamdani spoke Saturday by phone with former President Barack Obama, who did not endorse him but praised his campaign and offered to help going forward.
- The experience conundrum: For Mr. Mamdani, who turned 34 on Oct. 18, youth has been an advantage with many voters hungry for fresh leaders to run the city. At the same time, some voters expressed concern about Mr. Mamdani’s ability to navigate the complex role without more political experience.
- Democratic divisions: Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, told CNN that he did not think Zohran Mamdani would be the future of the Democratic Party. But Gov. Kathy Hochul took a different tone. “I don’t think we can stand here today and say what the future of the party is,” Ms. Hochul said, standing next to Mr. Mamdani outside a bar in Astoria, Queens. “This is the party right now.”
- Islamophobia in the race: The campaign’s final weeks have brought a wave of attacks on Mr. Mamdani’s ethnicity and Islamic faith from his rivals and their allies. Muslim voters have been watching his ascent with pride but also trepidation, saying in interviews they are worried for his safety.
- How to vote: Sunday was the last day to vote early. Polls closed at 5 p.m., and there is no voting on Monday. Your early-voting place this weekend may be different from your polling station on Election Day. You can check either address here.
Wesley Parnell and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
Nov. 2, 2025, 9:04 p.m. ET
Nicholas Fandos
Trump had made clear before that he was no fan of Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, who he has said is not “prime time.” Stating his preference now a little more clearly may be helpful to Cuomo as he tries to pull Republican voters toward him, but it could also hurt the candidate with Democrats.
Nov. 2, 2025, 9:03 p.m. ET
Ashley Ahn
President Trump said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that it would be “hard” for him to give money to New York if Mamdani becomes mayor: “All you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there.” He added that he is “not a fan of Cuomo” but made it clear that he wants him to win the mayor’s race anyway. “If it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time,” he said. Mamdani is a democratic socialist and the Democratic nominee.
New York City Mayoral Election 2025: Latest Polls
Track the latest polls about Mamdani, Cuomo, Adams and Sliwa in the New York City mayoral election.
Nov. 2, 2025, 8:59 p.m. ET
Benjamin Oreskes
With about 2 minutes left in the second quarter, Zohran Mamdani slipped into the nosebleed seats at Madison Square Garden for tonight’s Knicks game. He’s been sitting alongside the podcaster Mero in a hat and jersey. After a full day of crowds, barely anyone has noticed he’s here.
Nov. 2, 2025, 7:18 p.m. ET
Alex Lemonides
Early in-person turnout was not quite as high as last year’s presidential election, but still quite high for a non-presidential year. Typically, a higher turnout means a younger electorate, because the average registered voter is much younger than the voters who actually turn out. The median age for registered voters this year is 47, and the median age of early voters was 50. Early turnout lagged among younger voters early in the week, but picked up dramatically from Friday to today.
How New Yorkers voted by age …
... in 2024
All ballots
Early votes
... in 2025, so far
Early votes
Source: Board of Elections
Nov. 2, 2025, 7:17 p.m. ET
Ashley Ahn
In an excerpt of an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” President Trump once again called Zohran Mamdani a “communist, not socialist.” Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, is a democratic socialist.
Trump has threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding from New York City if Mamdani is elected and enacts policies he does not like.
Nov. 2, 2025, 6:43 p.m. ET
Ashley Ahn
Approximately 151,000 New Yorkers cast ballots on Sunday, the last day of early voting. That was the most ballots cast on any day since the polls opened, and it brought the total number of early votes to more than 735,000, according to the City Board of Elections. That is more than four times the number of early ballots that were cast in the last mayoral race four years ago.
Nov. 2, 2025, 6:29 p.m. ET
Kimberly S. Johnson
Reporting from Manhattan
At a polling site on 56th Street shortly before polls closed, voters openly questioned whether a volunteer passing out fliers and cheering for Andrew Cuomo could vocally campaign for the independent candidate so close to a polling center. The volunteer eventually apologized and moved to the corner to join a scrum of volunteers holding signs for Zohran Mamdani and Cristina Fontanelli, a write-in city council candidate for the 3rd District.
One of the early voting coordinators at the site came outside to reiterate the rules: No campaigning within 100 feet of a polling place. No active passing out of flyers to people in line.
Nov. 2, 2025, 6:26 p.m. ET
Anushka Patil
Curtis Sliwa, appearing on “The Big Weekend Show” on Fox News, responded to recent attacks from Andrew Cuomo by slamming him as a man who “will say anything, anytime, anywhere, any place, because he just wants power.”
Cuomo, with his resounding loss in the Democratic primary, was “responsible for elevating Zohran Mamdani to an international figure,” Sliwa said. He said once again that he had no intention of dropping out of the race, as Cuomo has called for him to do.
Nov. 2, 2025, 5:17 p.m. ET
Tim Balk
After Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader,
told CNN that he did not think Zohran Mamdani could be the future of the Democratic Party, Gov. Kathy Hochul took a different tone. “I don’t think we can stand here today and say what the future of the party is,” Hochul said, appearing with Mamdani outside a bar in Astoria, Queens. “This is the party right now.”
Nov. 2, 2025, 5:01 p.m. ET
Ashley Ahn
Polls are now closed for early voting and will open again on Election Day, which is Tuesday, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Your polling place on Election Day may differ from your early voting polling place. You can check the address
here.
Image
Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times
And they wonder why they lose to Trump
