The Sprint for City HallWe’re three days out from the critical Nov. 4 election for New York City mayor.Good morning and welcome back to The Sprint for City Hall. I’m Katie Glueck. Election Day is in three days, and this weekend is your last chance to vote early. You can find your poll site here. Today we’ll catch up with Dana Rubinstein, a veteran New York City reporter, about where the race stands. Then we’ll highlight a few of the biggest recent moments from the campaign, and why they matter. Best of luck to those running the New York City Marathon tomorrow. We’ll be cheering you on! For my fellow spectators, here’s where to watch. Thanks for reading and see you Tuesday.
What we’re watchingKatie Glueck: Dana, voters are voting! What’s your best sense of where the race stands today? Dana Rubinstein: As far as we and the professional pollsters can tell, the race has appeared fairly stable, with Zohran Mamdani retaining double-digit leads over Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa. Obviously, things can change, the polls could be wrong, and there is still time for some sort of surprise. But in one telling moment on Friday, a Fox News host’s first question to Cuomo suggested that the race was a fait accompli. “Did you need more time to make the final sale?” the host asked. Cuomo responded, “No, the sale date hasn’t come yet.” KG: What do you see as the biggest open question in this contest headed into Election Day? DR: I’m very curious to see the results of Cuomo’s fear-based campaigning targeting retirees and Republicans, and how many of the latter abandon Sliwa for him. Seven story lines to follow
What happened: The Brooklyn Democratic Party held a gathering billed as a unity event. But there were signs that the party was feeling less than harmonious. Several top Democrats skipped it, including Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader and a Brooklyn resident. His team said he was tied up in Washington — but he has also so far declined to endorse Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. Why it matters: Mamdani has electrified the progressive base, excited young voters and transformed South Asian voters into a new political force. But some longtime Democratic voters and party leaders remain either wary of him or outright opposed. Republicans are already signaling their hopes of turning Mamdani into a boogeyman, especially in competitive House districts outside New York City.
What happened: Cuomo has run a more energetic campaign than he did during the Democratic primary, which he lost badly to Mamdani. As he wages a long-shot independent bid and strains to rehabilitate his political career, he is betting that this city hasn’t changed as much as others seem to think it has. Why it matters: Cuomo, who resigned from the governor’s office in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment (he denies wrongdoing), is plainly a blemished candidate, and many of his voters are backing him primarily to try to stop Mamdani. Regardless, he has at least some support from traditional pillars of the New York City Democratic coalition. His candidacy is a test, however imperfect, of whether the power of those constituencies is waning as the city changes.
What happened: Mamdani sought to appeal to night-shift workers this week, including taxi drivers at LaGuardia and hospital workers in Elmhurst. Why it matters: Mamdani is intensifying his focus on working-class New Yorkers in the final days of the race, pursuing creative forms of outreach (like canvassing an airport taxi line) to reach voters outside the confines of traditional campaign events.
What happened: Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor, is pouring millions of dollars into two super PACs supporting Cuomo’s bid for mayor and urged New Yorkers to vote for the former governor. He had given one of the super PACs $8.3 million before the primary. Why it matters: Threats from the city’s business elite to spend as much as $100 million against Mamdani failed to materialize, but super PAC spending against him has ticked up in the final stretch of the election. It’s not clear, though, whether those efforts will be enough to slow Mamdani’s momentum.
What happened: Cuomo earned nearly $5 million working as a private consultant in 2024, putting him in the top 0.5 percent of New York City earners, according to his annual tax returns. Why it matters: The way his finances are set up, while well within the law, makes it almost impossible for voters or watchdog groups to understand the business connections of someone vying to lead the city.
What happened: Mamdani graduated from Bowdoin College in 2014. His years there seemed to deepen his commitment to longstanding beliefs around issues such as social justice. Why it matters: Mamdani is part of a new generation of progressives who spent formative years at elite colleges as theories of social and racial justice were becoming increasingly ingrained in liberal arts education — a development animating heated debates over American education today.
What happened: In one of the stranger turns of this election, The Times of London briefly ran an article quoting Bill de Blasio, the former mayor, raising doubts about Mamdani’s ideas — comments he denied making. Turns out that there was a mix-up, and another man named Bill DeBlasio, from Long Island, is taking credit for those quotes (the former mayor is, in fact, a supporter of Mamdani’s.). Why it matters: Other than being a fresh source of anxiety dreams for journalists, it probably doesn’t. But it’s a wild story that you shouldn’t miss. We want to hear from youAre you still making up your mind? Did you decide how you would vote in the last few days? How did you make your decision? I’d love to hear from you. I’m at katie.glueck@nytimes.com.
Thank you for reading today’s edition of The Sprint for City Hall. Look for the next edition in your inbox on Tuesday. Want to catch up on previous newsletters? Read here. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please recommend it to others. They can sign up here.
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