NEW YORK (AP) – In his final ad for New York City’s mayoral race, he said: andrew cuomo It begins with the heartbreaking words, “Life in New York is tough right now.”
Next begins the pursuit of Democratic candidate Zoran Mamdani, who the former governor claimed was too inexperienced to lead the city. “Candidates who require on-the-job training cannot solve the problem.” he says.
In the final day of campaigning before Election Day on Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Mamdani and Republican Curtis Sliwa are making closing arguments to voters.
For Mr. Cuomo, 67, it’s a message to voters who will stop Mr. Mamdani from ruining the city and assert himself as the only person who can keep it safe and move it forward.
Mr. Mamdani, meanwhile, is trying to continue riding the wave of progressive excitement that brought him victory in the June primary — while also trying to weather a final barrage of attacks from Mr. Cuomo and other critics wary of handing the reins of America’s largest city to a 34-year-old democratic socialist.
As early voting ends on Sunday, he is shaking hands with everyone from social media influencers to airport taxi drivers and urging his supporters not to become complacent. “People say, ‘We’ve got it. It’s over. Cuomo is over.'” he says in one of his many popular online videos. “Please don’t believe me.”
And Sliwa is running its own aggressive on-ground campaign, hitting the city’s subways and streets with a pitch focused on public safety. a warning that His Democratic opponents are “two sides of the same coin”.
Cuomo warns: ‘Don’t waste your vote’
Mr. Cuomo, an independent Democrat, has been making a last-ditch effort to convince Republicans that he is a better candidate than Mr. Sliwa.
He met with Jewish and Muslim leaders. In addition to traditional news channels, he has also made numerous appearances on shows hosted by YouTuber-turned-boxer-turned-pro-wrestler Logan Paul and sports and political commentator Stephen A. Smith.
Much of the former governor’s pitch has been characterized by dark warnings of social and economic collapse if Mamdani wins, and assurances that his background as governor makes him a better choice.
Cuomo said in an interview on Fox Business this week that Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents and raised in New York City, “doesn’t understand New York culture.”
“Republicans, you have two choices: me or Mamdani. Don’t waste your vote,” Cuomo said.
Former New York Gov. David Paterson, who has campaigned for Mr. Cuomo, said Mr. Mamdani’s inexperience and previous attacks on his policies had not slowed Mr. Cuomo’s momentum, and that Mr. Cuomo had amplified the negative opinion.
“Normally you’d say, ‘Relax,’ but you’re both running for mayor. You both care about this city, so please state your message,” Patterson said. “In this case, he did it because the message hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Suriwa takes it to the street
Sliwa, 71, is back where he made his name as the founder of Guardian Angels crime prevention patrols: the city’s subways.
He holds near-daily press conferences across the transit network to hammer home his message of making trains safer.
as storm Localized flooding occurred in parts of the city on Thursday, and Sliwa criticized the state of the city’s sewage system by recording a video for social media showing cars driving through small ponds at intersections.
It reflects local quality-of-life issues that the longtime talk radio host has put at the center of a colorful campaign.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected Sliwa’s candidacy. and mocked his passion to save the cat. –But Sliwa brushed off the criticism.
“We don’t need a tough guy to be mayor. We need someone who cares, who cares, who cares about the homeless, the mentally disturbed, the veterans we don’t care for,” Sliwa said in an interview with CNN. “That’s Curtis Sliwa.”
By contrast, he said Cuomo is “ruthless” and “angry.”
“Nobody votes in anger,” Sliwa said.
Sliwa wore her distinctive red beret to vote on the first day of early voting, but she didn’t bring her cat with her. like he did That was when he ran against Mayor Eric Adams in 2021.
Mandani are everywhere
Mamdani, a state lawmaker, plans to go on the offensive.
Last weekend, he packed a stadium in Queens with more than 10,000 people for a rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, playing to a friendly crowd that embraced his policy of using government programs to lower New York’s high cost of living.
But while volunteer forces are knocking on the door, “we cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.
He set up press conferences with social media influencers, appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, won support from a bodega owners association and held a midnight press conference in Queens after convincing night shift workers at nearby hospitals and airports.
The everywhere-at-once approach appeared to help secure at least one undecided voter at recent stops.
Dr. Rita Bellevue, a retired physician, seemed pleasantly surprised when Mamdani and his fellow news cameras approached her at a midtown Manhattan bus stop. Afterward, she said she was considering whether to vote for Mr. Cuomo or for Mr. Cuomo.
“I think I just made a decision,” she said with a smile and hurried to catch the bus.
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
