Featured Image Credit: Stephani Spindel/VIEWpress/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, New York, Politics, US News, Zohran Mamdani
Ellie Kemp
Topics: Donald Trump, New York, Politics, US News, Zohran Mamdani
New York City's new mayor is expected to be unveiled today as thousands of voters are set to take to the polls.
The three candidates facing off are former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, Republican Curtis Sliwa and Democrat Zohran Mamdani.
One of them will replace the current mayor, Democrat and former NYPD captain Eric Adams, who ended his re-election campaign back in September.
Opinion polls suggest Mamdani is the front-runner for the race, as per the BBC.
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If elected, he would be New York's first-ever Muslim mayor.
The youngest of the three main candidates at 34 years old, Mamdani describes himself as a 'democratic socialist'.
His policies include increasing taxes on the city's wealthiest, increasing publicly subsidized housing and freezing stabilized apartment rental rates.
Polls across New York's five boroughs - the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island - are open between 6am and 9pm ET today (Tuesday November 4).
While there's no specific deadline for the winner to be announced, it could be within minutes after the polls close this evening - especially if the last mayoral election is anything to go by.
In 2021, Adams was declared the winner around 10 minutes after polls closed, winning with roughly two-thirds of the vote.
So, chances are we'll know the new mayor before the day is out.
President Donald Trump has slammed Mamdani as a 'communist' in an interview with 60 Minutes' Norah O’Donnell.
In the unusual exchange, which viewers branded delusional, Trump also brought his own appearance into the conversation.
As O'Donnell went to ask Trump about the upcoming election, saying: "Zohran Mamdani, 34 year old Democratic Socialist—," Trump cut her off and interjected with: “Communist, not a socialist. He’s a communist. He’s far worse than a socialist.”
O’Donnell continued her question, asking: “Some people have compared him to a left-wing version of you; charismatic, breaking the old rules – what do you think about that?”
Without skipping a beat, Trump retorted: "Well I think I’m a much better-looking person than him, right?"
Trump has instead thrown his weight behind independent candidate Cuomo, who served as governor between 2011 and 2021, resigning after numerous sexual misconduct allegations, all of which he denies.
Trump discarded Republican candidate Sliwa, claiming a vote for him is 'a vote for Mamdani'.
The president had previously threatened to send no more than 'the very minimum' level of federal funding to New York should Mamdani be elected.
And in a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: "Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job.
"He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!"
Cuomo hit back that Trump is not endorsing him, but opposing Mamdani.