MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
More than 730,000 New York City voters have already cast their ballots for mayor, a huge number for a nonpresidential election. There is a lot at stake in this race - leadership of the largest city in the U.S., but also a fight over the future of the Democratic Party. Over this last weekend of campaigning, front-runner Zohran Mamdani has been fending off increasingly intense attacks from his chief rival, former Governor Andrew Cuomo. With the final day of voting tomorrow, we're joined by Gwynne Hogan - she works for the local news outlet The City - and also by NPR's Brian Mann. Good morning to you both.
GWYNNE HOGAN: Good morning.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So, Gwynne, I'm going to start with you. You've been on the campaign trail with Mamdani. What are you seeing?
HOGAN: Big crowds, lots of energy. I was at this rally over the weekend. Mamdani was greeting hundreds of volunteer canvassers in Queens. Some had traveled from across the country to come knock on doors in these final days of the election.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Your next mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
(CHEERING)
HOGAN: This is a campaign that's amassed more than 100,000 volunteers. They're knocking on doors all over the city. And over the weekend, Mamdani was seemingly everywhere. He was trick-or-treating with kids Friday night. He went to six different nightclubs on Saturday night, and he cheered on runners at the New York City Marathon on Sunday. He's really giving off this tireless energy in the final days of his campaign.
MARTIN: And, Brian, you were with Cuomo over the weekend. What did you see?
MANN: Yeah, Michel, much more low energy. Cuomo is 67, so he hasn't been out at night clubs. He did canvas over the weekend. His crowds were a lot smaller. But, you know, Cuomo's been a fixture in New York politics for decades and still has deep support, especially in the Black and Jewish communities. I spoke with Shareen Frantz (ph) at a Cuomo event in Queens on Saturday.
SHAREEN FRANTZ: I think he's more experienced. The other guy, he's younger, and I don't think he has the experience, and I don't think it's a right choice right now.
HOGAN: One thing worth mentioning, Cuomo's been helped at the close of this campaign by tens of millions of dollars of Super PAC ads, some supporting him, some attacking Mamdani. So while the energy on the street tilts towards Mamdani, Cuomo is benefiting from this deluge of ad spending funded in large part by a handful of billionaires.
MARTIN: OK, so two very different campaigns. What about the messages? What kinds of closing arguments are you each hearing?
MANN: Well, really, from Cuomo, it's a message of fear. He's been saying Mamdani would make the city less safe. He's saying Mamdani's democratic socialism would scare away businesses. Really, the tone was grim when I was with him in Queens. And, Gwynne, my sense is that what you were hearing when you were with Mamdani was pretty different.
HOGAN: Yeah. That's right, Brian. Mamdani does always take a beat to fend off these attacks, but he's really stayed on message in these final days. It's that message of making New York City more affordable, promising to freeze the rent for the city's 1 million rent-stabilized tenants, making the city's buses faster and free and providing universal child care. And for a lot of the voters I've been talking to, that message of affordability is resonating.
MARTIN: OK. So along with affordability, though, this campaign has included accusations of Islamophobia and antisemitism. I mean, how has this escalated?
HOGAN: You know, if Mamdani wins, he'll be the city's first Muslim mayor. And in late October, Cuomo went on this conservative talk show, and the host said Mamdani would be cheering if another 9/11-style terror attack happened. Cuomo didn't push back and said, I'm quoting here. That's another problem. There are also these attack ads attempting to associate Mamdani with, quote, "jihad on NYC." Over the weekend, Mamdani was speaking to this large crowd, many of whom were Muslim and of South Asian descent. He asked people to raise their hands if they've ever been called a terrorist, and a lot of hands went up. Mamdani went on to predict more bigotry and racism from Cuomo's allies in the coming days.
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ZOHRAN MAMDANI: And our answer to that is a vision of a city where all of us belong.
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MAMDANI: All of us.
MANN: And, Michel, I was there over the weekend when Andrew Cuomo was asked about these accusations of Islamophobia and bigotry in his campaign. He pushed back. He said Mamdani hasn't done enough to support Israel and the city's Jewish residents.
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ANDREW CUOMO: His verbiage with the Jewish community has been highly offensive to the Jewish community. If you don't realize that, then you haven't been in this city.
HOGAN: This really has been a flashpoint in this race. It's also roiled the Democratic Party nationally. A September poll by Siena found most New York voters favor Mamdani's position on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but more than 1,000 U.S. rabbis have signed a letter condemning Mamdani's rhetoric.
MARTIN: You know, there's a third candidate in this race, Republican Curtis Sliwa. Has he been a factor? Brian?
MANN: Well, in a way, he has been a big factor. Yeah, Sliwa's has been a fixture in the city for years. He founded a neighborhood safety group called the Guardian Angels. And while he's running in third place in this heavily Democratic city, he's made it harder for Cuomo to really square off one-on-one against Mamdani. Cuomo has hoped to win a lot of Republican votes. And there was pressure on Sliwa to drop out, but he's refused.
HOGAN: And Sliwa's run for mayor before and lost in a landslide, but he says Republican voters - they don't want Cuomo or Mamdani as their next mayor. Sliwa said Cuomo is the one who should drop out, not him.
MARTIN: I want to go back to one of the things we talked about at the beginning of this conversation, the contrast in this race between excitement for Mamdani versus Cuomo's experience. So how are the candidates talking about that?
MANN: Yeah. This is one of Cuomo's big arguments. He says he has the deep experience in government needed to run this city. He wasn't just governor, remember. He was also a state attorney general. He served as housing secretary in the Clinton administration, and his resume does include some progressive legislation here in New York, including prison reform, strict gun control law and legalization of same-sex marriage.
HOGAN: But Cuomo resigned as New York state governor after a sexual harassment scandal in 2021, and he's faced criticism for his handling of the COVID pandemic. He denies those allegations, but his resume hasn't given him the boost he's looking for. Mamdani, meanwhile, has said what he lacks in experience, he'll make up foreign integrity. And he's promising to surround himself with experienced civil servants. But, clearly, this is a big question voters will answer tomorrow, and it's a really pivotal moment in New York City. We're facing funding cuts from Trump's federal government. Do people want someone like Mamdani, with new and different ideas for New York City, or someone like Cuomo, who's been a fixture in the state's politics for decades?
MARTIN: Before we let you go, Brian, I have one more question for you. Mamdani won the Democratic primary, which is why Cuomo is running as an independent. Does this say something about Cuomo and his ambitions, or does this say something about the Democratic Party writ large?
MANN: Yeah. It's a fascinating question, and it's complicated. You know, the excitement Mamdani's generated in this race does thrill a lot of Democrats, especially younger voters, not just here, but around the country. He's emerged, really, as a national figure. But Mamdani's embrace of the socialist label makes a lot of more centrist Democratic leaders nervous. Many New York Democrats, Michel, refused to endorse him. Others held off and have offered only lukewarm support. A huge age divide in all of this. And what we've been hearing on the campaign trail is younger voters are much more skeptical of capitalism. They're much more critical of Israel. So, you know, if Mamdani is the next mayor of America's largest city, he's going to have a big bully pulpit to talk about a much younger, more left-leaning version of the Democratic Party.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Brian Mann, along with Gwynne Hogan from The City. Thank you both so much.
HOGAN: Thanks, Michel.
MANN: Thanks, Michel.
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