Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind Andrew Cuomo’s bid for the New York Mayoralty and has branded the race’s frontrunner Zohran Mamdani as a “communist,” as America heads to the polls for three major elections.
“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, before telling 60 Minutes that he could pull funding for New York if Mamdani wins.
“Donald Trump is threatened by our campaign,” Mamdani fired back on CNN. “He’s threatened by it because, like his, we’ve diagnosed the crisis in working-class New Yorkers’ lives, the cost of living, but unlike him, we’re actually going to deliver on that.”
Meanwhile, gubernatorial races are unfolding in two key states, New Jersey and Virginia, which could indicate which way the Democrats should turn in the midterms.
The Virginia race will see a pro-Trump candidate, Winsome Earle-Sears, going head-to-head with a center-left candidate, Abigail Spanberger. That center-left strategy enabled the Democrats to win big in 2018, but is a marked difference from Mamdani’s New York campaign.
The New Jersey race has been overshadowed by threats from Trump, who said that “election monitors” will be stationed at polling sites, in a move which the Democrats have branded as voter intimidation.
Which races to watch ahead of Election Day
There are several high-profile races to look out for as we head into Election Day on Tuesday.
New York City’s mayoral race
- Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is facing off against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
- Mamdani is leading in the polls with 43.9 percent of voter support in a new Atlas Intel poll. Cuomo is trailing with 39.4 percent, followed by Sliwa with 15.5 percent.
Virginia’s gubernatorial race
- Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican, is running against former Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in the governor’s race.
- Spanberger is leading in the polls with 54 percent of voter support in a new Research Co. poll, compared to Earle-Sears’ 46 percent.
New Jersey’s gubernatorial race
- Former state legislator Jack Ciattarelli is the Republican choice in New Jersey, up against Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill.
- New Jersey’s gubernatorial race is closer than Virginia’s. In the same Research Co. poll, Sherrill leads Ciattarelli by just three percentage points, 51 to 48 percent.
California’s ballot measure
- Californians will vote on whether they want to change the blue state’s congressional district maps in response to Texas’ redistricting in favor of Republicans.
The New Jersey race could give both parties an insight into the country’s mood
Normally, New Jersey backs the Democratic Party. However, recent polls have suggested that the race between Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill will be extremely tight.
National political trends have seen the country swing to the right, with suburban voters turning to Trump in the 2024 election.
The winner of the New Jersey gubernatorial race could offer a window into whether this trend will continue.
Sherrill is a very different candidate to New York’s Democratic nominee. She is a military veteran who is much closer to the political center, although she has also campaigned on lowering the cost-of-living.
Like Mamdani, she has suggested that her opponent will work fulfil Trump’s agenda.
“He’ll do whatever Trump tells him to do, and I will fight anybody to work for you,” Sherrill said.
Ciattarelli sparked controversy when he gave Trump an “A” grade on his second presidency, during a debate with Sherrill.
“He’s right about securing the border; inflation is much lower than under Biden; he halted offshore wind; he’s pushing back on New York’s congestion pricing; and he quadrupled the SALT (state and local taxes) deduction,” Ciatterelli said.
Elon Musk backs Andrew Cuomo with Mamdani claiming that it ‘only cost $959 million in tax breaks’
Elon Musk has backed Andrew Cuomo in the race for Mayor of NYC and had claimed that “a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is.”
The tech CEO is one of many people to misspell Mamdani’s name, despite the Democratic candidate being one of the most high-profile politicians in the country and the frontrunner in the race.
Mamdani seemed unshaken by Musk’s endorsement of his rival though, and instead posted a subtle response on X.
“Another big endorsement for @andrewcuomo,” he wrote. “And it only cost $959 million in tax breaks.”
His post referenced Andrew Cuomo giving $959 million in tax breaks to a solar farm linked to Musk’s family, which was later acquired by Tesla.
The scheme was blasted by Cuomo’s rivals who said that it has failed to deliver for New Yorkers.
“Big promises that were made, many jobs that were to come that have not materialized and that have only gone to the benefit of Elon Musk,” Senator Zellnor Myrie said. “They have benefited from a property tax abatement that allows for him to spend very little money on very valuable property to produce very little jobs.”
Curtis Sliwa tells New Yorkers to listen to ‘America’s mayor’ and vote for him
Curtis Sliwa has told New Yorkers to listen to Rudy Giuliani, whom he called “America’s mayor,” and vote for him.
Giuliani, a Republican who was New York City mayor during the 9/11 terror attacks, has endorsed Sliwa, the Republican nominee in the city’s mayoral race this year.
“Thank you for your endorsement tonight, Rudy! Ignore the noise and listen to America’s mayor, because if anyone knows how to save NYC, it’s the man who did it himself,” Sliwa wrote on X Monday night.
Trump blasts Mamdani as a ‘communist’ and backs rival Cuomo
Trump has branded Mamdani, the frontrunner in the NYC mayor race, as a ‘communist’ and has thrown his weight behind Andrew Cuomo.
However, the Democratic nominee quickly turned the tables on the president by sharing a cheeky post on social media, in which he directly addressed the endorsement.
Mamdani is running as an anti-Trump candidate, so he posted a picture of the president’s endorsement with a caption reading, “Congratulations, @AndrewCuomo. I know how hard you worked for this.”
Meanwhile, the president has threatened to pull funding for New York if Mamdani wins, claiming that federal money will be wasted by the Democratic candidate.
Currently, the polls say that Mamdani is on track to win but voters won’t know who will become mayor of NYC until at least late this evening.
ICYMI: Trump takes swipe at Mamdani’s appearance
Journalist Norah O’Donnell began to ask Trump about the race, describing Mamdani as a Democratic socialist, when the president interrupted: “Communist. Not socialist, communist. He’s far worse than a socialist.”
“Some people have compared him to a left-wing version of you: charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that?” O’Donnell pressed.
The president replied: “Well, I think I’m a much better-looking person than him. Right?”
Read more from Kelly Rissman:
When will New Yorkers find out who has won the NYC mayoral race?
The nailbiting final day of the race for New York Mayor is upon us, and millions of people living in and around the city are eager to know whether Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani or Curtis Sliwa will win the election.
So when will the results come out?
Polls will finally close at 9pm E.T, but all votes will need to be counted in order to ensure that the election is both free and fair.
During the last mayoral election, the count ended in Queens at 12:25 a.m. ET when 90% of the votes had come in and the winner had become clear.
Hopefully, that means New Yorkers will find out who their new mayor is this evening, although some vote counts have been known to take longer.
Watch: Curtis Sliwa responds to question about regrets if he loses NYC mayoral race to Mamdani
Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa has responded to a question about regrets if he loses New York City’s mayoral race to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked Sliwa Monday afternoon, “If Mamdani’s elected and…he does run the city as a communist, are you going to have any regrets?”
“Why should I have regrets?” Sliwa said.
Mamdani identifies as a Democratic socialist, not a communist, as President Donald Trump has claimed.
What does Mamdani actually want to do, if elected mayor?
Donald Trump has continually claimed that Zohran Mamdani is a “communist” and a “radical.” But what does the mayoral candidate actually want to do if he wins?
Mamdani says that he wants to make New York City, which is one of the most expensive cities in the world, more affordable.
To do that, he wants to freeze rent on certain homes as well as bringing NYC’s corporate tax rate in line with New Jersey’s.
With the money he raises from that scheme, Mamdani plans to open government owned grocery stores and to make bus travel in the city free.
The Democratic candidate has also vowed to build more housing and warned Donald Trump that, if he wants to deploy the National Guard in New York, he will “have to get through me.”
‘She’s out’: Nancy Pelosi expected to quit politics after California votes on redistricting this week: report
“I think she’s preparing to exit the stage,” a House Democratic leadership aide told the outlet. “We will not fully appreciate the time we have spent with her.”
“I wish she would stay for 10 more years,” a House Democrat added in an interview with NBC. “I think she’s out. She’s going to go out with Prop 50 overwhelmingly passing, and what a crowning achievement for her to do that.”
Read more from Josh Marcus:
