Early voting started Saturday for the New York City mayor’s race, as well as New Jersey’s gubernatorial election. Running in the former are Democratic state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as an independent and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill and former Republican state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli are vying to be New Jersey’s governor.
Both races spotlighted affordability and cost of living issues, and ongoing divisions within the Democratic Party, Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University in New Jersey, told The Associated Press.
“New York City pits the progressive wing against the establishment old guard in Mamdani versus Cuomo, while New Jersey is banking on moderate candidate Mikie Sherrill to appeal to its broad middle,” she said.
New York City Mayor’s race
Included in Mamdani’s platform is freezing the rent “for all stabilized tenants;” building 200,000 new affordable housing units; making buses free, and the creation of a “Department of Community Safety,” which the campaign says will invest in citywide mental health programs and crisis response.
Cuomo, while criticizing Mamdani’s plan for a rent freeze, also said he wants to increase the supply of affordable housing in the city; enhance enforcement of rent-stabilization laws and up the size of the New York Police Department. Sliwa wants to hire more police officers as well; he called Cuomo’s 2019 rent laws “anti-landlord” and said he would reverse them.
Another topic that has come up repeatedly in the New York City mayor’s race is the Israel-Hamas War. Cuomo and Sliwa have said Mamdani’s criticism of Israel, which the Democrat says is committing a genocide, is antisemitic. Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, denied this, previously saying that while antisemitism is a real issue facing New York City, it’s been “hard to see it weaponized by candidates who do not seem to have any sincere interest in tackling it.”
Cuomo faced backlash for appearing to agree with Islamaphobic comments a podcast host made about Mamdani, as well as a campaign ad widely condemned as racist that was later deleted on the former governor’s X account. A spokesperson for Cuomo later said he did not agree with the podcast host, who said Mamdani would cheer for “another 9/11.”
While Cuomo has touted his experience as the reason he should be mayor, Mamdani in his campaign brought up how multiple women accused him of sexual harassment during his tenure, leading to Cuomo’s resignation.
Although Cuomo lost to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, he chose to remain on the ballot as an independent. He recently was endorsed by current Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who ended his bid for re-election in September.
Mamdani got the endorsement of several officials including Gov. Kathy Hochul; New York Attorney General Letitia James; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; former Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Sliwa, meanwhile, is endorsed by Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., former New York Gov. George Pataki and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
New Jersey governor election
In the New Jersey governor’s race, Ciattarelli gained the support of President Donald Trump, while current Gov. Phil Murphy endorsed Sherrill.
If elected, Ciattarelli said his top three priorities would be improving affordability, ending state sanctuary policies and stopping mandated affordable housing. Sherrill said her focus as governor would be affordability, protecting kids and making state government more accountable.
Sherrill, in an interview with WHYY, said her opponent doesn’t have a plan to protect vulnerable residents, and that he’s “just kind of barreling along with Donald Trump’s agenda, which is raising costs on everyone here in the Garden State.”
Ciattarelli, in his own interview with the outlet, said he cares about policy, not political labels.
“I’ll talk to anybody with a good idea who cares about making New Jersey a better place,” he said.
