New Yorkers looked set to elect a young Muslim leftist as mayor Tuesday as US voters cast judgment for the first time on Donald Trump’s tumultuous second presidency in nationwide local elections.
While Zohran Mamdani’s rise has dominated headlines, gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and a redistricting proposition in California were also seen as offering early gauges of the US political mood nearly 10 months after Trump’s return to the White House.
Virginia Democrats celebrated an early win on election night, with Abigail Spanberger taking the governor’s mansion from Republicans, which may indicate a revived opposition ahead of next year’s midterm elections to decide control of Congress.
In New York, Mamdani, aged just 34, is a self-described socialist who was virtually unknown before his upset victory to secure the Democratic nomination.
He has focused on reducing living costs for ordinary New Yorkers, building support through his informal personal style and social-media-friendly clips of him walking the streets chatting with voters.
Unabashedly playing the race card, President Trump on Tuesday labelled Mamdani, who would be New York’s first Muslim mayor, as a “Jew hater.”
“Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” the Republican president posted on his social media platform.
Mamdani was on about 44 percent in the latest polls, several points ahead of former state governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who is running as an independent after being beaten in the primary.
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels citizen crime patrol group, was on 24 percent — a margin that could sway the vote if enough of his backers shifted to Cuomo.
Turnout was high, hitting 1.45 million with hours to go before polls closed, far exceeding the total votes cast in 2021, which saw the election of current Mayor Eric Adams.
Adams bowed out of the current race after his reelection campaign was hit by scandals and corruption allegations. He endorsed Cuomo, 67.
Outside a school polling station in Republican stronghold Staten Island, Rocco Napoli, 61, a retired city worker, said Sliwa was the “common sense candidate” — but acknowledged Cuomo’s claim that a vote for the Republican was a vote for Mamdani “could be true.”
“But I blame the Republican Party for giving us Curtis again,” he said.
Polls closed at 9:00 pm (0200 GMT Wednesday).
– Mamdani’s improbable rise –
The race has centered on cost of living, crime and how each candidate would handle Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds from New York.
Syracuse University political science professor Grant Reeher said a Mamdani win would set up a clash with Trump.
“Trump will treat New York City more aggressively,” he said. “There will be some kind of political showdown.”
Mamdani’s improbable rise highlights the Democratic Party’s debate over a centrist or a leftist future.
“I think that this has to be a party that actually allows Americans to see themselves in it,” Mamdani said last week.
But Cuomo said there was “a civil war in the Democratic Party.”
“You have an extreme radical left that is run by the socialists that is challenging what they would call moderate Democrats. I’m a moderate Democrat,” he said after voting.
In New Jersey, Democratic Party candidate Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, faces off against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a businessman backed by Trump.
In California, a redistricting ballot measure in response to a Republican-backed redistricting change in Texas, was also expected to send a message.
Both sides wheeled out big guns, with former president Barack Obama rallying support for Spanberger and Sherrill over the weekend and Trump scheduling tele-rallies for both Virginia and New Jersey on the eve of voting.
Obama also reportedly spoke to Mamdani over the weekend but — reflecting the internal party debate — held off on endorsing him.
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