Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are pouring out to the polls Tuesday to vote in a series of local elections — including the most consequential mayoral race in decades.
Just shy of 460,000 residents cast ballots in the first six hours of polling sites being open starting at 6 a.m., according to tabulations released by the Board of Elections. That’s on top of the more than 735,000 people who voted early before Tuesday.
Taken together, that means the city had as of noon Tuesday already exceeded the 1.15 million turnout level set in the 2021 local elections. Polls remain open through 9 p.m.
Longtime New York election observers have said the early voting numbers alone indicated the 2025 elections could bring in more than 2 million votes overall. The most recent turnout high water mark in the city on a local level was the 1965 mayoral election, which drew 2.6 million votes, meaning the 2025 race could reach record-smashing territory.
The heightened enthusiasm in this year’s election cycle can largely be attributed to the mayoral contest, which has pitted Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani against independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Kevin Moran, an 80-year-old Queens resident and lifelong Democrat, cast a ballot for Cuomo at Middlle School 225 in South Ozone Park on Tuesday morning, saying he did so, in part, because the Daily News editorial board as well as ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed him.
Still, Moran, a retired cab driver and U.S. Postal Service worker, said he wouldn’t be upset if Mamdani wins, noting he ranked both him and Cuomo in the June Democratic mayoral primary that Mamdani won.
“My sentiments are not anti-Mamdani. I have no issue with Mamdani being a socialist Democrat or whatever,” he said before adding: “If Mamdani wins, I’ll be happy. I think he’ll be able to do everything that comes up as the mayor of the city. He’ll appoint different people. I think it’ll probably be a bit of a rough road for him but I think he’ll be able to do it.”
Mayor Adams, the incumbent, isn’t seeking reelection this year, having dropped out of the contest in late September amid record low approval ratings driven, in part, by his federal corruption indictment.
Also on Tuesday’s ballots are elections for city comptroller, public advocate, City Council seats, district attorney posts and judgeships. An overwhelming majority of the down-ballot races aren’t seen as competitive.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has consistently polled as the favorite to win the mayoral race after running a campaign centered on tackling the city’s cost of living crisis. Still, the race has been seen as particularly competitive because of the decision by Cuomo, New York’s former governor, to run as an independent in the general election after losing to Mamdani in June’s Democratic primary.
Speaking to reporters after casting a ballot for himself at a Midtown East polling site Tuesday morning, Cuomo, joined by two of his adult daughters, called the mayoral contest the “most important election of my lifetime.”
“This is going to determine the future of the City of New York,” said Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual and professional misconduct accusations he denies. “It may also determine the future of the Democratic Party.”
Mamdani, speaking to reporters after voting for himself at a site in Astoria together with his wife, expressed confidence he’ll prevail and gave a shout-out to the volunteers who have been knocking doors and canvassing for him over the past few months.
“I’m so thankful to the more than 100,000 volunteers who have brought us to this point, where we are on the brink of making history in our city, on the brink of saying goodbye to a politics of the past,” he said.
Mamdani also broke some news at his polling site, revealing before heading inside he was going to vote yes on all of the three controversial housing development-related referendum questions on the ballot.
The questions, which were advanced by Adams’ administration and aim to make it easier to build housing in the city, would give the next mayor more powers to override City Council denial of certain developments. It’s an expansion of authority that several high-profile Mamdani supporters oppose, putting the Democratic nominee in a fraught spot.
For weeks prior to Election Day, Mamdani declined to take a position on the ballot questions. Cuomo has been publicly supportive of them for months, while Sliwa opposes them.
At Cuomo’s polling site, local resident William Row, 83, said he was voting for the ex-governor because of his long record in government.
“I think that he’s solid, he’s knowledgeable, he’s experienced, and the list of the things that he did here is amazing,” Row said, noting Cuomo as governor oversaw the construction of the new LaGuardia Airport and other projects.
Mamdani, Row added, looks “like a child” next to Cuomo.
“It’s unusual to see somebody who looks like a high school sophomore running for mayor. I don’t remember anything like that. Usually they’re grizzled old lawyers, you know,” he said. “And older people like me are comforted by that.”
