With two days left before Election Day and a record-breaking half million-plus early votes already cast, New York mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo traded swipes and rallied supporters at church campaign stops just a borough apart Sunday morning.
Mamdani spoke to packed pews at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, then glad-handed a crowd of supporters and volunteers outside nearby the place of worship.
At the pulpit, Mamdani touched on his familiar policy proposals, including a rent freeze for the city’s rent-stabilized tenants, affordable housing, universal child care and free buses.
“Now I know that these are lofty aspirations,” he said. “But to those who say they are too ambitious, I answer that ambition is exactly what befits the greatest city in the world.”
He saved his hits on Cuomo for the reporters and crowd outside the church, calling the former New York governor “Trump’s parrot” and decrying “Islamophobic” attacks against him in the final days of the race.
“There have been moments where even I have been shocked by the language that has been used in this race and by the fact that we are seeing more and more of the kind of politics that disgusts so many New Yorkers in Washington D.C. now endemic in the politics right here in New York City,” he said.
Addressing questions about an AtlasIntel poll released Saturday showing Cuomo narrowing the cap with Mamdani to 6.6%, he said, “My mother called me the other day. She asked me which poll do we believe? And I said, none of them.”
Rebecca White / New York Daily News
Zohran Mamdani poses with supporters in Harlem on Sunday afternoon. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
“We saw polls every single day of that primary. Polls which told us we should just pack it up and go home and we continued to knock on those doors and we won,” he added. “We want to make sure we speak to everyone we can before polls close.”
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, remains the front-runner after his surprise victory against Cuomo in the June Democratic primary. He now leads Cuomo in most polls by double digits, with Republican Curtis Sliwa trailing a distant third.
As of Saturday, about 584,000 New Yorkers had already cast ballots through early voting — more than half the roughly 1,149,000 who voted in 2021.
“I think I’m going to vote for him. I think he was sincere. His words today were very very sincere.” Latoya Brockington, 45, said after watching Mamdani’s speech.
“Every single thing is going up except for the paychecks … It’s really really hard, especially for single moms, for myself … Cuomo already had his chance. He was in office. He really didn’t do much for the working people.”
Cuomo addressed the First Corinthian congregation earlier this year.
“I actually wanted Zohran to speak at our church for a while,” said parishioner Autumn Williams, 20. “It was a lot more electrifying with Mamdani.“
“We need a fresh face who is not going to do the same old, same old,” she added.
Rebecca White / New York Daily News
Andrew Cuomo speaks to congregants at Union Grove Baptist Church in the Bronx on Sunday. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
Over in the South Bronx, Cuomo spoke to an enthusiastic congregation at the Union Grove Baptist Church, detailing how he hoped to give people already living in a neighborhood first chance at getting affordable housing there.
“We’re losing too many communities where gentrifiers are coming into the community and they’re raising the rent and they’re destroying the character of the community,” he said.
He also pressed for adding 5,000 officers to the NYPD “because the number of police is just too low and we have to be safe”
Cuomo highlighted his stance on education, saying he wants to expand gifted and talented programs and keep mayoral control of the city school system — while Mamdani has floated weakening mayoral control and scaling gifted and talented programs back.
“Public schools, we have to do a better job, especially with those in black and brown communities,” Cuomo said. “I will make that a top priority.”
Cuomo joked about voters wanting a fresh face, telling the congregation, “I think my face is fairly fresh. I mean, it’s not right out of the box fresh. But there’s something to experience and wisdom.”
Outside the church, Cuomo addressed a gaggle of reporters, blasting Mamdani.
“Everybody has a little slogan and now they do a little TikTok dance and nothing changes,” he said. “His promises are all BS. None of it will happen.”
Marcus Mims, 62, who lives across the street from the church, said he’d have worn his Sunday best if he knew Cuomo would be speaking.
“He helped the MTA. He helped us get our contracts. He helped us get our pensions,” the retired MTA worker said of Cuomo’s time as mayor. “Listen, he helped us.”
Brenda Rivera, 51, cheered and yelled “Vote Cuomo!” from her window. She said her family loves him for his relief efforts as governor when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2018.
“He always did good by us,” she said. “I will never forget what he did for Puerto Rico.”
“God Bless!” she yelled, adding, “We loved your father, also!” referring to former Gov. Mario Cuomo.
