Early voting begins at New York City Hall
NEW YORK (AP) — Polls opened Saturday for the start of in-person voting for two of the most closely watched elections of the year: the race for New York City mayor and the race to elect New Jersey’s next governor.
New Yorkers are choosing between Democrat Zohran Mamdani, Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat on the ballot as an independent. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is also on the ballot, but dropped out of the race last month and recently endorsed Cuomo.
The New Jersey gubernatorial race pits Republican state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli against Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
New York has allowed early voting since 2019 and it has become relatively popular. In the June mayoral primary, about 35% of votes were cast early and in-person, according to the city’s campaign finance board.
New Jersey adopted early voting in 2021.
Off-year elections in neighboring states could be signposts for Democratic Party leaders as they try to decide what kind of candidates might be best to lead their resistance to Republican President Donald Trump’s agenda.
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The election has highlighted affordability and cost-of-living issues, as well as ongoing divisions within the Democratic Party, said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
“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 center,” he said.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has electrified liberal voters, drawn to his proposals for free universal child care, free busing and a rent freeze for New Yorkers living in about 1 million rent-regulated apartments.
Cuomo has called Mamdani’s policies naïve and financially irresponsible. He has appealed to voters to elect him because of his experience as governor of the state, a position from which he resigned in 2021 after several women accused him of sexual harassment.
Cuomo also attacked Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, for his criticism of Israel.
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Mamdani, who has resisted anti-Muslim rhetoric during the war, says Israel’s military actions in Gaza have constituted genocide. Cuomo and Sliwa, founder of the public safety patrol group Guardian Angels, equate Mamdani’s position with anti-Semitism.
New Jersey gubernatorial candidates, in their final debate earlier this month, discussed the federal government shutdown, Sherrill’s military background, Trump’s policies and the state’s high cost of living. The winner would succeed Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited.
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Early voting is already underway in other states.
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In Virginia, voters began casting early ballots on September 19. In that closely watched governor’s race, they are choosing between former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
One of those candidates will become Virginia’s first female governor. They clashed over cultural issues such as the rights of transgender children in sports and in school bathrooms during their only debate earlier this month.
Early voting runs through Nov. 1 in Virginia and Nov. 2 in New York City and New Jersey. Voting sites in all three states will open widely for Election Day on November 4.