In the final days of New York City's mayoral race, frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist, briefly set aside the upbeat messages about affordability and quality-of-life that have defined his campaign.
Meeting with voters in Queens, Mamdani spoke instead of what he described as Islamophobic attacks by former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. "This kind of naked bigotry and racism is something that many of us have come to expect from Washington DC," Mamdani said, while promising to offer "an alternative to that kind of politics, one that believes all of us belong here."
Mamdani, 34, is a rising star on the left and if elected would serve as New York City's first Muslim mayor. He won the Democratic primary handily, in part by drawing big support from younger voters. Polls show he's led the general election race by double-digit margins for weeks. But he's also faced a barrage of super-PAC funded attack ads and claims he sympathizes with terrorists.
"No longer will we allow a politics in this city that seeks to discard those that they deemed to be disposable<" Mamdani said, addressing a crowd of supporters. "We are not just saying goodbye to a disgraced former governor on Tuesday. We are saying goodbye to the politics of that disgrace."
At an event with Mamdani on Saturday, the Rev. Al Sharpton also appeared to condemn Cuomo's campaign and the former governor's supporters for using divisive attacks. "I am outraged at the ugly Islamophobia that has been used in this campaign," Sharpton said, without naming Cuomo. "Don't play us against each other."
Cuomo, 67, himself once a rising star in the Democratic Party and now fighting for political life, rejected accusations that he's used offensive language in an attempt to slow Mamdani's momentum.
"[Mamdani] has been divisive and offensive throughout this whole campaign," Cuomo said, at a campaign event in Queens. "Pointing out that [Mamdani] has been offensive doesn't make me the offender. His verbiage with the Jewish community has been highly offensive with the Jewish community."
Trading charges of Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism
At issue for some voters is Mamdani's long support for Palestinian rights. While Mamdani has repeatedly stated his opposition to violence and called for Hamas to disarm, he has also accused Israeli leaders of "war crimes" in Gaza and backed boycotts against Israel.
Mamdani has campaigned in Jewish neighborhoods and won endorsements from some key Jewish leaders. During one of the mayoral debates he promised to combat anti-Semitism. "I will be the mayor who doesn't just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them," he said.
But more than 1,100 American rabbis have signed a public letter opposing Mamdani's stances on Israel and Cuomo has attempted to make concerns over anti-Semitism a major issue in the race.
"Not denouncing global Intifada, which means kill the Jews, not recognizing Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, these are highly offensive to the Jewish community," Cuomo said on Saturday. "Calling the NYPD racist, that's offensive to the NYPD."
A September poll by Siena, however, found most likely New York voters favor Mamdani's positions on the Israel-Palestinian conflict over those of Cuomo.
Can a socialist and a Muslim be a new face of the Democratic Party?
The intensity of this conflict between Mamdani, who has been endorsed by many top Democrats, and Cuomo, who served as New York's Democratic governor for nearly eleven years, is driven in part by deep divides over the future of the Democratic Party itself.
Mamdani's appeal is strongest among younger voters and his Tik Tok and Instagram campaign messages have drawn big audiences far beyond New York City's five boroughs.
Asked Sunday on CNN if he views Mamdani as the future of the Democratic Party, Democratic House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents a district in New York City, answered No and said that leadership would come from Democrats in the House.
On the campaign trail, Cuomo has argued that Mamdani is effectively trying to hijack the Democratic Party and its voters: "He says he is a socialist. He marches behind the socialist banner," Cuomo said. "Democrats don't believe in socialism."
Mamdani, too, has described this race as a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party, promising to stay focused on economic and affordability issues, including high rents and grocery prices: "What binds all of us together is who we are fighting to serve, and that is working people," he said at a campaign stop on Friday.
For all the vitriol and bitter campaign ads, Mamdani's message appears to have resonated. While Cuomo spoke to relatively small groups of voters in these final days of the race, Mamdani addressed enthusiastic crowds, many of them volunteering in a city-wide get-out-the vote effort.
Raymond Rouse, 55, is one of the voters who said he's ready for the old guard of the Democratic Party to give way to something new: "That's exactly what we need, a break from the norm," he said, while casting an early ballot in Queens. "Free buses, city run grocery stores, universal childcare, all of that stuff makes total sense to me."
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