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NEW YORK, Nov 2 (APP)::Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim, is reaching out to his main opponent former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s base in the final days of the race for New York City mayor, as the candidate fanned out across this metropolis of nearly nine million.
Mamdani appeared Saturday with the civil rights leader, Reverend Al Sharpton in the predominantly Black and Latino neighbourhood of East Harlem.
“It’s so important to vote, even if you don’t vote for me,” said Curtis Sliva, the Republican candidate in the race who comes third in the polls.
Pakistani-Americans are largely supportive of Uganda-born Mamdani, who also speaks fluent Urdu.
All three candidates had packed schedules and were contending with masses of people running in another contest: the New York City Marathon. They briefly intersected on Sunday afternoon, when Mamdani, who ran in the event in 2022 and 2024, cheered on runners during a campaign stop in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. Along the marathon route, some spectators held up signs that referenced the candidates and campaigns.
Early voting began on Oct. 25, and about 584,000 voters had submitted ballots as of Saturday night, far more than were cast at the same point in the last mayoral race in 2021. On Saturday alone, about 104,000 people voted early, the most of any day since the polls opened.
Though voting behavior has shifted in recent years, the large turnout reflected New Yorkers’ heightened interest in the race, in which Mamdani emerged as the top candidate after his shock win over Cuomo in the June Democratic primary. In recent weeks, Cuomo, ho i being funded by billionaires, has sought to cast his opponent as a radical democratic socialist who is out of step with Democratic voters.
The front-running candidate later attended a church service in Brooklyn with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who, like Sharpton, commands great influence over a broad swath of Black voters in the city, according to political observers.
And in perhaps the most significant development of the day, Mamdani spoke on the phone with Barack Obama, America’s first and only Black president, who, the New York Times reported, offered to serve as a sounding board should he succeed.
His embrace of Mamdani, who would become the city’s first Muslim mayor, comes as the two candidates campaign through the final day of a race that has divided both the Democratic Party and New York City voters, with each candidate accusing the other of trying to sow further division.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has energized young voters with his messaging around affordability, has caused concern among the city’s monied class, who oppose his calls to tax the rich, and moderate Democrats who fear Republicans will weaponize his hard-left agenda against the party in next year’s midterm elections.