From the subway to social media, NYC mayoral candidates make their closing arguments to voters

NEW YORK– In his latest ad for the New York mayoral race, Andrew Cuomo opens on a dour note: “Life in New York is tough right now. »

Next comes criticism of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate who the former governor says is too inexperienced to run the city: “Candidates who need on-the-job training can’t fix that,” he says.

In their final days of campaigning before Election Day on Tuesday, Cuomo, Mamdani and Republican Curtis Sliwa make their closing arguments to voters.

For Cuomo, 67, it’s a message that voters must stop Mamdani from leading the city to ruin, presenting himself as the only one who can keep the city safe and move it forward.

Meanwhile, Mamdani is trying to continue riding the wave of progressive enthusiasm that carried him to victory in June’s primary — while weathering the latest barrage of attacks from Cuomo and other critics hesitant to give a 34-year-old democratic socialist the reins of America’s largest city.

As early voting ends Sunday, he shakes hands with everyone from social media influencers to airport taxi drivers while urging his supporters not to be complacent. “People are saying, ‘We got it. It’s over. Cuomo is done,'” he says in one of his many popular online videos. “Don’t believe it.”

And Sliwa is running his own aggressive campaign on the ground, hitting subways and city streets with his pitch focused on public safety and a warning that his Democratic opponents are “two sides of the same coin.”

Cuomo, a Democrat running for office as an independent, spent the final stretch convincing Republicans that he was a more viable candidate than Sliwa.

He met with Jewish and Muslim leaders. There have been a string of media hits on traditional news channels, but also appearances on shows hosted by YouTuber-turned-boxer-turned-professional-wrestler Logan Paul, as well as sports and political commentator Stephen A. Smith.

Much of the former governor’s speech was marked by grim warnings of social and economic collapse if Mamdani were to win, as well as assurances that his record as governor made him a more suitable choice.

In an interview this week on Fox Business, Cuomo said Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent but grew up in New York, “doesn’t understand New York culture.”

“Republicans, there are two choices, me or Mamdani. Don’t waste your vote,” Cuomo said.

Former New York Gov. David Paterson, who campaigned for Cuomo, said Cuomo amplified the negativity because previous attacks on Mamdani’s inexperience and agenda had not slowed his momentum.

“Normally I would say, ‘Relax.’ You are both running for mayor. You both care about the city, so you know, just state your message,” Paterson said. “In this case, the reason he’s doing it is because this message hasn’t leaked yet.”

Sliwa, 71, has returned to where he made his name as the creator of the Guardian Angels crime patrols: the city’s subways.

He has held daily news conferences across the transit system, hammering home his message that he will make trains safer.

As a rainstorm caused localized flooding in parts of the city on Thursday, Sliwa filmed a video for social media as cars drove through a small pond that had developed at an intersection, denouncing the state of the city’s sewage system.

It reflects local quality-of-life issues that the longtime radio host has kept at the heart of his colorful campaign.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected Sliwa’s candidacy — and mocked her passion for rescuing cats — but Sliwa has brushed off the criticism.

“The homeless, the emotionally disturbed, the veterans that we don’t take care of, we don’t need a tough guy to be mayor. We need a compassionate, caring, concerned person,” Sliwa said in an interview on CNN. “And it’s Curtis Sliwa.”

In contrast, he said, Cuomo is “cold” and “angry.”

“Nobody votes for anger,” Sliwa said.

Sliwa wore his signature red beret to vote on the first day of early voting, but didn’t bring a cat with him like he did when he ran against Mayor Eric Adams in 2021.

Mamdani, a member of the National Assembly, tried to stay on the offensive.

Last weekend, he filled a Queens stadium with more than 10,000 people for a rally alongside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — to a crowd friendly and receptive to his agenda of using government programs to reduce New York’s high cost of living.

But he said he “will not allow me to be complacent” while his army of volunteers knocks on doors.

He held a press briefing with social media influencers, appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, gained support from a bodega owners association and held a midnight news conference in Queens after surveying night shift workers at a nearby hospital and airport.

The everywhere-all-in-one approach appeared to help him secure at least one undecided voter during a recent stop.

Dr. Rita Bellevue, a retired physician, seemed pleasantly surprised when Mamdani and her coterie of news cameras approached her at a midtown Manhattan bus stop. Afterward, she said she considered whether to vote for him or Cuomo.

“I think I just decided,” she said with a smile before hurrying to catch her bus.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.