Giovanni Lanzo is “still tossed up” about the mayor’s race – that’s Brooklyn for undecided. But he understands the stakes.
“The whole world watches what New York does,” Lanzo said. “Let’s do it right.”
New York is America’s largest and most diverse city, and a global financial and cultural powerhouse. So picking a new mayor is always a big deal.But it is even bigger this time. Because of the moment and the issues front and center right now in American politics; because of the candidates; and because of the high interest in the race shown by New York real estate developer turned President Donald Trump.
It’s a big deal no matter who wins. A historic deal if the frontrunner does.
Zohran Mamdani is just 34. An immigrant. A Muslim. A democratic socialist. A champion of multiculturalism. In many ways, Mamdani is the anti-Trump.
Yet they share a few traits. Mamdani, like Trump, uses social media as a megaphone to communicate and motivate. Mamdani, like Trump, is polarizing.
“I just think the country is going really badly down the toilet,” said Alice Henty, a filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn. “Zohran is like the glimmer of hope for me and for everyone I know.”
Sid Stewart lives in Queens. He is 60, Black, a Trump supporter troubled that Mamdani is a democratic socialist. More so that he is Muslim.
“America has got to go a certain way,” Stewart said. “This is a Judeo-Christian nation and people have to understand that. And I think we need to be more vocal about that. You can’t just let everybody into your country and let the — turn it into this or that.”
Stewart plans to vote for Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani but is running now as an independent.
Also on the ballot: Republican Curtis Sliwa, a familiar face across the city for more than four decades in his role as the founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels community anti-crime organization.Yes, New York is an overwhelmingly Democratic city. But its politics are still complicated and shifting. Its nearly 8.5 million people are spread across five distinct boroughs.
We visited all five to get a firsthand look as part of our All Over the Map project, which is aimed at tracking major stories through the eyes and experiences of everyday Americans.
Brooklyn is Kings County on the map and is the most populous of the boroughs, with 2.6 million people. It ranks fourth of the five in terms of annual median income.
Mamdani won Brooklyn convincingly in the primary, and it is critical to him in the general election.“I believe in socialism, so for me he’s a beacon,” Henty, the filmmaker, said of Mamdani. “I don’t think you can be too liberal right now.”
Voting for Cuomo was never an option for Henty. He resigned as governor four years ago because of multiple sexual harassment allegations. Cuomo denies them.
“I just don’t think he’s a good human being,” Henty said.
Trump calls Mamdani a communist and says billions in federal aid to New York are at risk if he wins. It only motivates Henty more.“Are we going to live in fear and only do things in reaction to Trump for the rest of our lives?” she asked. “Because then we are really f**ked. “
Hassan Ragy also backs the frontrunner and believes a Mamdani win would send a giant message.
“The root issues are about wealth,” said Ragy, 26, a clean energy researcher. “He represents a kind of change we need, not just in New York, but around the country and quite frankly around the representing of ordinary people.”
Lanzo — the “tossed up” voter — is a fixture in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, where he owns Luigi’s, a pizza place started by his father 52 years ago.Lanzo is a Democrat and one of many voters we met across the city who are unhappy with their choices. “This is what we are stuck with,” he lamented.
Lanzo said he wanted to do more research and predicted he would make a last-minute decision. There was one possible clue in our conversation, though.
While he has changed his stance in this campaign, Mamdani in the past has called for defunding the police and leveled harsh criticism at the New York Police Department for its conduct in communities of color.
“These are the people we need,” Lanzo said of the police. “When I need them, I am going to call who? Superman? Clark Kent don’t exist.”
Queens is the second largest of the boroughs, third in terms of median annual income and the most diverse of the five. Cuomo was born in Queens; Mamdani lives there now.
Mamdani won a comfortable primary victory over Cuomo in Queens.Mamdani supporters were easy to come by in the Astoria neighborhood that is part of Mamdani’s district in the state legislature.
We visited a Bangladeshi restaurant frequented by Mamdani.
A “Zohran” campaign sign hangs inside, and as we spoke to two older men outside about their support for Mamdani, a young man strode by on his way into the restaurant and began chanting the frontrunner’s name.
Soleyman Abu, however, emerged from the restaurant and voiced support for Cuomo, even though he said Mamdani had worked hard for the neighborhood in the state Assembly.Abu said he had just believed Cuomo’s experience as governor made him more qualified to lead the city.
“Crime and rent control” was Abu’s quick answer when we asked him the top challenges facing the next mayor.
“Definitely the economy,” was the equally quick response of Sediqua Francis, who is looking for work in film or TV production.
“People are struggling finding work,” she said. “Young people, especially around my age and younger.”She helps out at her mother’s small shop selling bath and body products in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens. Francis says business is slow for her mother and for the other vendors in the neighborhood market.
She was undecided when we visited, leaning Mamdani but not ready to commit.
“I know a lot of people in the film industry who back Mamdani,” she said. “I’m part of a WhatsApp group right now that’s kind of supporting him. But I still want to do my own research.”
Chris Dulcio, 36, moved to Queens from Brooklyn when he was 14. He has a barbershop now in the Jamaica neighborhood.
“Business is doing well,” Dulcio said as he gave a visitor a trim. “It’s getting better every year.”Dulcio said he doesn’t pay much attention to politics, checking in with his father for advice before voting. His dad, an HVAC engineer at the Park Plaza, put in a plug for Cuomo, Dulcio said, citing his experience and his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as governor.
“So, I guess I will vote for Cuomo,” Dulcio said.
Manhattan is third among the five boroughs in terms of population, with 1.6 million residents.
It is first, though, in annual median income ($106K) and also has the highest percentage of residents, about 68%, who have completed at least four years of college.Young professionals like Lal Lopez and Anna St. Clair are a big piece of the Mamdani coalition. We met them at trivia night at Gaf East, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Their team of eight was all in for Mamdani.
“I’m probably overstating what he can do, but of all the candidates, I think he is the one to be able to stand up to everything that’s going on,” said Lopez, who is 40 and a nurse.
Standing up to “everything that is happening at the federal level” was her top issue, and she laughed at how Trump and other critics go after Mamdani. “Everyone just calls him a communist,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t have reservations with him. I think he is fully capable.”
St. Clair, 29, works in public relations. She said most other Democrats, in the city and nationally, seem too timid both in standing up to Trump and in offering new ideas.
“He’s interested in the lives of people who live in the city,” St. Clair said, listing affordability as her top issue. “He has new ideas like the grocery stores. … Maybe that won’t work out. But I think the idea that he has new policy proposals, like the free buses, is inspiring.”Both rolled their eyes when asked if they considered voting for Cuomo, saying the sexual harassment allegations were a red line. St. Clair said she sees Cuomo as “very interested in power and not interested in improving the lives of the people he governs.”
Lopez nodded in agreement. She gives Cuomo some credit for his Covid-19 management, but added: “But everything else. He needs to retire, sit down, go away.”
The Bronx is fourth among the five boroughs in population and is majority Hispanic.
It is the poorest of the five; its median annual income ($49,000) is less than half what it is in Manhattan. The Bronx is majority Hispanic.
Gil Teitel’s family opened Teitel Brothers, an Italian grocery, on Arthur Avenue 110 years ago. Teitel is a registered Republican and a Trump voter. But he said he might vote for Cuomo if in the end he believes Cuomo could win.
Teitel is no fan of Cuomo but said he worried Mamdani’s policies would hurt the economy.
“He will raise real estate taxes. He will freeze rents,” Teitel said. “But then how do you go about paying (higher) real estate taxes? … He’s going to tax the billionaires. What’s to prevent the billionaires from moving out of New York?”
We walk a few blocks from Teitel Brothers and find a very busy auto body shop – and more 2024 Trump voters who plan to back Cuomo in the mayor’s race and who are part of an important shift among blue-collar voters of color around the country.Trump won only 27% of the Bronx vote in 2024, but that was up from 16% in 2020.
Ennen Gaynauth is a painter in the body shop, an employee for 25 years now and a Trump supporter.
“I’m going to Cuomo because he is more experienced,” Gaynauth said.
He said Mamdani seems nice, but he worries he is too young and inexperienced for such a big job.“We don’t want people messing around with the city, you know?”
Jose Hernandez is another Trump voter in the shop. Hernandez is a 47-year auto body veteran, working on a white Mercedes as he discussed the mayor’s race. He also supports Cuomo.
“Mamdani — he talks too much,” Hernandez said. “I don’t believe it when the people talk too much. Promises too many things.”
Staten Island is by far the smallest of the boroughs, with a population just shy of 500,000. It is second to Manhattan in terms of annual median income. It is the city’s conservative outpost – carried by Trump in all three of his presidential runs. The anguish of New York City Republicans is most palpable here, especially the strong Trump supporters.
Most don’t believe Sliwa has a prayer, but voting for a Cuomo is an especially tough pill to swallow.
Matthew Dreisch “would love to see Sliwa” but knows his odds in New York City are slim. Dreisch sees Cuomo as “the lesser of two evils” compared with Mamdani.
Public safety is his top issue.
Ditto for Kevin Marshall, a retired corrections officer who, like Dreisch, is a Trump voter and longtime Republican. But Marshall is having a harder time deciding.
Marshall said he fears the impact of a Mamdani win.
“This guy is talking about emptying the prisons,” Marshall said. “It is frightening to a lot of people to think this guy could become our mayor.”
Marshall agrees with Dreisch. “I don’t think Curtis Sliwa’s got a shot,” Marshall said. But he never voted for Mario Cuomo during his long run in New York politics, and now he is tormented at the idea of voting for Andrew Cuomo.
“I’m just stuck. I’m stuck in purgatory.… I have never voted for a Democrat.”
Joe Rinaldo is usually at the counter at the Island Coffee Shop, a Staten Island landmark.
He, too, is a Republican and Trump supporter. But he holds out hope for Sliwa; and holds out hope that enough New Yorkers adopt his test for the next mayor.
“Midnight, you are on a train,” Rinaldo said. “Three thugs get on the train. You want (Mamdani) with you on the other car? Or do you want the Guardian Angels? Tell me who you want.”
Abelardo Alemin and his wife, Elizabeth, are seated at a window table.
They are voting for Mamdani and say unity is their most important issue. Alemin hopes his vote sends a big message to Trump.
“If Mamdani wins, it would probably be a relief for our immigration, immigrant community,” Alemin said. “It would give us hope to continue here.”
Alemin looks around at the breakfast crowd as a visitor poses a question about Mamdani supporters: “Do you think you are outnumbered here on Staten Island?”
Alemin cracks a smile, and answers without hesitation: “Yes, we are.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Giovanni Lanzo’s last name.