“We are especially aware that we are in the midst of a war at this time,” said former governor Andrew Cuomo, the favorite in the primary Democrats of New York City, told a crowd in a lunch event at Bronx on Thursday.
Some people in the crowd began to murmur: War in the Middle East?
“We are in the middle of a war, don’t you see it?

The candidate for the Mayor’s Office of New York, the former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, greets the crowd when he arrives to obtain the concentration of votes, on June 16, 2025 in the city of New York.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
As some in the crowd booed, Cuomo added: “President Trump has declared war on democratic states, Democratic cities. He has declared war on working families, has declared the war against immigrants, has declared war on minorities and has declared the war against New York City and the state of New York.” Later he told reporters: “The good news is: we defeat [the administration] Once before, and we will beat them again. “
In the last days of the campaign for the elementary of Democratic mayor of Choice Choice Choice on Tuesday, which has 11 candidates on the electoral ballot, Cuomo and others moved throughout the city to make their final arguments, and a shared approach is how they are being framed as the best option to face the White House.
Curtis Sliwa, who lost to Mayor Eric Adams in 2021, is the only Republican who runs for the mayor.
Meanwhile, voters told ABC News that they are looking at national and local problems, particularly affordability, while deciding who to emit votes.
And the high scoring temperatures in New York City could affect the participation on election day, since voters challenge heat to walk in their voting places on Tuesday, with the City Electoral Board preparing for dehydration and even possible heat -related power cuts.
The New York City Election Board He said last week in a press release Make sure the voting sites that do not have air conditioning will have fans, a “constant water supply.” The Board said that it is working with emergency management and public service providers to ensure that voting places do not lose power as well.
A Board spokesman He told the city And state of That the possible heat -induced blackouts may affect the vote counting, since then, the ballots would have to count in a similar way to the absent or affidavit ballots that scan later.

People vote in the New York Primary Elections at the Brooklyn Museum on June 17, 2025, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood, New York.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, meanwhile, signed legislation During the weekend allowing voters to receive soft drinks while they are online to vote.
In an email sent to supporters on Tuesday to the followers, Cuomo asked voters to “vote as soon as possible to avoid the most popular parts of the day.”
For Cuomo, the elections could mark their political return. His governorate was derailed after several women accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. He resigned as governor in 2021, but has constantly denied the accusations. A voter in the center of Manhattan told ABC News that he is voting for Cuomo despite the doubts about the accusations, mentioning that he had issued an apology in 2021.
Carmen S., a medical assistant who lives in the neighborhood of Washington Heights in Manhattan, told ABC News in an interview that immigration policy is one of the important issues in the race, which is becoming emotional talking about the immigration policies of the White House. She refused to provide her full last name.
“I am a daughter of immigrants,” he said. “Not all immigrants are criminals.”
Although he did not share who he qualified for his ballot, he praised Cuomo for his history and how he handled his work as governor.

The candidates for the Democratic Mayor’s Office (L/R), former governor Andrew Cuomo, the Comptroller of the city Brad Lander and the state assembly Zohran Mamdani participate in the primary debate of the Democratic Mayor’s Office of New York City in the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, on June 12, 2025, in New York.
Vincent Alban, pool through AFP through Getty Images
The main opponent of Cuomo in Primary is the member of the state assembly Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist whose progressive economic plans have galvanized many voters.
Mamdani, in an interview with ABC News on Thursday in Astoria, Queens, only a few hours after he voted early in a vote in the Movent Museum, said that his final argument is that he is the one who can assume the “twin crisis” faced by the city: “authoritarianism from the outside and a crisis of internal offers.”
“And what we need is a mayor who is able to face them both and deliver a city that each New York can pay and that each New York understands that they belong,” Mamdani told ABC News.
And as to why people throughout the country care about this race, he said: “This is a referendum about where our party is going; it is a referendum about whether billionaires and corporations can buy another choice, or if we opt for a new leadership generation, one that is not financed by Trump donors, one that can really defend and fight for the New Yorker working class.”

The Democratic candidate for mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives to participate in a primary debate of Democratic Mayor, June 4, 2025, in New York City.
Yuki Iwamura/AP
That perspective has impressed some voters. Angela Pham, a 38 -year -old content designer who lives in Greenwich Village, told ABC News in an interview after voting early that Mamdani “needs to win.”
“We are supposed to be the most progressive city in the United States,” he said. “I feel he is the only candidate that makes sense for the things we need to happen.”
When asked how he felt about Cuomo, Pham said: “You need to get out of politics and retire to a farm.”
Mamdani has faced a rejection for his criticism of Israel, given the great Jewish population of New York. In response, he has emphasized policies to combat anti -Semitism and said he wants to focus on the problems of the city.
Cuomo has criticized Mamdani’s comments about Israel and made anti -Semitism a key approach to the campaign. A voter in Greenwich Village told ABC News that concerns about anti -Semitism were a main driver for their decision to vote for Cuomo.
The companion candidate for the comptroller of New York City, Brad Lander, who has “contracted” Mamdani, has received less impulse in vote But he has received more attention since he was briefly arrested last week by federal agents while escorting a defendant outside the immigration court.

The Comptroller of New York and Democratic candidate for the Mayor’s Office of New York, Brad Lander, speaks during a press conference outside the immigration court, on June 5, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Lander, who spoke with ABC News on Thursday at the Upper East Side near an early voting site in a school, said that the election of mayor in the city has national implications, because the administration has said that he hopes to “” free “the democratic cities of his elected officials. That is [a] Word in code for an acquisition of the federal government, an erosion of democracy, a denial of due process, “said Lander.
“Democracy is at this time,” he added.
White House and Administration officials have said that their actions towards cities such as angels are destined to restore order in the midst of protests and disturbances.

Andrew Cuomo is seen reaching a union demonstration in Union Square on June 17, 2025 in New York. | The Comptroller of New York and candidate for mayor Brad Lander comes to speak in a demonstration on June 17, 2025 in New York. | The candidate for mayor of New York City and representative of the Democratic State Zohran Mamdani campaigns in New York, on April 16, 2025.
Bauer-Griffin/GC images through Getty Images | Michael M. Santiago/Getty images | Angela Weiss/AFP through Getty Images
Juan Peralta, a 31 -year -old Harlem who works at events, told ABC News that the only two candidates on the electoral ballot are Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, pointing out Mamdani’s proposal for free child care.
“By growing in New York, I felt that this was a place for families,” Peralta told ABC News. “Now I feel it is a place for families of a certain income.”