Tens of millions of dollars in campaign advertisements have the sidewalk and televisions of the city. Candidates Sparren face-to-face in two debates on television. And the last of the big newcomers have been dragged in.
Now, with a few more days, the critical democratic primary for Mayor of New York City has shifted to an urgent last foot race to push every last supporter in the five districts to the polls.
The around the clock in the clock has adopted a new urgency this weekend, because the weather forecast for the primary day on Tuesday threatened to bring dangerously high temperatures that some campaigns fear that older voters could keep at home.
The almost dozen democratic candidates were planning to wish through the city on Saturday, but most eyes were on the two leaders, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and assembler Zohran Mamdani, and the enormously different approaches they took to give the outcome.
Mr. Cuomo, a 67-year-old moderate, repeats an old and strikingly expensive playbook that he used races throughout the state. While his super pac pound Mr. Mamdani with millions of dollars in Negative commercials and postHe seems to be largely trusting on trade unions and paid wipes to wear his message to metro stops and door openings.
“I have 650,000 women and men in organized work,” Mr. Cuomo poured on Tuesday after collecting hundreds of carpenters, electricians and metal workers at the Union Square in Manhattan. “Does he do?”
The number represents the membership of the trade unions that Mr Cuomo have approved, but on the street and sidewalks Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, can have more muscle.
Despite working with a fraction of the budget of the former governor, Mr. Mamdani used a wave of energy from mostly young, left -wing voters with little precedent in modern New York politics. He claims To have 46,000 unpaid volunteers who have helped his campaign so far at 1.3 million doors.
He also collected more than 27,000 individual donations, two -thirds more than his close rival, Brad Lander, the City Comptroller, and several times Mr. Cuomos total of 6,300. (Mr. Cuomo also has the support of Fix the City, the Super Pac that has collected more than $ 24 million from Rich donorsIncluding former mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.)
On Thursday, Mr. Mamdani tried to contrast his approach with that of Mr Cuomo and to say reporters in Queens that “politics is not something that can easily be purchased by billionaires and companies.”
Campagneveterans, and even a few supporters of Mr. Cuomo, say that Mr. Mamdani has built a more impressive machine from the voice. So far, more than 250,000 people have voted early, a jump in participation in general compared to 2021. The Golf is greatest among younger voters, who tend to favor the assemblyer.
“There is a huge advantage that your field operation is staffed and run by volunteers,” said Jon Paul Lupo, a democratic strategist that is not affiliated with a mayor campaign. “Those people are there because they believe in the campaign, they are a lot of energy, they are more convincing when they talk to voters.”
Yet Mr. Mamdani faces a steep challenge, especially if public polls are accurate. A recent Marist Institute for Public Opinion Poll Show him that Mr.’s lead. Cuomo was restrictive, but still haunted about 10 points. Closing the gap should require that Mr Mamdani changes the composition of the typical primary electorate in a meaningful way.
Mr Cuomo’s allies admit that the race is closer than they had expected, but they remain carefully confident. Fix has bought the city $ 5.4 million in wilting TV attacks Against Mr Mamdani in just a few days, so that he is spent almost 10 to 1 on paid media.
The supporters of Mr. Cuomo – polls show him that he wins with black voters, women and older New Yorkers – are historically the most likely to vote in a primary.
“There is no panic,” said representative Gregory W. Meeks, the democratic chairman of Queens. “We have identified voters, our voters, the Cuomo voters and we will take those voters out.”
“It’s almost like how George Foreman beat Muhammad Ali in the first round,” said Mr. Meeks, referring to the Famous boxing match from 1974 Ali eventually won by using a “rope-a-dope” strategy. “But that wasn’t the fight.”
Nevertheless, the Cuomo campaign seems to acknowledge that the heat wave will be predicted, with temperatures that possibly peak around 100 degrees on Tuesday, could rely on the rise of the primary day a precarious strategy.
The campaign shot texts to supporters who encouraged them to “beat the heat and the line” by voting early and offering trips to the polls. (Early mood ends on Sunday.) And Mr. Cuomo complained that the plans of the Council of Elections to tackle the coming heat were insufficient, demanding Air conditioning is installed on polling stations.
Mr. Lander’s organizers are trained to recognize signs of heat stroke, according to a spokeswoman for the campaign, Dora Pekec, and there are plans to send cars to Polling sites filled with cold water, gatorade, hydration packages and coolers.
The turnout fight comes after months of more and more personal quarrels under the 11 Democrats About the vote on issues such as police work, housing policy and who is best equipped to confront President Trump. (Mayor Eric Adams, who remains a registered democrat, skips the primary to walk as independent in November.)
Mr Cuomo, who resigned as governor in the scandal four years ago, consistently led in the polls, encouraged by his name recognition and the memory of his time in office. He has promised to hire 5,000 more police officers and accelerate the construction of private homes, and has placed himself as a tested leader who is able to protect the city.
Mr. Mamdani, who would be The youngest mayor of New York In a century, the taxes on companies and rich residents want to pay to pay for free buses and childcare, and has promised to freeze the rent for rent-regulated units. He claims that the city needs a new generation of leaders.
There are signs that the interest in the race is high.
Early personal turnout up to and including Friday was almost double the same period in 2021, when the Coronavirus Pandemie was still raging and many voters vote by post.
Older voters still explain the largest share of those who have generally voted, but The youngest cohort is the most increased Since then a positive sign for Mr. Mamdani. During the entire early voting period of 10 days in 2021, 19,367 voters younger than 30 years personally released an early vote. This year, 45,052 voters in that group made ballot papers in the first seven days of the early votes.
Mr. Cuomo has volunteers who hand out and call for literature to his campaign, but a spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, refused to share figures about volunteers or paid staff.
“This is a campaign of work horses, not showing ponies, and I would like to remind people that the last time we ran against a Silver Lepel Socialist in a Trump refund year, we actively expanded the voters,” he said, referring to Mr Cuomo’s primary to the actress Cynthia Nixon.
Public data show that the campaign of Mr. Cuomo and Fix the City both strongly relieve research. The former Governor spent at least $ 139,000 this month, while the Super PAC had spent more than $ 560,000 from Friday to field operations. Another $ 14,000 went for T-shirts for paid cloth That says: “Vote for Cuomo: the mayor for the moment.”
North Shore Strategies, the company that part of the Mr. Cuomo’s get-out-the-vote efforts handles, recently posted $ 25 per hour lists on Craigslist And Indeed seek help.
“As a political cloth you play a crucial role in the democratic process by involving voters by face-to-face interactions,” a post readingWithout explicitly mentioning a candidate.
Most of the operation of Mr. Cuomo seems to be fed by the trade unions that have done that Underdeaf. The Hotel And Gaming Trades Council has hundreds of members Deputten to hand out campaign literature in color communities, and the Super PAC spends another $ 300,000 on what its spokesperson described as “hundreds” paid wipes and mobile billboards.
Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union said that 2,600 of its members were involved in promoting Mr Cuomo, and 2,000 trade union styles also entered. Local 1199 of the Employees Union service has sent hundreds of its members to Deur-Knock trade union members in the city, according to her political action.
Representative Adriano Espaillat, a Democrat that represents parts of Manhattan and the Bronx, said that he borrowed Mr. Cuomo’s turnout machine, and doubted the effectiveness of paid employees.
“I would take a volunteer more than 10 paid people,” he said. “Paid people are around to chat and take a three -hour lunch. Volunteers fight for that mood.”
Mr. Mamdani is planning to spend around $ 185,000 on 54 paid cloth, according to his campaign, and he has the support of various smaller trade unions. The huge volunteer numbers are almost impossible to verify.
His corps has grown over months and members of the Democratic Socialists of America are heavily represented. The work was shown on Wednesday evening in the East Village of Manhattan, where about 50 volunteers wore Bandanna’s and collected carrying bags to knock on doors.
Bennett Read, 26, and Lex Uttamsingh, 25, linked and left for a high -rise building on Mercer Street. They started on the 18th floor and worked their way down, often threw out, but left kites behind.
Eventually they found a voter on the 10th floor that seemed interested: a 77-year-old former teacher named Jane, who had reservations with Mr Cuomo and liked the idea of free buses.
The Lord Read made his pitch, pointing at the childcare plan of Mr. Mamdani and encouraging her to fill in all five ballot papers under arranged choice. “We say ABC – someone other than Cuomo,” said Mrs. Uttamsingh.
A short time later, the security kicked them out of the building.
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