This piece first ran as part of The Countdown, our daily newsletter rounding up all the developments in the New York City mayor’s race. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. There are 20 days to the election.
🔥Trump turns up the heat on Mamdani and NYC
- President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Mamdani on Tuesday, calling him “down and dirty,” a “communist” and anti-Jewish.
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“He hates Jewish people and yet he’s got Jewish people supporting him,” Trump said during a press conference with Argentinian President Javier Milei. A recent Marist poll showed Jewish voters evenly divided between Mamdani and Cuomo.
- Trump has regularly expressed disbelief that Jews would vote for Democrats or against him, given what he has argued is a clear track record of antisemitism on the left and his own support for Israel.
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Trump didn’t have kind words for Mamdani’s opponents, either. He said the frontrunner’s victory would be “a fluke” because he was running against “failed people.”
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Trump also reiterated his threats to cut New York’s federal funding and deploy federal troops to the city, as he did in Chicago and Washington, D.C., if Mamdani is elected.
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Mamdani responded to the comments at an event in Brooklyn where he was endorsed by Black clergy leaders. “We will continue to receive funding from the federal government, and it’s not because of President Trump’s generosity. It’s because it is the law,” he said. Congress has the role of appropriating federal money that is distributed to states and cities.
🤝 Hochul teams up with Mamdani
- Gov. Kathy Hochul also snapped back at Trump’s threat to withhold funding. “I’ll fight like hell to make sure that doesn’t happen,” she said in her first appearance with Mamdani since she endorsed him last month.
N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul announces $5 million in state funding to build a new Queens Boys & Girls Club Clubhouse in Astoria, Queens. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
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Hochul and Mamdani weren’t together for a campaign event. They linked up at a Boys and Girls Club in Queens, where they announced funding for youth programs and affordable housing, and Mamdani appeared in his role as an Assembly member.
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Hochul praised Mamdani’s focus on affordability and highlighted one area where she planned to cooperate with him. “I’ve had conversations with Assemblymember Mamdani about how we can get to universal child care. I believe we can,” she said.
📺 Sarah Sherman spoofs Mamdani critics on ‘SNL’
- Actress Sarah Sherman, who once called herself a “f—ing freaky Jewish woman,” spoofed Mamdani critics in an appearance as the Long Island character Rhonda LaCenzo on “Saturday Night Live.”
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Sherman parodied Islamophobic rhetoric surrounding the race, with her character calling Mamdani a “hipster jihadist.”
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“Mamdani is an ISIS-trained millennial nepo baby from Uganda,” the character said, warning that he would “enact Sharia law in the city.”
🎙Debate prep
- Thursday night’s debate is one of Cuomo’s last chances to make up his distance behind Mamdani. Despite a boost after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams quit the race, Cuomo still trails Mamdani by double digits in recent polling.
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Cuomo has to rally moderate and conservative New Yorkers who would otherwise vote for Sliwa or stay home on Election Day.
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Mamdani has to make sure he doesn’t mess up his lead. It’s rare for a debate to significantly change a race at this late stage — but it’s certainly possible.
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