More than 1.85 million New York City residents had mailed ballots in or voted in person as of 6 p.m., the city’s Board of Elections stated. That included 1,748,698 votes in person and more than 102,000 mail-in ballots.
That turnout is the highest since 1993, the New York Post reported, citing city data.
“Supposedly an unprecedented 2.2 million turnout with 60% above 45 years old,” wrote Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square. “I am going to be an optimist and say Andrew Cuomo is going to get the win.”
Cuomo, a former New York governor, is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Zohran Mamdani, an anti-Israel state representative who is the frontrunner in the race. Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, is the Republican nominee.
“I’m not a kid, but this is the most important election of my lifetime,” Cuomo told reporters, as he voted in Manhattan, the Post reported. “This is going to determine the future of New York. It may also determine the future of the Democratic Party.”
Mamdani, 34, who voted with his wife, Rama Duwaji, in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, said “New Yorkers are excited for a change.” The Democratic Socialist candidate “voted for himself on the Working Families Party’s ballot line, rather than the Democrat line,” the Post reported.
Polls in the city close at 9 p.m.
