Election Day Dispatches: How New Yorkers Say They’re Voting And Why

This vote season has been defined by debate over how to address the city s escalating affordability emergency especially in the face of federal funding cuts A polling station at NYCHA s Gunhill Houses in the Bronx Tuesday November Adi Talwar City Limits More than a million New Yorkers cast their ballots in the general electoral contest Tuesday as the race for the city s next mayor which has drawn attention across the country and spurred debate across the five boroughs comes to a close By p m more than million people had already turned up at the polls surpassing the total number of voters in the general balloting that put outgoing Mayor Eric Adams in office This vote season has been defined by debate over how to address the city s escalating affordability dilemma especially in the face of federal funding cuts to housing programs citizens benefits and other local services function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' I came to Brooklyn in the mid- s and lived in a two-bedroom that was That same unit is now a month For that shoebox explained Bushwick voter Mar a Pag n Whoever comes to office demands to regulate these prices Each of the mayoral candidates former Gov Andrew Cuomo running as an independent Democratic nominee and State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and Republican Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa have laid out diverging plans to address those problems On the candidates Pag n voted for Mamdani a democratic socialist from Queens who handily won the Democratic primary in June on a platform that calls for free bus system annual rent freezes for tenants in stabilized apartments and free childcare for kids under I really feel if Zohran wins he will win but when he wins it ll change stuff for real noted Mohamed Chaya a resident of Morrisania in the Bronx whose friends have canvassed for the candidate His immigrant parents got him and his sister into politics really young Chaya announced though the generations are somewhat split in this year s race he and his father agree to disagree about Mamdani and whether plans like a rent freeze are achievable RELATED READING New Yorkers Weigh In On Housing Ballot Measures He s been here for almost years now struggling trying to make ends meet so coming from him he finds it impossible And I feel like that causes a big disconnect Chaya mentioned The younger people like me my sister we think you should give it a chance You can t knock it until you try it How worse can things get But others remain skeptical The rent freeze is garbage explained Ben a -year-old Morrisania resident who did not want to share his last name You gotta understand somebody has to pay whether it be now or later A polling station at NYCHA s Gunhill Houses in the Bronx Tuesday November Adi Talwar City Limits Mamdani s competitors have also sought to cast the assemblymember s plans as unrealistic Both Cuomo and Sliwa have accused him of being too inexperienced for the mayoralty Mamdani not long ago turned and too far left Sliwa an animal rights advocate with a colorful history best known for his subway patrols in the s pledged to restore law and order and advocate for outer borough neighborhoods including by repealing Mayor Adams City of Yes housing plan Cuomo s campaign has touted the former governor as the the majority experienced manager in the race citing his decade at the helm in Albany and past work in the Clinton administration The message resonated with various voters Cuomo knows what he s doing explained Floyd Monroe a defense worker and tenant at NYCHA s Brevoort Houses Can t leave the city to someone so inexperienced he revealed But for others Cuomo s experience is what turned them off The former governor weathered several scandals during his time in office and resigned in amid accusations of sexual harassment by multiple women who d worked with him Cuomo has denied the claims You already know how bad he is You already know that he s not for us he s for everybody else Brooklyn voter Andre Sanchez described City Limits He stated he s watched both Cuomo and Sliwa in the city s population life for decades now I ve seen what they ve done already and voted for Mamdani because he s he s fresh At least he s new Sanchez declared I m going to give him a shot because I m tired of the nonsense and I d rather have somebody else try to do something This is a advancing story Check back for updates The post Vote Day Dispatches How New Yorkers Say They re Voting And Why appeared first on City Limits