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New York City’s candidates for mayor fanned out across the city on Sunday, delivering closing messages at churches and rallies and urging supporters to cast their ballots on the last day of early voting. Polls are now closed, but will be open again on Tuesday, Election Day, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and front-runner, and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running as an independent, started their days with appeals to Black voters on separate calls with a morning radio show. Just before noon, Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, campaigned through Brighton Beach, his second stop of the day in Brooklyn.
“It’s so important to vote, even if you don’t vote for me,” Mr. Sliwa said.
All three candidates had packed schedules and were contending with masses of people running in another contest: the New York City Marathon. They briefly intersected on Sunday afternoon, when Mr. Mamdani, who ran in the event in 2022 and 2024, cheered on runners during a campaign stop in Greenpoint in Brooklyn. Along the marathon route, some spectators held up signs that referenced the candidates and campaigns. Also on Sunday, Mr. Mamdani accepted the endorsement of a Satmar Hasidic political leader in Williamsburg, while three other leaders from the same group said they would support Mr. Cuomo.
About 735,000 voters submitted early ballots, far more than were cast at the same point in the last mayoral race four years ago. On Sunday alone, the last day of early voting, about 151,000 people voted, the most of any day since the polls opened.
Though voting behavior has shifted in recent years, the large turnout reflected New Yorkers’ heightened interest in the race, in which Mr. Mamdani emerged as the front-runner after his shock win over Mr. Cuomo in the June Democratic primary. In recent weeks, Mr. Cuomo has sought to cast his opponent as a radical democratic socialist who is out of step with Democratic voters.
Mr. Cuomo delivered that same message on Sunday. In interviews on WBLS-FM and later on Fox News, Mr. Cuomo said that Mr. Mamdani lacked the experience and skills to implement his campaign promises. On MSNBC, Mr. Mamdani said that Mr. Cuomo had turned his campaign into one of hate and division because “the only thing he has cared about — power — is slipping away from him.”
Later on Sunday, both candidates addressed church congregations. Mr. Mamdani spoke at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, then joined about 100 campaign volunteers gathered nearby for a last-minute get-out-the-vote effort in the neighborhood. They joined a network of 6,700 Mamdani volunteers across the city who were aiming to knock on more than 200,000 doors on Sunday, which would set a campaign record for most doors knocked in a day.
Mr. Cuomo went to two churches in the Bronx and met with a handful of voters at a cafe on Arthur Avenue.
Here’s what else to know:
Obama and Mamdani: Mr. Mamdani spoke Saturday by phone with former President Barack Obama, who did not endorse him but praised his campaign and offered to help going forward.
The experience conundrum: For Mr. Mamdani, who turned 34 on Oct. 18, youth has been an advantage with many voters hungry for fresh leaders to run the city. At the same time, some voters expressed concern about Mr. Mamdani’s ability to navigate the complex role without more political experience.
Democratic divisions: Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, told CNN that he did not think Zohran Mamdani would be the future of the Democratic Party. But Gov. Kathy Hochul took a different tone. “I don’t think we can stand here today and say what the future of the party is,” Ms. Hochul said, standing next to Mr. Mamdani outside a bar in Astoria, Queens. “This is the party right now.”
Islamophobia in the race: The campaign’s final weeks have brought a wave of attacks on Mr. Mamdani’s ethnicity and Islamic faith from his rivals and their allies. Muslim voters have been watching his ascent with pride but also trepidation, saying in interviews they are worried for his safety.
How to vote: Sunday was the last day to vote early. Polls closed at 5 p.m., and there is no voting on Monday. Your early-voting place this weekend may be different from your polling station on Election Day. You can check either address here.
Wesley Parnell and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
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