New Yorkers began voting early on Saturday morning, Oct. 24, and by Saturday afternoon the governor’s race had got what it lacked all fall: a picture everyone could agree on and argue about. It was the mayor of New York holding a box of doughnuts.
Zohran Mamdani voted at about 10 a.m. on October 24 at his polling site at the Met, the New York Post reported. He brought Dunkin’ for the poll workers. Then he told reporters how he had voted, which is not quite the same as whom he voted for.
“I was excited to just vote for Gov. Hochul [on] the Working Families Party line,” the mayor said. He also said he voted yes on all five ballot proposals. A heckler shouted, and the mayor shrugged it off: “I was only called a communist once.”
That last line was meant to be breezy. Coming from the man whom Bruce Blakeman has made the centerpiece of his campaign for governor, it was also a bit of a scouting report.
Two Lines, One Candidate
New York lets candidates run on more than one party line. The votes all go to the same person, but the parties keep track of where they came from. A vote for Kathy Hochul on the Working Families Party line counts the same as one on the Democratic line in the governor’s race. It also tells the WFP, the mayor’s political home, how many voters it can claim the next time it sits down to negotiate in Albany.
The governor has decided not to mind. Asked about the mayor’s choice, Hochul said it was “OK by me, as long as they vote,” City & State’s Rebecca C. Lewis reported on Sunday. Hochul cast her own ballot at home in Buffalo.
Then she spent much of the weekend with the mayor in tow. The two appeared together at McCarren Park in Williamsburg on Friday, on the eve of early voting. On Sunday they went to a labor canvass at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights with the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, the Teamsters, DC 37 and the Laborers.
“I cannot think of a better partner than our mayor, Zohran Mamdani,” Hochul said, according to City & State. Mamdani returned the favor: “The choice is simple for me and for every New York.”
Ten months ago, a moderate governor from Buffalo and a democratic socialist mayor from Astoria were not obvious running mates. Now they are touring union halls together, and both of them seem to have decided the arrangement helps.
The Blakeman Blitz
Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive and Republican nominee, has been making the opposite bet. He spent the weekend on what City & State called a “three-borough rally blitz” through Staten Island, south Brooklyn and Flushing. Those are the neighborhoods where a Republican running statewide has to roll up big numbers inside the city.
His message was the mayor. Blakeman called Mamdani a “communist,” “un-American” and an “antisemite,” City & State reported. He also had some fun with the joint appearances. “Even Zohran Mamdani can’t stand to be with her for more than 15 minutes,” he said of the governor. At a rally in Rockland County, he made Hochul an offer: “Please take (Mamdani) everywhere you go, Kathy.” He called her “nothing more than his puppet.”
Supporters of the mayor call this kind of language beyond the pale. Blakeman’s supporters say he is only saying out loud what many suburban and outer-borough voters say at home. Election Day, today, will tell which side read the electorate better.
The Post, for its part, endorsed Blakeman for governor, along with Saritha Komatireddy for attorney general and Representative Mike Lawler. Few readers will have been surprised.
The Numbers So Far
Turnout, at least, is not in dispute. The Post reported 86,215 early votes in the city on the first day, against 79,409 on the first day of early voting in 2025, the year Mamdani was elected. Through the first two days, City & State reported, the city had recorded more than 165,000 early votes, compared with 97,155 over the same period in 2022, the last time the governorship was on the ballot.
Both sides can read what they like into the turnout. A big early vote in the city is what Hochul needs. But in recent New York elections Republicans have been more likely than Democrats to wait for Election Day, so early numbers tend to flatter Democrats. Early votes in New York are not counted until the polls close on Election Day, so neither side can prove its case yet.
The public polling is steadier. A Quinnipiac University poll released October 21 had Hochul ahead 55 percent to 41 percent among likely voters. Blakeman led among independents, 51 to 44, and the two were essentially tied among men, 49 to 48. Voters were split on the governor, with 45 percent viewing her favorably and 46 percent unfavorably. Blakeman’s numbers were 36 favorable and 40 unfavorable, and 23 percent said they had not heard enough about him. Even after a long campaign, that is a lot of voters who have not made up their minds about him.
Asked about the most urgent issue facing the state, 22 percent of voters named the cost of living, 19 percent the economy and 13 percent immigration. Voters were also split on the mayor: 43 percent favorable, 42 percent unfavorable. Quinnipiac’s Mary Snow called Blakeman’s path “an uphill battle.” The poll surveyed 1,167 likely voters from October 15 to 19, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 points. A Siena poll in September had the race at 50 to 41, so the Quinnipiac number shows a wider Hochul lead but is in the same territory.
Those numbers explain both campaigns’ choices. Hochul leads by double digits and can afford to show up with a mayor whose ratings are evenly split. Blakeman trails and needs to win independents by more than he does now. Making the mayor the issue is his best way to do that.
Down the Ballot, and Down the Week
The governor’s race is not the only statewide contest. Attorney General Letitia James faces Komatireddy, and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli faces Republican Joseph Hernandez. Hochul is expected to campaign with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in the final days of the race, Politico reported on Sunday, Oct. 25.
Early voting ran from Saturday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Nov. 1. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Voters can look up their Election Day site, which may differ from their early voting site, at the city Board of Elections.
The doughnuts, for the record, were for the poll workers. They are on duty again today, and voters can show up for them with whatever box they like.
Featured image: A multilingual “Vote Here” sign outside a New York City polling site. Photo by Oleg Yunakov via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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