New Yorkers headed to the polls on Tuesday to decide the outcome of an election in which debates over antisemitism and Israel have taken center stage and which has laid bare a generational and ideological divide across the US and its largest city.

State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a far-left, anti-Israel candidate who won the Democratic primary earlier this year, faces former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a centrist running as an independent, and perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, who is running a distant third.

Mamdani, 34, is leading by a comfortable margin in the polls. A victory for him would give the city its first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in generations, while elevating the democratic socialist to political stardom. A Mamdani win would also give his brand of economic populism and pro-Palestinian activism one of the most visible political perches in America.

If Cuomo, 67, defies expectations and ends up on top, he will have staged a remarkable political comeback four years after resigning as governor over a barrage of allegations of sexual harassment and mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic. He also lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June. Throughout the campaign, including in its waning days, Cuomo has echoed warnings that a Mamdani mayoralty would pose a danger to Jewish New Yorkers and the city as a whole.

Mamdani, a longtime harsh critic of Israel, has prompted concern from Jewish leaders and organizations in New York City and beyond. Hundreds of rabbis signed a letter decrying Mamdani’s defense of the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” which he has since said he would “discourage”; his refusal to support Israel’s existence as a Jewish state; and his repeated accusations against Israel of genocide in Gaza. Mamdani has also vowed to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York.

On Tuesday, as voting was underway, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” Trump, a Republican, endorsed Cuomo in a last-ditch anti-Mamdani effort on Monday and urged voters against supporting Sliwa.

Mamdani has acknowledged that many Jews disagree with his stances on Israel, and has vowed to fight antisemitism as mayor. Left-wing Jewish groups in New York have come out in support of him. Polls show that Cuomo is leading among the city’s million Jews, while Mamdani has drawn some Jewish support as well.

In his endorsement of Cuomo, Trump threatened to withhold federal funds to the city in the event of a victory by Mamdani, whom he called a “communist.” Trump has also threatened to take over the city if Mamdani wins, as well as arrest and deport the state Assembly member, who was born in Uganda but is a US citizen.

Mamdani, whose campaign has focused on affordability in one of the country’s most expensive cities, energized progressives to score a surprise primary victory in June over the once-powerful former governor.

This time, Cuomo is counting on support from moderates and Republicans to win. And he’s hoping incumbent Mayor Eric Adams’ late exit from the race, and eventual endorsement, will give him a boost among their overlapping bases of centrists, Black voters and Haredi Jews. He’s also received the endorsement of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who donated $1.5 million to a super PAC supporting Cuomo in the final days of the contest.

Mamdani has sought the support of Jewish New Yorkers as well, and received an endorsement from leading Satmar Hasidic figure Moishe Indig this week.

In addition, on Monday, he drew praise from an Israeli political party, the mostly Arab, far-left Hadash-Ta’al. The party’s chair, Ayman Odeh, said in a video that the likely election of a Muslim mayor 24 years after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks shows that “there is something truly remarkable about human nature, that it [is] ready to accept changes.”

“We wish success to Zohran Mamdani, a worthy man of moral values and a leftist in every sense,” Odeh said.

Mamdani has generated national buzz and won endorsements from big-name progressives, including US Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. He has promised to raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers and use the money to make city buses free and provide free, universal child care. He has also promised to freeze rent for people living in about 1 million rent-regulated apartments.

At the same time, Mamdani’s past criticism of the city’s police department and present condemnation of Israel have unnerved some centrists who see him as a potential setback in their effort to broaden the party’s national appeal.

Recently, a , “When the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.” Reform Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, one of the US’s most prominent Jewish leaders who heads a large New York City synagogue, said the remark “crosses the line clearly into antisemitism.”

While Mamdani has distanced himself from some of his past rhetoric, some top New York Democrats remain concerned and have either been slow to endorse him or outright refused to, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, who is Jewish.

Tuesday’s general election is being conducted as a traditional one, meaning the candidate who gets the most votes wins. The city’s party primaries were determined using ranked choice voting, which allowed voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

Trump and other Republicans have eagerly painted a dire picture of New York under Mamdani’s potential leadership.

Cuomo, 67, has carried a similar message. Running on an independent party line, he has positioned himself as a seasoned executive capable of managing the city’s vast bureaucracy, drawing a contrast with Mamdani’s relative inexperience.

Cuomo’s experience as governor is perhaps also his biggest vulnerability.

He resigned in 2021 following a report from the attorney general that concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women. Some of the women complained about unwanted touches, flirting, kisses and suggestive comments. One aide filed a police report accusing him of groping her breast, though a district attorney declined to prosecute.

Cuomo initially apologized for some of his behavior, saying he had fallen out of step with what is considered appropriate workplace conduct. However, in recent months, he has been defiant — calling his accusers liars and blaming his downfall on political adversaries.

He has also rejected criticism of his conduct in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, when New York saw a particularly high death rate.