Category World News

In the New York City mayoral race, a young immigrant who identifies as a democratic socialist is taking on a centrist former governor from a political dynasty.

With state legislator Zohran Mamdani and ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo leading the race, the New York Democratic primary is seen as a reflection of the battle between progressive activists and the conservative old guard of the United States Democratic Party.

The Democratic candidates will meet for a debate on Wednesday night, ahead of the primary vote on June 24.

Missing from the stage will be incumbent Eric Adams who was elected as a Democrat four years ago. The current mayor is running for re-election as an independent amid dwindling popularity.

Here is a look at the elections in the Big Apple and what it could mean for the city and the country.

Why are the primaries important?

New York City is solidly Democratic, so the party’s nominee is likely to cruise to victory in November.

In 2021, then-Democratic candidate Eric Adams beat Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, by nearly 40 percentage points. Adams has since garnered a national profile.

What’s at stake?

The next mayor will be the executive of the largest city in the United States – tackling numerous issues and pressing challenges, including housing, cost of living, congestion and public transport.

The implications for New Yorkers are obvious, but the outcome of the race will also affect the nearly 65 million people who visit the city every year.

New York is a major financial and cultural hub, not just for the US but for the entire world.

Politically, the primary race could serve as a bellwether for the Democratic Party and the electoral viability of left-wing candidates ahead of the congressional midterm elections next year and the presidential vote two years later.

The job comes with a national profile. The last three New York mayors ran for president.

Who are the frontrunners?

In the Democratic primaries, the two frontrunners are Cuomo, 67, and Mamdani, 33.

The son of a former governor, Cuomo has an extensive resume. He served as the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and New York attorney general before becoming the state’s governor in 2011.

He resigned in 2021 after a sexual harassment scandal and is now staging what was once thought to be an unlikely political comeback, rebuilding alliances with politicians who called on him to step down a few years ago.

He is running a campaign focused on improving the management of the city, addressing mental health issues and “combating anti-Semitism”.

If Cuomo is the ultimate insider, Mamdani is his foil as a political insurgent.

Born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent, Mamdani, who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists for America (DSA), has been serving in the state assembly since 2021.

He is running on a progressive platform that includes freezing rent, eliminating fees for public buses and establishing affordable, city-owned grocery stores.

Mamdani’s rise in the polls has been fuelled by small donors and an “army” of left-wing volunteers.

Who else is running?

Also running on the Democratic side are city comptroller Brad Lander; New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams; former comptroller Scott Stringer; State Senator Jessica Ramos; State Senator Zellnor Myrie; Michael Blake, a political consultant and former state legislator; and Whitney Tilson, an investor.

Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is running as an independent after the scandals and investigations that have plagued his tenure.

Conservative activist Curtis Sliwa is the sole Republican in the race.

What are the key dates?

The first Democratic debate will take place on June 4, and the second and final one is set to take place on June 12. Early voting starts on June 14, and the primary election is on June 24.

The general election will be on November 4.

What is ranked choice voting?

In local elections in New York City, one can vote for as many as five candidates at once with the ranked-choice system.

Here’s how it works: Voters choose their candidates in order of favourability. In the first round of counting, the top choice votes are tallied. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent, more counting ensues with the bottom candidate removed.

With each new round, the votes of the eliminated candidate are counted by the next choice on the ballot.

What do the polls say?

Cuomo is leading the race, according to most surveys. An Emerson College poll last week showed the former governor with 35.1 percent support as a first choice – ahead of Mamdani with 22.7 and Lander with 10.5.

Mamdani may appear like a distant second, but his rise in the race has been stunning. He was polling at 1 percent in February, according to an Emerson survey.

The democratic socialist lawmaker does have a path to victory – consolidating the anti-Cuomo vote in the later rounds of counting.

Why has Israel-Palestine been a key issue in the race?

The next New York City mayor will not be deciding how much military aid Israel gets or how the US will vote on United Nations Security Council proposals calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Yet, the conflict in the Middle East has been a factor in the local elections.

Mamdani has been an outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights. He participated in a hunger strike outside the White House in November 2023 to demand an end to the war on Gaza.

His positions have sparked outrage from Israel’s backers. Although Mamdani is a citizen, Republican New York City Council member Vickie Paladino called for his deportation on Monday.

Paladino later doubled down in response to the outrage over her statement, claiming that Mamdani would not have been eligible for citizenship under the current regulations due to his involvement in pro-Palestine groups.

For his part, Cuomo has positioned himself as Israel’s top defender, accusing several of his opponents – not just Mamdani – of being too critical of the US ally.

“It’s very simple: anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism,” he said in April.

Fix the City, a pro-Cuomo political group, has received large donations from pro-Israel donors, including $250,000 from billionaire Bill Ackman, according to New York’s Campaign Finance Board.

New York City – home to Columbia University – has seen waves of protests against US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 54,600 Palestinians.

As a result of Israeli strikes across the enclave and crippling aid restrictions, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours as a result of a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

On Wednesday, the only US member of the council voted in favor of the proposal, with 14 other members also voting in favor.

Washington called for the release of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza, but the resolution also demanded that the release of captives be done without making any other demands.

Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea made painfully clear her country’s opposition to the resolution, which 10 of the 15-member council had put forward before the voting began, saying it “should come as no surprise.”

She told the council, “The United States has made the very clear position that Israel has the right to defend itself, including ensuring that Hamas are never again in a position to threaten Israel,” since the conflict started.

Israel’s actions “crossed every red line” of international humanitarian law, according to China’s ambassador Fu Cong, and seriously violated UN resolutions. However, one nation has shielded these violations from the public and prevented them.

Marwan Bishara, a senior political analyst for Al Jazeera, said that the US veto makes it “so isolated.”

There are “so many countries” who are competing against the US at the UNSC, it’s obvious. Israel is defending its occupation and siege in Gaza, Bishara continued, “Israel is only trying to block this converging and rising current against Israel and what it’s doing in Gaza.”

“Open the crossings,” please.

Israel has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional or permanent ceasefire, insisting Hamas cannot continue to rule Gaza and remain in power. It has intensified its military assault on Gaza, killing and injuring thousands more Palestinians, and putting a brutal blockade there, allowing only a small amount of tightly controlled aid to enter areas where a famine is expected.

Health officials in Gaza claim that at least 95 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday and that more than 440 were hurt.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that there has been a blatant upsurge in attacks. He claimed that Israeli attacks were ongoing throughout the entire territory and in central Gaza.

Israel’s military issued a warning to Palestinians who were battling to get to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), warning that the areas would be “considered combat zones” while the organization halted aid for a full day.

Since the GHF began operating on May 27, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured as a result of Israeli forces firing at aid seekers several times.

Witnesses claimed that Israeli soldiers opened fire on the crowded streets on Tuesday as they waited for food. Global outcry has been fueled by images of starving Palestinians frantically searching for paltry aid packages before being shot and then being herded into the air.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military admitted shooting at aid workers, but claimed to have opened fire when “suspects” deviated from a predetermined direction.

Reem al-Akhras’ family, who was killed in a mass shooting in Israel on Tuesday, mourned her passing at a hospital in southern Gaza.

Her son Zain Zidan, who was teary-eyed, said, “She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened.” Her husband, Mohamed Zidan, claimed that “every day, unarmed people are being killed.” This is a trap, not humanitarian aid.

Rights groups and the UN have voiced widespread criticism for the new aid distribution system, which only operates on three websites right now. Additionally, they claim that aid is militarized by the aid model, which employs private US security and logistics workers.

UN aid director Tom Fletcher once more urged the UN and aid organizations to be allowed to aid people in Gaza, stating that they had a plan, resources, and experience.

“Open the crossings, everyone,” Lifesaving aid should be available at a scale in all directions. Reduce the restrictions on how much money we can receive. Fletcher said in a statement, “Make sure our convoys aren’t delayed by delays and denials.”

The UN has long blamed Israel and the country’s impunity for preventing aid from being delivered and distributed in Gaza. The World Food Programme claims that there is no proof to support Hamas’ claim that it stole aid, which Israel vehemently refutes.

James Elder, a spokesman for UNICEF in Gaza, described the “horrors” he witnessed in less than 24 hours. Elder told Al Jazeera that the streets and hospitals in Gaza are full of malnourished children when he spoke from al-Mawasi. He noted that children were pleading for food and that he was seeing teenage boys showing me their ribs.

Since the conflict started in October 2023, the UNSC has approved four resolutions related to Gaza. The first vote on Wednesday since November 20, 2024.

After the majority of the rest were released under previous brief-lived ceasefire agreements or other agreements, Hamas is still holding 58 captives, with one-third of them thought to be still alive.