Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for New York mayor, at a rally in New York, November 3, 2025.
It is only a mayoral election, and yet the vote set for Tuesday, November 4, in New York has taken on outsized importance in the United States and beyond. The rise of Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and self-declared socialist aiming to take City Hall, has become the country’s most closely watched political drama for several days. The stakes are so high that Donald Trump, after months of wavering and half-hearted statements, decided to fully throw his weight behind an effort to defeat the race’s frontrunner.
Read more Subscribers only Zohran Mamdani leads New York mayoral race, rattling Democratic establishment
The president posted an unambiguous message on his social media platform on Monday night, urging residents of his native city to vote for Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat’s main opponent. “If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” he wrote.
The threat of retaliation was unmistakable and echoed a warning he had made to Argentinians. Just before the country’s legislative elections in late October, he had warned that the US would withdraw financial support from Buenos Aires if voters ousted his ally Javier Milei at the polls. The far-right libertarian Argentine president ultimately won. Will the prospect of financial punishment influence New Yorkers’ votes?
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