I have to say that from the outside looking in, the New York City mayoral race has given me a sense of hopelessness about the Big Apple.
Though the race is far from over, Democrat Socialist Zohran Mamdani appears to be in the driver's seat, with the vast majority of post-primary polls showing him comfortably ahead by double digits over his closest competitor, disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running on the "Fight and Deliver" political party ticket he formed back in May.
According to some of the polls, the only way the race gets competitive between the top two, with Cuomo having a shot at winning, is if one or more of the other candidates drop out. The most recent poll, for instance, indicates Cuomo would have the upper hand against Mamdani if it were just a two-man race:
According to the poll by Tulchin Research, if all candidates remain in the race, Mamdani still has the lead with 42%, followed by Cuomo with 26%, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa with 17%, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams with 9% and independent candidate Jim Walden with 3%.
The tantalizing question is, what would happen if Adams, Sliwa and Walden dropped out, leaving Cuomo and Mamdani in a two-person race?
The poll says if they went at it mano a mano, Cuomo would beat Mamdani, 52% to 41%
SEE ALSO -->> Never Forget: Zohran Mamdani's Statements on Murdered NYPD Officer Have People Seeing Red
How did it get this way? While I'm not an expert on New York City politics, I can recognize rats when I see them, and that's what it looks like to me when I see Mamdani and Cuomo bickering back and forth through media interviews and social media clips.
I watched this clip earlier today, and it reminded me of Mamdani and Cuomo:
Dueling rats show off their ninja skills on NYC subway platform pic.twitter.com/0R05pnfy4C
— New York Post (@nypost) August 30, 2025
When you think about it, it's funny in a weird way. I mean, Eric Adams spent a good chunk of his time as mayor trying to come up with ways to combat the NYC rat problem. And yet he continues to have a poor success rate as he competes against two people whom some residents and political observers view as the biggest ones, with Adams trailing badly in nearly every poll.
FLASHBACK: New York City Rat Problem So Bad Now They're a Tourist Attraction
I mean, the man to whom Chelsea Handler once wrote a love letter in the early days of the COVID pandemic has made some fair points about Mamdani's antisemitism, socialism, and phony "man of the people" schtick despite the New York assemblyman's privileged background.
But Cuomo himself has enough baggage to fill at least one of those large moving trucks you frequently see fleeing New York state for greener pastures, so he's hardly in a position to hold any moral high ground in the race.
So where does NYC go from here? It's anyone's guess, as voters will have the final say in November. But one thing that's for sure is that while there will be a lot more handshaking and baby kissing, residents have been put on notice to watch out for the rats that are attempting to raid baby carriages - the actual rats, that is.
NYC’s Central Park playground overrun by brazen rats who even raid baby carriages: parents https://t.co/cpCTGgeSJQ pic.twitter.com/DkpFIjfQiZ
— New York Post (@nypost) August 30, 2025
Have a great Labor Day holiday weekend, y'all.
Editor’s Note: Zohran Mamdani is an avowed Democratic Socialist and has a real chance to become the next mayor of New York City.
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