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For one of the last episodes of the Hell Gate Podcast before the November election, only one special guest will do: Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
On Friday, October 24, just over a week before Election Day, we'll be sitting down with Mamdani for an hour of conversation in front of a live audience at the Museum of the Moving Image. We'll talk with the candidate about his journey from obscure state lawmaker to internationally known socialist savior of the Democratic Party, how he'd deliver on his campaign promises as mayor, and a bunch of other trenchant and amusing topics we don't want to give his team any hints about in this promotional copy.
Have a question you want us to ask him? Hit us up at tips@hellgatenyc.com
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We'll be posting the special podcast episode shortly after the event.
State of the Race in 30 Seconds
Andrew Cuomo has begun to close the gap with Zohran Mamdani, according to a Quinnipiac poll released last Thursday. The first poll conducted after Mayor Eric Adams dropped his reelection effort, it shows that Zohran Mamdani is still handily the favorite, with a strong lead of 46 percent among likely voters, compared to Andrew Cuomo's 33 percent and Curtis Sliwa's 15 percent. (The poll did not include Eric Adams as a choice for respondents, though his name will still appear on voters' ballots.) Does this mean that Cuomo has Cuo-mentum? Not exactly, according to election analyst Michael Lange, who told us, "The headline is that Cuomo takes Eric Adams's support, but it's still not close to enough to come within striking distance of Mamdani." What would finally change the math for Cuomo? Probably Sliwa dropping out of the race, but it continues to appear that he has absolutely no interest in doing so. He's clearly having too much fun! With three weeks left until Election Day, and just eleven days until early voting kicks off, Mamdani remains in the driver's seat. The first of two general election mayoral debates is on Thursday night at 7 p.m. You'll be able to stream it on NBC 4 New York.
The Mamdani Coalition Expands
In the run-up to the general election, the Zohran Mamdani coalition looks different than it did during the primary. Thanks to the addition of a slew of establishment Democrats, it's much bigger, and it appears to be pretty lockstep in messaging, as Democrats nationally start grasping the value of speaking the language of "affordability."
On Monday night, Mamdani took the stage at the United Palace theater in Washington Heights, standing next to Congressmember Adriano Espaillat and Attorney General Letitia James for a rally the campaign dubbed "Our Time Has Come." The two-hour event was notable for some big name campaign surrogates, like James and Espaillat, but also for the general tenor of the event itself—triumphant and already looking to governing. In short, everyone was feeling themselves, including New York Liberty player Natasha Cloud, who at one point led the crowd in chants of "free Palestine."
The theme of the evening? It's time to either get in the coalition, or be left behind.