NYC Mayoral Candidates

Zohran Mamdani:

CONTEXT: Zohran Mamdani, 34 years old, was raised in Uganda to Indian parents before moving to New York City at the age of seven. He went to the Bronx High School of Science, where he started the first cricket team. He later attended Bowdoin College, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Africana Studies and founded Bowdoin’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. After college, Mamdani became a foreclosure prevention housing counselor. Currently a New York Assembly member, Mamdani represents the 36th district in Queens. Mamdani has campaigned throughout his career on progressive social initiatives such as universal childcare, free city buses, city-owned grocery stores, and rent freezes for rent-stabilized apartments. Mamdani plans to support these initiatives by placing higher taxes on wealthy residents and businesses. He identifies as a Democratic Socialist.

NATIONAL POLICY: Mamdani has stated that he intends to counteract federal overreach and stop complying with President Trump’s policies which negatively affect New Yorkers, such as budget and infrastructure cuts. He also aims to work against the budget cuts Trump has made to vital services by taxing the one percent and wealthy corporations at higher rates. Furthermore, he has said that he will take legal action against Trump in the case of a National Guard deployment to New York.

IMMIGRATION: Mamdani’s platform emphasizes restoring New York’s status as a safe haven for immigrants. He plans to end cooperation with ICE and remove them from all city-owned and controlled facilities. He wants to survey city data platforms to ensure that undocumented New York residents’ data is private and protected. He would also invest $165 million in immigration legal defense services.

EDUCATION: 

Mamdani’s vision for the gifted and talented program starkly contrasts with the other two mayoral candidates. He is the only candidate who hopes to reduce mayoral control of the system. Among his top proposals have been the “Community to Classroom Initiative” that aims to increase the teacher to student ratio, the elimination of gifted and talented programs for children under five years, and subsidizing universal childcare to support low-income students in the system. Mamdani also maintains that the SHSAT should not be removed. 

HOUSING:

Zohran Mamdani’s housing policy is one of the main pillars of his affordability-centric campaign. He advocates for a tripling of affordable housing development – equivalent to around 200,000 new units – funded by the city rather than private developers. 

In response to New York’s Rent Guidelines Board hiking rent, one of Mamdani’s pivotal points has been to freeze the rent for all rent stabilized tenants. 

PUBLIC SAFETY:

Mamdani plans to reduce the role of the NYPD in non-criminal issues and create a new city agency called  The Department of Community Safety to prevent and control violent crime. He intends to eliminate the NYPD’s overtime budget and remove the Strategic Response Group, which currently regulates protests. His proposed Department of Community Safety has several objectives, many of which are focused on investing in mental health services. Mamdani intends to implement these through efforts such as sending teams of mental health professionals rather than police officers to handle certain emergencies.

TRANSPORTATION:

Mamdani’s transportation policy aims to make public transportation more accessible and reliable for all New Yorkers. His plan centers around making all public buses free, aiming to reduce prices for bus riders and to encourage more people to use public transportation. The other major focus of his plan is on making public transportation more efficient, which he aims to do by building more dedicated bus lanes throughout the city.

ENVIRONMENT: 

Mamdani’s plans for a greener New York City are very intertwined with the New York school system infrastructure: He plans to renovate 500 public schools in the city with renewable energy infrastructure and greener schoolyards. The intent of this policy is not only to create more sustainable and safe learning spaces, but also to create 15,000 union jobs and combat environmental racism. In the second mayoral debate, he also talked about his intent to focus on renewable energy and utility costs and his opposition to constructing new fossil fuel infrastructure in the city.

Andrew Cuomo:

CONTEXT: Andrew Cuomo, 67 years old, served as the 56th governor of New York for three terms from 2011 to when he resigned in 2021 due to allegations of sexual harassment and concerns about his handling of COVID-19. Cuomo was raised in Queens to an Italian-American family and is the son of the late Governor Mario Cuomo. He attended Fordham University and Albany Law School before running his father’s election campaign and later becoming a Manhattan district attorney. In 1986, he founded the Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged which led to his position as the Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Bill Clinton. He served as the 64th Attorney General of New York, and in both that position and as Governor oversaw infrastructure projects rebuilding New York’s airports, opening the Moynihan Train Hall, and expanding the Second Avenue Subway. He also implemented the $15 dollar minimum wage, codified Roe v. Wade into New York state law, and strengthened gun protection laws. Cuomo is running as an Independent candidate in this election after losing the June 2025 Democratic Primary. 

NATIONAL POLICY: 

Cuomo views President Trump’s ICE raids as an abuse of federal power and disagrees with the possible deployment of the National Guard to New York, and said he believes city matters, including immigration, should be left up to the NYPD. He would also push for more funding in the face of federal budget cuts and has said that he would not accept an endorsement from Trump, nor has he talked to him about his campaign.

IMMIGRATION: Cuomo has criticized Mayor Adams’s cooperation with ICE and proposes to have a task force of city attorneys, civil rights advocates, and former prosecutors to provide legal aid to ICE targets. He also plans to increase the presence of the NYPD at immigration protests to protect the right to peaceful demonstrations. He maintains that ICE has been acting in violation of the law and plans to use the NYPD and even the NY National Guard if necessary to protect the safety of undocumented residents.

EDUCATION: 

Cuomo has proposed a comprehensive 25-point education plan. For three and four year olds, he has proposed city-wide full day pre-K and 3-K, and the relocation of early childhood development services to within public schools. For middle and high-schoolers, he plans to expand pre-collegiate opportunities such as mentorship and internship programs, as well as work-based learning programs. To support teachers, he proposes teacher stipends and funding for the Reduced Class Size law. 

Similar to his fellow candidates, Cuomo has vowed to maintain the SHSAT. He has also announced his intent to double the amount of specialized high schools to expand opportunities for students.

HOUSING:

In the next 10 years, Cuomo plans to build or preserve

 housing units, the majority of which would be allocated to either low and moderate income New Yorkers. This would include $5 billion allocated for subsidizing affordable housing and reforms of pre-existing zoning laws. He has also championed what he calls “Zohran’s Law,” capping the income level at which prospective tenants will be restricted from renting out vacant rent-stabilized apartments.

PUBLIC SAFETY:

Cuomo intends to tackle crime primarily by expanding the NYPD. His public safety plan would increase the size of the police force by adding 5,000 officers and would aim to retain new officers through a $15,000 sign-on bonus. He also plans on increasing the role of the Strategic Response Group, which is deployed to increase police presence at large city events or in response to critical incidents, both by adding new officers to it and by increasing the area which it patrols. He also wants to enforce laws concerning public intoxication.

TRANSPORTATION:

Cuomo plans to reduce transportation prices by increasing awareness of the Fair Fares program, which offers low-income New Yorkers a 50 percent discount on public transportation. He also intends to continue many transportation projects that have been stalled, such as the building of the Second Avenue Subway and projects to modernize signals, which he intends to do by creating an independent Construction Management Team reporting to him.

ENVIRONMENT:

Cuomo plans to improve composting by creating clearer guidelines and incentives for landlords and owners. Additionally, he aims to amend scaffolding regulations to allow for safer and more attractive temporary building infrastructure, as well as to lessen the length of time scaffolding is permitted to stay in place.

Curtis Sliwa:

CONTEXT: Curtis Sliwa, 71 years old, was born in Brooklyn to a Polish and Italian family. At 14, he started a recycling center in Brooklyn to recycle old newspapers, cans, and bottles. In 1978, while working as a McDonald’s manager in the Bronx, Sliwa formed the “Rock Brigade,” a clean-up crew dedicated to making the local community safer. This organization evolved into the “Magnificent 13,” a group devoted to patrolling Central Park as well as the subway system at night in response to New York removing the NYPD from late-night train patrol. It was later renamed the “Guardian Angels,” an integral part of Sliwa’s image and policy focus. He hosted a talk show on WABC-AM for three decades, declaring only on October 22nd his intent to leave the broadcast company after pressure from the radio studio to drop out of the mayoral race. This is Sliwa’s second time running for Mayor after also running unsuccessfully in 2021. He identifies as a populist Republican and does not affiliate himself with the MAGA movement.

NATIONAL POLICY: Sliwa opposes the deployment of the National Guard to New York but agrees with their dispatchment in D.C. and Chicago. He does not associate himself with Trump or with the MAGA group of the Republican party, but would accept an endorsement if given.

IMMIGRATION: 

Sliwa is in support of New York’s sanctuary laws, which prevent local law enforcement from working with ICE, but also asserts that the laws must be changed to not shield violent offenders. Sliwa asserts that he believes this will create a balance of compassion and safety for New York residents.

EDUCATION: 

Sliwa has continually criticized the Department of Education's “bloated,” overspending bureaucracy, and has proposed the appointment of an independent auditor to slash more than $10 billion, approximately 32% of the department’s current spending. He has also said that in the face of federal budget cuts, he would most likely dismantle the Department of Education if necessary. He has advocated for an expansion of the city’s gifted and talented program, restoring screening for middle and high schools, and preserving the SHSAT. Sliwa also believes in expanding opportunities in the arts, vocational education, and services for students with special needs. Uniquely, Sliwa is opposed to mandating vaccination for the city’s public school students, citing the detrimental educational impact of students being kept out of school if unvaccinated.

HOUSING:

Sliwa’s proposal to solve New York City’s housing crisis is vastly different from his opponents. He calls for the conversion of commercial spaces, such as vacant office buildings, into affordable residential housing. He also vows to return power to local communities by giving them control over zoning, reforming regulations to incentivize the restoration of unoccupied affordable housing, and repealing laws that make maintaining these properties difficult (e.g. squatter protection laws and bans on the right to screen tenants).

PUBLIC SAFETY:

Sliwa’s public safety plan focuses on increasing the NYPD’s presence. He plans on hiring 7,000 new officers and reinstating the NYPD Anti-Crime Unit, which was disbanded in 2020. He also plans on expanding the role of the NYPD in public transportation by deploying more police officers on subways and station platforms.

TRANSPORTATION:

Sliwa firmly opposes congestion pricing and plans on giving all New York families impacted by it a rebate of up to $500. His transportation plan mainly focuses on reducing crimes such as fare evasion, loitering, and harassment in the subways through an increased NYPD presence in public transportation. Through this, he also hopes to reduce fare evasion.

ENVIRONMENT:

Sliwa plans to expand sanitation services throughout the city and provide free residential trash cans as well as more public ones throughout the city. He also wants to launch a Quality of Life task force to identify issues affecting residents in different parts of the city. He further plans to more strictly enforce punishments for littering, graffiti, noise pollution, and other environmental issues. He also plans to increase funding for pest control services to curb New York’s rat problem.