New Yorkers headed to the polls on Tuesday to decide the outcome of an election in which debates over antisemitism and Israel have taken center stage and which has laid bare a generational and ideological divide across the US and its largest city.

State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a far-left, anti-Israel candidate who won the Democratic primary earlier this year, faces former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a centrist running as an independent, and perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, who is running a distant third.

Mamdani, 34, is leading by a comfortable margin in the polls. A victory for him would give the city its first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in generations, while elevating the democratic socialist to political stardom. A Mamdani win would also give his brand of economic populism and pro-Palestinian activism one of the most visible political perches in America.

If Cuomo, 67, defies expectations and ends up on top, he will have staged a remarkable political comeback four years after resigning as governor over a barrage of allegations of sexual harassment and mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic. He also lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June. Throughout the campaign, including in its waning days, Cuomo has echoed warnings that a Mamdani mayoralty would pose a danger to Jewish New Yorkers and the city as a whole.

Mamdani, a longtime harsh critic of Israel, has prompted concern from Jewish leaders and organizations in New York City and beyond. Hundreds of rabbis signed a letter decrying Mamdani’s defense of the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” which he has since said he would “discourage”; his refusal to support Israel’s existence as a Jewish state; and his repeated accusations against Israel of genocide in Gaza. Mamdani has also vowed to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York.

On Tuesday, as voting was underway, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” Trump, a Republican, endorsed Cuomo in a last-ditch anti-Mamdani effort on Monday and urged voters against........

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