In the New York City mayoral race, tech mogul Elon Musk has thrown his weight behind a candidate, while simultaneously assigning a Trump-style moniker to far-left contender Zohran Mamdani.
As reported by the Western Journal, New York City's electorate is set to cast their votes on Tuesday, with Mamdani leading the polls. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, seeking redemption following his loss in June's Democratic primary, is also in the running.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams has withdrawn from the race in an attempt to thwart Mamdani's progress, a move that Republican Curtis Sliwa has refused to emulate.
In this political landscape, Musk has taken to social media to deride Mamdani as "Mumdumi," urging voters to support Cuomo, who stepped down in 2021 amidst a burgeoning sexual harassment scandal. "Remember to vote tomorrow in New York! Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is. VOTE CUOMO!" Musk posted on Monday night.
Musk's endorsement of Cuomo was not the only unexpected one. President Donald Trump also expressed his support for Cuomo in a post on Truth Social. "Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!" Trump wrote.
In a conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan, Musk labeled Mamdani a "swindler," as per Fox Business. "Mamdani is a charismatic swindler," Musk said. "I mean you gotta hand it to him, like, he can light up a stage, but he has just been a swindler his entire life."
Musk further warned that if Mamdani's policies were implemented, it would lead to a drastic drop in living standards for everyone, not just the wealthy. "If Mamdanis policies are put into place, especially at scale, it would be a catastrophic decline in living standards, not just for the rich, but for everyone. As has been the case with every socialist experiment," Musk said.
Mamdani's proposed policies include raising the minimum wage in New York City to $30 per hour by 2030, advocating for free public transit, establishing city-owned grocery stores, and providing universal childcare.
The voter turnout for this election has been significant. According to CBS, the New York City Board of Elections reported that 735,317 people participated in early voting, a substantial increase from the 169,879 early voters in 2021.
Newsweek reported that the Cuomo camp suggested this high turnout could disrupt the polls that have shown the former governor gradually closing the gap with Mamdani, but never surpassing him. "For weeks this has been a tightening race with early voting showing a surge of older voters the exact inverse of the primary and turnout on track for between 1.9 and 2 million. With those dynamics, every poll out there is essentially meaningless from this point out," Cuomo representative Rich Azzopardi said.
In a "60 Minutes" interview, Trump warned that a Mamdani victory would spell disaster for New York City, as noted by CBS. "Its gonna be hard for me as the President to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a Communist running New York, all youre doing is wasting the money youre sending there," Trump said.
"So I dont know that hes won, and Im not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if its gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, Im gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you."
The race is on, and the stakes are high. As the city's voters prepare to make their choice, the political landscape remains fraught with tension and uncertainty.
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