As the Binghamton city mayoral race heats up, New Yorkers are also paying attention to another important election happening this year — the New York City mayoral election.

Heading into the Nov. 4 general election, the race is between progressive State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is now running on an independent ballot line after he lost to Mamdani in a heated Democratic primary in June. Curtis Sliwa, a Republican perennial candidate, is also running, while incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, whose five-count federal criminal case was dropped earlier this year, withdrew his reelection bid in late September.

In a debate held on Thursday between Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa, the three candidates clashed on issues like cost of living, affordable housing and policing. Mamdani faced criticism from Cuomo about his lack of executive experience, while he and Sliwa blasted Cuomo for what they viewed as failures during his time as governor. Cuomo resigned from his post in 2021 after Attorney General Letitia James released a report that found Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women.

Insults fired during the debate were sometimes personal.

“I knew Mario Cuomo,” Sliwa said, referencing Andrew Cuomo’s father, who served three terms as governor from 1983 to 1994. “You’re no Mario Cuomo.”

Cuomo said Mamdani “has never had a job,” accusing him of only ever interning for his mother, Mira Nair, an Indian-American filmmaker.

“What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity,” Mamdani said in response to Cuomo. “And what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.”

At Binghamton University, 28 percent of new students are from New York City, according to a 2025 estimate.

The University’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter has organized events to support Mamdani, including phone banking and a watch party for next Wednesday’s debate, and some members have canvassed for him. Mamdani himself is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

“I’ve phonebanked for people in the past, for other Democrats,” said Stephen DiFilippo, the YDSA’s public relations coordinator and a sophomore double-majoring in philosophy, politics and law and economics. “I haven’t felt as passionate about a candidate in a long time, other than [Mamdani]. It was a very good experience.”

In May 2024, Mamdani and eight other state politicians signed a letter urging SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. to protect students’ right to protest “against the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” encouraging open dialogue and refraining from immediate police involvement. Referencing what they believed was an aggressive response by Columbia University and the City College of New York against student protesters, the letter asked SUNY schools not to respond similarly. The May 2024 encampment at BU was mentioned in the letter.

Israel and Gaza were also a large topic of contention at the Thursday debate. Mamdani, a supporter of Palestinian rights who co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine as an undergraduate student at Bowdoin College, has come under intense scrutiny by some for his stance. Cuomo, by contrast, has branded himself as a strong supporter of Israel.

“Zohran’s push for a more affordable and inclusive New York City is something that college voters can really get behind, and his pro-Palestinian stance has been particularly popular among students,” wrote the Binghamton YDSA in a statement.

One hallmark of Mamdani’s campaign has been prominent support from young people, with a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University last month finding that 63 percent of New York City voters aged 18 to 34 would vote for him.

“A lot of it is [that] students, young people in general, are really looking for a message of hope and change,” said Robert Berger, a professor of English at the University. “And I think that’s what [Mamdani] kind of represents.”

New York City’s mayoral race, particularly Mamdani’s campaign, has garnered national attention. A relative newcomer to politics and a departure from more moderate Democratic politicians, some have viewed his rise as potentially signaling the future direction of the Democratic Party, or American politics in general. Not all reactions have been positive.

“New York City has always been a bellwether for the country,” wrote the vice president of College Republicans to Pipe Dream. “What takes root there often spreads nationwide. That’s why this election matters far beyond city limits: it’s a test of whether America’s great cities can still choose competence over ideology, or whether they’ve resigned themselves to decline disguised as progress.”

President Donald Trump has previously called Mamdani a “communist” and threatened to withhold federal funding and deploy the National Guard in New York City should he win the election.

Mamdani has so far been endorsed by a wide swath of New York politicians, from Attorney General Letitia James to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In September, Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani while acknowledging some “disagreements” she has with him over issues like taxation.

“The Democratic Party is in the middle of a reckoning about how we have found ourselves here, with the Republicans holding a federal trifecta and a supermajority on the Supreme Court, and that leaders who aren’t willing to fight back against the injustices perpetrated by the Trump administration and Republicans, and an ever-increasing rise in fascism, are not the right leaders of the Democratic Party for this moment,” Ryan Gaire, president of BU College Democrats and a senior majoring in political science, told Pipe Dream in a statement.