Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is the early favorite in New York City’s general mayoral election, but new polling suggests his lead could crumble if opposition voters rally behind a single rival. The American Pulse survey, released Thursday, shows Mamdani drawing support from 35% of voters, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo trailing at 29%. Republican Curtis Sliwa garners 16%, while incumbent Mayor Eric Adams languishes at 14%. Long-shot independent Jim Walden polls at just 1%. “Mamdani has an early lead and a clear message, but deeper scrutiny may erode enthusiasm among general election voters,” said Dustin Olson, American Pulse’s pollster.

Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist New York City mayoral candidate, is facing intensifying scrutiny as past statements and resurfaced videos reveal an agenda indistinguishable from old-school communist dogma. While Mamdani has brushed off accusations of being a “communist” as cheap distractions, footage paints a far more radical picture. In a 2021 speech to socialist activists, Mamdani explicitly urged allies not to compromise on “seizing the means of production,” language long synonymous with communist revolutionary movements. In another video, released that same year by The Gravel Institute, Mamdani laid out a sweeping plan to transform housing in New York City from a private commodity into a public asset.

Mark Penn, a former Clinton White House advisor and pollster, sounded the alarm Wednesday over Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, calling it a “9-1-1 moment” for the Democratic Party. Appearing on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom with Dana Perino, Penn harshly criticized Mamdani as an “anti-Semitic socialist” and warned that the party was in danger of being hijacked by far-left ideology. “Mamdani’s base of support is college-educated young people making $100,000,” Penn said. “The struggling working class voted for Cuomo.

A 19-year-old woman who gained notoriety for ripping down posters of kidnapped Israeli children in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 massacre was arrested early Wednesday after a violent attack on NYPD officers in Times Square, the New York Post reported. Dana Baraket, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, approached two officers near Broadway and 47th Street around 1:20 a.m., police sources told The Post. Without warning, she sprayed them in the eyes and face with pepper spray, then tried to seize one of their firearms while yelling “kill me,” law enforcement officials said. Baraket was tackled and arrested on the spot before she could get hold of the weapon.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday branded New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a “Communist Lunatic” and pledged to “save” the city from his leadership, escalating a political brawl between the Republican president and socialist mayoral contender. Writing on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at Mamdani, who clinched the Democratic primary last week, vowing: “As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York. Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it ‘Hot’ and ‘Great’ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!” The president’s broadside follows Mamdani’s own rhetorical shots, including labeling himself “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare” during a primary debate.

Rev. Al Sharpton is turning up the pressure on Andrew Cuomo, publicly urging the disgraced former governor to abandon his struggling campaign for New York City mayor in the wake of a bruising primary defeat. “I think, in the best interest of the legacy of Andrew Cuomo, that he ought to let them have the one-on-one race,” Sharpton told MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday, calling on Cuomo to step aside and clear the path for a head-to-head fight over the city’s future. “He can endorse one or the other, and let them have a battle over what is best for New York.” Sharpton, a longtime power broker in Democratic politics, revealed he had already reached out to Cuomo’s inner circle, trying to convince him to bow out.

A pair of career criminals behind a series of daring and methodical cash robberies across NYC were arrested Wednesday afternoon by the NYPD, thanks to the sharp vigilance of Boro Park Shomrim volunteers. The takedown occurred near 18th Avenue and Dahill Road, after the suspects targeted a van that had just withdrawn a large sum of money from a check-cashing store in Flatbush and traveled into Boro Park. The scheme was both simple and slick: one suspect, riding a bicycle, followed the van and punctured its tire a few blocks away. As soon as the driver exited to inspect the flat, the second suspect swooped in, climbed into the van, and made off with the cash.

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani previously sponsored legislation that would penalize New York shuls and other nonprofits donating to Israeli organizations involved in settlement activity, potentially subjecting them to million-dollar fines or civil lawsuits. The bill, titled the “Not on Our Dime!: Ending New York Funding of Israeli Settler Violence Act,” was first introduced by Mamdani in May 2023 in the New York State Assembly. It sought to prohibit New York–based not-for-profit corporations from providing what it calls “unauthorized support” to Israeli settlement activities, including aid to groups operating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Gaza.

Police are warning of a sophisticated ATM scam preying on elderly New Yorkers, after at least nine reported thefts on the Upper East Side left seniors more than $70,000 poorer in recent weeks. Authorities say a trio of suspects — two men and a woman — were caught on surveillance cameras during three of the incidents, which occurred between May 8 and June 26 at branches of Chase Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, and Citibank. Among the hardest hit was an 86-year-old woman who lost nearly $24,000 from her account around 11:30 a.m. on June 19 at the Chase branch on York Avenue near East 79th Street. That same location was hit at least three times, police said.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee in New York City’s mayoral election, offered an apology for past comments widely criticized as antisemitic, describing his ability to acknowledge mistakes as a personal strength as he seeks support among Jewish voters ahead of the general election. Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and a longtime talk radio personality, has faced renewed scrutiny over remarks in which he portrayed Jews as power-hungry and dependent on public benefits, and claimed antisemitic attitudes were “in his DNA” as a non-Jew. Speaking to The Forward on Tuesday, Sliwa called those statements wrong and said he had apologized before but wanted to restate his regret.