Early voting has closed ahead of the special election to replace Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the 36th Assembly District on Tuesday, with almost 10,000 voters braving freezing conditions to cast their ballots over the past week.
Early voting, which began on Saturday, Jan. 24, and continued until Sunday, Feb. 1, saw 9,831 local residents cast their votes despite polling stations being shuttered on Jan. 25 and 26 due to inclement weather.
In the 2024 general election in the district, 38,507 residents voted as Mamdani ran unopposed to win a third successive term in office.
Special elections tend to draw significantly fewer voters than primaries or general elections, but the race to replace Mamdani has drawn significant attention, with three candidates launching campaigns ahead of Tuesday’s special election.
Diana Moreno, an organizer with the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA); Rana Abdelhamid, founder of local anti-violence non-profit Malikah; and Mary Jobaida, a Bangladeshi immigrant living in Queensbridge Houses, are all running to succeed Mamdani in one of the most left-leaning districts in the city.
Moreno, the Queens Democratic Party nominee, is the clear frontrunner in the race, having scooped endorsements from Mamdani, the Working Families Party (WFP) and the DSA, but Jobaida and Abdelhamid are also DSA members and boast similarly progressive platforms.
All three candidates are in favor of policies that would raise taxes on the wealthiest residents in the state, and each candidate has also pledged to support legislation that would protect the district’s immigrant community from federal immigration authorities.
Moreno has sought to differentiate herself from her two opponents by emphasizing her ties to the DSA, stating that she is running as part of a movement rather than as an individual candidate. She has pledged to be an “unwavering ally” to Mamdani – another DSA member – if she is elected to Albany and added that she is part of the “same working-class movement” that elected Mamdani to City Hall last November.
Abdelhamid and Jobaida, on the other hand, have pointed to their deep ties to the local community. Abdelhamid said she has seen firsthand the problems facing tenants, businesses and immigrant communities in the neighborhood while working with Malikah over the last 17 years.
Jobaida, meanwhile, described herself as an advocate for the Queensbridge community for over two decades.
Voting begins at 6 a.m. on Feb. 3 and will continue until 9 p.m. Click here to find your nearest polling station.
