Public safety was the defining issue of the 2021 mayor's race. The city was experiencing an uptick in crime brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and current Mayor Eric Adams rode to victory on his pledge to tackle crime and disorder.

In the years since, murders and shootings have dropped, according to NYPD statistics — yet New Yorkers have been slow to feel as safe as they believed they were in 2019.

The 2025 mayor's race has been dominated by a different issue: affordability. Frontrunner Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary largely because of his relentless focus on lowering costs across the five boroughs. Although Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa all made their own pitches for addressing affordability to keep pace with Mamdani, they have often s

See Full Page