Bill de Blasio knows firsthand what the closing weeks of a mayoral race feel like. He is less familiar with a dramatic finish; in 2013 (after a hard-fought Democratic primary) and in 2017, de Blasio trounced his Republican opponents. This year’s front-runner, the democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, can’t breathe as easy, even if he does enjoy a hefty lead in the polls against Andrew Cuomo , Curtis Sliwa, and scandal-plagued incumbent Eric Adams — not when the Trump administration is throwing its weight around to push Adams and Sliwa out and force a two-man race.

De Blasio endorsed Mamdani earlier this month, and the two have plenty of political common ground, such as a focus on affordability. But de Blasio’s admiration clearly runs deeper than any policy platform. I spoke with him a

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