Fordham students are getting involved hands-on for their favored mayoral candidate ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
State assemblyman and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo, and activist and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa will face off in the election, with Mamdani currently polling as the frontrunner. Mayor Eric Adams announced on Sept. 28 that he would drop his bid for re-election.
Atacus Jarrett, treasurer of the Fordham College Democrats and student at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’28, has been canvassing for Mamdani for several months. He said he has been involved with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) since high school and is now part of the Youth DSA’s chapter at Fordham, which is not an official Fordham club. He began volunteering for Mamdani’s campaign last year during the petitioning period, when candidates must gather at least 3,750 signatures from registered voters to appear on the June primary ballot.
“Beyond being able to take a stand to help accomplish the goals you think are good for your country or good for your neighborhood, you can also just have a lot of fun.” Atacus Jarrett, FCLC ’28
Canvassers are given a list of names and addresses in a neighborhood, then knock on those doors in order to elicit voters for a given candidate through direct contact.
“(While canvassing,) you can really meet pretty much everyone from all walks of society … and if you are like me — I’m not a super social guy — it really helps you overcome a lot of social anxiety,” Jarrett said. “Beyond being able to take a stand to help accomplish the goals you think are good for your country or good for your neighborhood, you can also just have a lot of fun.”
Jarrett said one challenge he has faced is that people conflate canvassing with soliciting; thus, while canvassers cannot be banned from apartment buildings, they can be removed.
Elliot Ismail, FCLC ’28, is the data director of TREEage, a student environmentalist organization that holds a variety of political advocacy events, including a mayoral forum last April, and has formally endorsed Mamdani. Ismail is from Queens and has been canvassing since he was 14 years old. He has helped organize many of TREEage’s canvassing events, teaching and mobilizing young people to canvass in-person and digitally via text and phone banking.
“I like producing code and digital aspects and processing data for outreach to make sure that, at TREEage, our staff are contacting the right people. But at the same time, I really like just going out and talking to folks,” Ismail said.
Ismail also spoke at a rally against Cuomo and for Mamdani last May about “the climate disaster and how Cuomo actively funds it and produces it,” right before the primary, followed by a TREEage canvassing event in Brooklyn. TREEage’s most recent organization-wide canvassing event was the election day for the primary.
“We’ve had events since then where we kind of talk about strategies and what folks can do on their own time where it’s like, ‘Okay, TREEage has catered and hosted XY events with Zohran’s team. Now you have the tools to do it yourself and get your schools involved,’” Ismail said.
Other Fordham clubs have also gotten involved with the mayoral election.
The Fordham College Democrats, based at Rose Hill, recently hosted an event for students to canvass for Mamdani on the Upper West Side. They are also in the process of creating outreach committees for Manhattan, the Bronx and the FCLC campus.
“Obviously affordability is, I think, on top of mind for students, but for people in general … A major part is the MTA, especially the hike getting to $3,” Elliot Ismail, FCLC ’28
The Fordham College Republicans have also gotten involved, mobilizing students to attend a meet and greet with Curtis Sliwa on Oct. 2.
In terms of specific policies he values, Jarrett cited Mamdani’s focus on childcare, public transportation and affordable housing.
Ismail shared a similar perspective on affordability and MTA prices as a key issue in the coming election, and added his focus on improving public school education and climate change.
“I think the issues would be first with school infrastructure and just (Department of Education schooling in general … Obviously affordability is, I think, on top of mind for students, but for people in general … A major part is the MTA, especially the hike getting to $3,” Ismail said.
Mamdani has pledged to make buses, which serve over 1.1 million New Yorkers per day, free. This proposed policy is particularly pertinent given the MTA’s fare increase that is to take effect in Jan. 2026. Mamdani said he will also call for a rent freeze for rent-stabilized tenants and build 200,000 affordable housing units.
Pilot programs for free buses introduced one free bus route in each borough, and have actually decreased fare evasion.
Cuomo’s campaign shares a focus on affordability. He has pledged to eliminate city income taxes on tips, build more housing for all income levels, and expand access to affordable healthcare. He has released a 25-point plan that details the transformation of New York City’s public education system. He has also promised to improve public and subway safety by investing in the NYPD.
Sliwa’s campaign has also focused on subway safety through the proposed hiring of 7,000 new police officers. Sliwa has a different approach to affordable housing and would like to repeal the Adams administration’s “City of Yes” housing policy — a citywide zoning amendment that aims to create around 80,000 new housing units — and update New York City’s 28,000 vacant rent-controlled units for use. As of Dec. 24, New York City’s apartment vacancy rate is a record-low 1.4%.
The candidates’ proposals have sparked discourse, with some criticizing Mamdani’s policies as unrealistic.
Jacob Smith, assistant professor of political science at Fordham, said that, should he be elected, Mamdani would have “a lot of control” over the New York City Housing Board, and expects his affordable housing policies would be implemented.
However, policies like bus fares, which may coincide with corporate and individual tax increases, will require state intervention. Governor Kathy Hochul has endorsed Mamdani, but said she may not approve tax increases. Pilot programs for free buses introduced one free bus route in each borough, and have actually decreased fare evasion.
Smith said he believes most of Mamdani’s policies are actionable, though he acknowledged the possibility of some “being partially rolled out or over a period of time.”
Smith estimated that only about 60% of would-be Adams voters will flock to Cuomo, with the rest being distributed between Mamdani and Sliwa.
“(Mario Cuomo) actually talked about the idea of campaigning in poetry and governing in prose, where some promises happen exactly, and some of them don’t with any campaign,” Smith said.
The distribution of candidates recently changed after Adams dropped his candidacy. However, his name will still appear on the ballot as he missed the May 30 deadline to formally withdraw. Adams was originally elected as a Democrat but was running as a third-party candidate after facing several indictments due to federal corruption charges, which were later dismissed by a Justice Department judge last April.
Adams was consistently polling in the single digits (averaging around 8%), on top of his record-low approval ratings as mayor at 20%, a Mar. 2025 poll by The New York Times and Siena University found. In comparison, while Adams was still in the race, Mamdani held a significant lead at 46%, with Cuomo at 24% and Sliwa at 15%.
Adams’ resignation sparked discourse around the extent to which voter consolidation may erode Mamdani’s lead.
Smith said that, given Adams’ poor ratings, “something major would have to happen to change the campaign at this point based on the polling lead.”
Smith estimated that only about 60% of would-be Adams voters will flock to Cuomo, with the rest being distributed between Mamdani and Sliwa.
Smith attended Mamdani’s scavenger hunt in August and said he is “pretty confident that (Mamdani is) the strong favorite in November.” He cited Mamdani’s many fundraising successes and grassroots mobilization of young voters. When asked about one of Cuomo’s campaign successes, Smith mentioned Cuomo’s various endorsements from long-standing Democrat politicians whom Mamdani has struggled to gain support from.
Cuomo, Mamdani and Sliwa will face off in the Oct. 16 and 22 mayoral debates before the general election.
Fordham students can register to vote online on the New York State Board of Elections website or through the New York Department of Motor Vehicles website if they have a New York City ID, in-person at one of the Board of Elections’ offices or via mail. The deadline is Oct. 25.
