United States Republican President Donald Trump has urged his supporters to vote for former Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s mayoral race and threatened to restrict federal funds for the metropolis if Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the election.

The formal endorsement on Monday came hours before polling stations were set to open in the closely-watched election.

Opinion polls show Mamdani leading against Cuomo, the former governor of New York state, who is running as an independent after losing to the young politician in the Democratic primary.

According to the latest RealClearPolitics polls on Monday, Mamdani led with 45.8 percent, maintaining a 14.7-point advantage over Cuomo’s 31.1 percent.

The Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa, was at 17.3 percent.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, said, “It is my strong conviction that New York City will be a Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster should Mamdani win.”

The Republican president said he would rather see Cuomo, a “Democrat, who has had a Record of Success, WIN, than a Communist with no experience and a Record of COMPLETE AND TOTAL FAILURE”.

He went on to say that a vote for the Republican candidate, Sliwa, was a “vote for Mamdani”.

“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”

Trump went on to say that if Mamdani wins the race, “it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required”.

The US president’s statement came as the mayoral candidates raced across New York City’s five boroughs after months of back-and-forth barbs, social media hits and saucy debates.

Mamdani led a sunrise walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, flanked by hundreds of supporters, before kicking off the day with a speech at City Hall. Cuomo, on his part, denounced socialism in the Bronx, visited seniors in Chinatown, and popped off an X post calling Mamdani a “poser”.

Sliwa greeted supporters in the Coney Island neighbourhood of Brooklyn in his signature red hat, as he spoke at a subway station where a woman was killed on a train last year.

The mayoral race, which has captured outsized global attention, has seen a record 735,317 early votes cast over the past nine days, more than four times the total for the 2021 election, according to the New York City Board of Elections.

‘Our time is now’

Mamdani, a 34-year-old New York state assemblyman, has galvanised New Yorkers with an optimistic, multilingual campaign that promised free buses, rent freezes and universal childcare, partially paid for by taxing the city’s wealthiest residents.

If elected, the assemblyman would be the first Muslim, first person born in Africa and the first person of South Asian descent to lead New York City.

Mamdani on Monday warned of dark days for the city if Cuomo is elected, telling his supporters that Trump believes the former governor will be the best mayor for his administration, not for New Yorkers.

“If [Cuomo is] elected as mayor, our city will descend deeper into the darkness that has forced too many of our neighbours to flee, and made it impossible for working people to live lives of dignity,” Mamdani said at the City Hall in Brooklyn.

“There were few in this city who dared to imagine that we could win, and what it would mean for a city that has – for too long – served only the wealthy and powerful, at the expense of those who work through sunrises and sunsets,” he added.

Moments later, the crowd broke out in cheers of, “Our time is now!”

Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 after an independent state probe found he had engaged in a pattern of sexually harassing women, has meanwhile appealed to conservatives as a way to up his polling numbers.

In his final hours of campaigning, the 67-year-old politician took aim at Mamdani’s democratic socialist promises, likening them to left-wing governments in Latin America.

“Socialism didn’t work in Venezuela. Socialism didn’t work in Cuba. Socialism is not going to work in New York City,” Cuomo said. Mamdani, however, is a self-described “democratic socialist”.

Cuomo was not asked directly about the president’s tacit endorsement during an interview Monday evening on WABC Radio but expressed agreement with Trump’s comments.

“The president is right. A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani. And that’s why this election is now up to the Republicans,” Cuomo said.

New York’s most prominent billionaires, including hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, have supported Cuomo’s campaign, with Ackman doling out a total of $750,000 through donation vehicles known as super PACs, CNBC reported last week.

For his part, Sliwa, the 71-year-old creator of The Guardian Angels crime patrol group, laid a wreath for the woman who died after being set on fire at the subway station in Brooklyn last year, before setting off to rally his supporters in the outer boroughs.

He ran for mayor in 2021, but lost to the incumbent Eric Adams, who is not seeking re-election.

Despite being the Republican nominee, Sliwa has refused to fall in line with Trump and has opposed elements of  the US president’s immigration crackdown.

This year, his campaign has focused on the cost of living, dismantling bureaucracy, more safety in public spaces, support for the homeless, and even animal welfare.

“I’m running because this city deserves safety, accountability, and leadership that won’t look the other way,” Sliwa wrote on social media on Monday.