Good morning. It is Sunday, November 2nd. Elections will be held across 29 states this Tuesday,

including a number of municipal contests. Now, usually voter attention and turnout is at its zenith

during a presidential cycle, less so during midterms. But the real heavy lift is

getting and holding voter attention in a so-called off-cycle municipal election. It's times like this,

when voter interest and engagement is usually at its lowest. But this year is very, very different,

especially here in New York City, where the mayoral race is stirring a spike in turnout.

On the first day of early voting, turnout was nearly five times what it was in 2021, and that trend has largely continued through last night.

In fact, as of last night, more than 580,000 people have voted early.

That's already more than half of the overall turnout for the last mayoral election four years ago.

Polls are open again today, the last day of early voting before election day.

And if turnout continues to track at these levels, it will eclipse the highest turnout in recent memory when

Mike Bloomberg was elected mayor in 2001. Now, why the surge? One possible reason is that this is the

first time that New Yorkers get to go to vote since the re-election of Donald Trump, the first chance

to express either their support for or frustration with the administration.

Although none of the remaining candidates in the race, including the actual Republicans,

seem to be Trump fans, Donald Trump certainly has his preferences in this race.

Another explanation is that this race is deeply rooted in the granular issues that New Yorkers face,

crime and policing, transit, and

perhaps most importantly, housing affordability. But there's a viable third reason for the energy

around this race, and that it's the highly unusual candidate dynamic itself. It would typically

be assumed that the incumbent mayor would be the candidate if they wanted to be, but not this time.

Eric Adams, who was elected in 2021, withdrew from the race weeks ago.

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