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People arrive to participate in early at a voting site in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City on Oct. 25, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Early in-person voting kicked off in New York and New Jersey on Oct. 25. Voters went to the polls to cast their ballots in a series of high-profile races, including New York City’s mayoral election and New Jersey’s gubernatorial race.
New Yorkers are deciding who they want to lead the city of more than 8 million people in the polarizing mayoral race.
Candidates include Democrat Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams suspended his campaign on Sept. 28 and endorsed Cuomo.
Cuomo sent out a call on social media asking for “enthusiastic volunteers” to go to polling sites and “engage with undecided voters” in line, according to a sign-up sheet he shared on his X account on Oct. 24.
“Early voting starts TODAY, New York,” Cuomo wrote in a post on X on Oct. 25.
“This is one of the most important mayoral elections our city has ever seen. Your vote matters—don’t sit this one out. The future of NYC is in your hands.”
Mamdani’s X account has been sharing info on where people can vote in the Big Apple.
Sliwa, who founded the volunteer patrol group Guardian Angels, went to the polls and cast his ballot shortly after polls opened on Oct. 25, according to a photo shared on his X account.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, holds a comfortable lead, according to recent polling by Quinnipiac University and Patriot Polling.
New Yorkers will also vote on six ballot measures, which include a proposal to move the city’s primary and general elections to the same years as the presidential elections.
Other proposals on the ballot ask voters if they approve of building an Olympic sports complex on state forest preserve land, affordable housing, and creating a digital city map to modernize operations.
The majority of wait times at poll centers on Oct. 25 were less than 20 minutes; however, some voters on the Lower East Side, Queens, and Brooklyn waited more than 50 minutes to cast their ballots at some locations, according to data released by the New York City Board of Elections.
Only 23.3 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the 2021 general election, which Adams won, according to the Voter Analysis Report released by the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
Crunch Time in New Jersey
Registered voters in New Jersey began casting ballots on Oct. 25 for the next governor of the Garden State.
Republican Jack Ciattarelli, Democrat Mikie Sherrill, Libertarian Vic Kaplan, and Socialist Workers Party candidate Joanne S. Kuniansky are on the ballot.
President Donald Trump has endorsed Ciattarelli, and former President Barack Obama endorsed Sherrill.
The candidates are running for the seat being vacated by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is not allowed to run for a third term because of term limits in his state.
New York and New Jersey’s early voting periods run from Oct. 25 through Nov. 2. The general election is Nov. 4.
New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states holding gubernatorial elections this year.
The Democratic National Committee pledged to spend $500,000 for a get-out-the-vote campaign in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as for judicial races in Pennsylvania.
Virginia Goes Down to the Wire
Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears are running to become the first woman governor of their state.
While Spanberger received an endorsement from Obama, Earle-Sears has not received an official endorsement from Trump. He did, however, say, “I think she should win” while aboard Air Force One on Oct. 20.
Spanberger holds a 7 percent lead against Earle-Sears, according to the October 2025 Wilder School Commonwealth Poll released on Oct. 23.
But the race for attorney general in Virginia is much closer, with Republican incumbent Jason Miyares leading Democrat Jay Jones by 3 percent in the same polling.
Jones faced backlash after he suggested that the Republican former House Delegate Todd Gilbert receive “two bullets to the head” in text messages sent in 2022.
Jones has apologized and said he takes “full responsibility” for the messages.
In-person voting for Virginia began on Sept. 19 and will conclude on Nov. 1, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
Jacki Thrapp is an Emmy® Award-winning journalist based in Nashville. She previously worked at The New York Post, Fox News Channel and has written a series of Off-Broadway musicals in NYC. Contact her at [email protected]
