The race for New York City mayor is entering the home stretch. 

The next debate will take place on Wednesday, and it’s just five days until the start of early voting. Election Day is 15 days away. 

A new poll from AARP and Gotham Polling finds Democrat Zohran Mamdani is holding his lead at 43.2%. Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo is in second place at 28.9%, and Republican Curtis Sliwa is in third place at 19.4%. 

The same poll finds Cuomo and Mamdani would be in a neck-and-neck race if Sliwa drops out – with Cuomo just four points behind Mamdani, which is within the poll’s margin of error. In that scenario, Mamdani is ahead 44.6% to Cuomo’s 40.7%. 

“I’m not dropping out,” Sliwa says

Sliwa says he’s staying in the race. Last week, Cuomo said Sliwa staying would make it very hard for him to beat Mamdani. Monday morning, however, Cuomo changed his tune. Speaking on Fox News, Cuomo called Sliwa irrelevant. 

“He does take a certain number of votes, and to that extent, he is a spoiler. I believe he’s, ultimately, irrelevant, because he’s not a viable candidate and I don’t think people are gonna throw away their vote,” Cuomo said. 

“I’m not dropping out,” Sliwa said. “One person, one vote. That’s how we determine elections. I never heard a caveat that said one person, one vote, and of course others need to drop out along the way.” 

Mamdani welcomes Sliwa’s presence in the race. 

“It’s genuinely positive for our democracy that there’s another candidate in this race who believes New York City voters should pick their next mayor, not billionaires who mostly live somewhere else,” Mamdani said. 

Cuomo continued to claim Monday morning that Mamdani lacks the experience to be mayor. 

“We are spending this time speaking directly to New Yorkers. Andrew Cuomo is spending it speaking about the other candidates,” Mamdani said. 

All three are due back on the debate stage this Wednesday night on NY1.