Approximately 1.85 million New Yorkers had already voted Tuesday in the city's mayoral election by 6 p.m. ET, surpassing the final total of any election since 1993.

Voter turnout is on track to exceed 2 million for the first time since 1969, when John V. Lindsay was re-elected, according to The New York Times.

The increased turnout is partly explained by the high level of competition in this race, in which the progressive Democrat Zohran Mamdani is facing off against independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

According to the most recent polls, Mamdani continues to lead in voter intention with 46.1%, 14.1 points ahead of Cuomo, who has 31.8%, while Sliwa has 16.3%.

Another poll by Atlas Intel also places the Democrat ahead, but with fewer points over Cuomo, 43.9% to 39.4%, and Sliwa, who is running for the office for the second consecutive time, has 15.5%, according to CBS.

Mamdani, who is He is shaping up to be the winner, and has been on everyone's lips since he beat veteran Cuomo in the primaries despite his short experience as a state assemblyman. However, his socialist leanings have aroused suspicion among Democratic Party leaders and moderates. President Donald Trump has called Mamdani a "communist" and has even endorsed Cuomo, whose campaign has received a flood of millions from various magnates, both Democrats and Republicans. Mamdani, 34, could become the youngest mayor of New York since 1892 and also the first Muslim mayor. The candidate has raised a fraction of Cuomo's campaign funds but, in turn, has inspired young people, who have become an army of volunteers for his campaign. The Ugandan-born politician voted early Tuesday morning in the borough of Queens, after which he declared that the city is "about to make history" to "leave the politics of the past behind."

With information from EFE