Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his wife vote together in Queens, New York

NEW YORK CITY, US - NOV. 4: Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, cast their votes at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens on Tuesday, Nov. 4, as polling stations opened across New York City.New Yorkers are heading to the polls Tuesday in a highly contested mayoral election.Poll sites opened at 6 am local time (1100GMT) and will close at 9 pm (0200GMT Wednesday). Early voting took place from Oct. 25 to Nov. 2, with more than 735,000 ballots cast, marking a new city record, according to the New York City Board of Elections.At the center of the race is Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, 34, born in Kampala, Uganda to Indian parents and raised in New York from the age of seven. If elected, he would become the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor.Mamdani, an avowed democratic socialist, has run a campaign focused on affordability and social services, promising free buses, universal childcare, city-run grocery stores, rent-stabilized housing and a plan to raise the minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030 from $16.50 currently.(Footage by Lokman Vural Elibol /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)