New York City – For Jessica Dejesus, deciding who to vote for as the next mayor of New York City came down to the final minutes.The 40-year-old resident of the Mott Haven neighbourhood in the Bronx admittedly had not been following the race closely, but planned to vote for former Governor Andrew Cuomo. She recalled his near-nightly television appearances when he was governor of New York State amid the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“He was our guy during the pandemic,” she reflected.But a day before the election, Dejesus saw a video on TikTok detailing US President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Cuomo. Jessica Dejesus decided in the last minute to support candidate Zohran Mamdani [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera]While her feelings towards the candidates in the mayoral race may be ho-hum, Dejesus knows she is no fan of Trump. The nod made her give upstart candidate Social Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, a closer look.“We can’t have that. I don’t disagree with everything Trump does, but he cut back on food stamps, and that affects a lot of people,” she said, referring to restrictions on US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in a bill passed by Trump and Republicans earlier this year.“I understand you have to stop bad people coming over the border, but there are a lot of good immigrants here as well,” she said, referring to Trump’s mass deportation drive.Walking into her voting site, she told Al Jazeera she still had not made up her …
