(The Center Square) — Voters go to the polls Tuesday to whittle down a crowded field of Democratic challengers seeking to unseat incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who is running as an independent.

The crowded mayoral race features former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and several other current and former public officials, including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and City Comptroller Brad Lander, who was arrested last week in immigration court after allegedly interfering with an arrest by ICE officials.

Recent polls have shown Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, narrowing the gap with Cuomo in recent weeks as the two frontrunners hammered away at each other over who has the political experience to address the migrant crisis, crack down on crime and manage the intersection of homelessness and mental health, in the city of more than 8 million inhabitants.

"This city can actually be affordable," Mamdani said at a Sunday rally. "This city deserves a mayor who will freeze the rent, make buses fast and free and make universal healthcare."

Cuomo, 67, stepped down from the governor's office in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations. But he is seeking a political comeback with the mayoral run, claiming he has the experience needed to run the city, reduce crime and improve the economy, and has pushed back against Mamdani's socialist platform and the Democratic Party's far-left movement.

"It's about dismantling the police department, legalizing prostitution, abolishing the jail system, everything free — free transportation, free schools, free food, free everything," Cuomo said in remarks at a Sunday campaign event. And we'll figure out a way to tax the wealthy. All great ideas, but just in practice, it doesn't work.

The winner of Tuesday's primary will be a spot on the November ballot to challenge Adams, who announced in April that he would forgo the Democratic party's primary and seek another term as mayor by running as an independent candidate.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, was elected to lead the nation's largest city in 2021 on a platform of reducing crime and guiding the city out of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is the second Black mayor of the nation’s most populous city.

His decision to run as an independent came one day after a federal judge in New York formally dropped bribery and corruption charges against Adams, which had alleged he used his position to receive luxury travel and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish foreign nationals. Polls had shown him losing support among Democratic voters in the city.

New York City uses a ranked-choice voting for its mayoral primaries, with voters selecting their top five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate surpasses 50% in the first round of balloting, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to other candidates. The tabulations continue until someone wins a majority of the vote.

With soaring temperatures in New York City expected to reach records on Tuesday, many residents decided to cast their ballots early. Nearly 385,000 people cast a ballot in eight days of early voting — more than double the amount cast ahead of the 2021 mayoral elections, according to the NYC Board of Elections. New York also allows voters to cash ballots through the mail.