New York City voters are showing up early and in big numbers, with 165,143 people casting ballots across the five boroughs during the first two days of early voting on Saturday and Sunday. That is nearly 70,000 more than at the same point in the last midterm elections four years ago. Brooklyn led the way with 47,177 voters, followed by Manhattan with 46,314 and Queens with 40,281, while the Bronx and Staten Island added about 17,600 and 13,800. Statewide, early turnout is also running well ahead of 2022, with hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers already having voted. Early voting continues through Sunday, November 1, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.

The numbers matter because the race for governor between Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican Bruce Blakeman is being watched closely, especially in New York City. Experts point out that low city turnout in 2022 helped make that year's governor's race much closer than expected, so strong early numbers there are getting extra attention. At the same time, early voting totals don't show which candidates are benefiting, and they can't predict the final result. A new Siena poll shows Hochul leading Blakeman 54 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, but both campaigns are pushing hard to turn out their supporters in the city and its suburbs. The big question now is whether this early surge will last all the way to Election Day.