New York – It was the latest round of nationwide protests against United States President Donald Trump.

But amid a sea of signs decrying “kings” and “tyrants”, many New Yorkers participating in Saturday’s “No Kings” demonstration had their eyes on local politics – specifically the November 4 mayoral vote.

The election has drawn national and global interest as the frontrunner, State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, will face off against his top opponent, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, as well as trailing Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.

The Democratic Socialist’s surprise success in the race has melded with the deep dismay towards Trump’s hardline policies felt by many New Yorkers. And in response, the president has raised the possibility of deploying the National Guard and threatened to target city funding if Mamdani is elected.

Many first-time protesters and longtime organisers have been heartened by the 34-year-old’s grounding in local grassroots activism, which they said differentiates him from Cuomo. But many still have questions over how Mamdani would manage a sprawling local police force that maintains ties with the federal government.

Those interviewed said reducing damage caused by the Trump years must start with the right local policies.

Marching near Times Square in Manhattan, Jovana Liranzo, a 50-year-old mental health case worker from the Bronx, told Al Jazeera she believes Mamdani will give the right kind of support to immigrant communities as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents continue operations in the city.

“I just think he has a good heart,” she said of Mamdani.

Highlighting Liranzo’s concerns about ICE, federal agents on Tuesday conducted a raid in Manhattan’s well-known Chinatown, an escalation from their previous emphasis on targeting undocumented individuals when they appear in court.

Liranzo said her father was deported to the Dominican Republic during Trump’s first term in connection with a drug conviction from the 1980s and she hopes to save others from a similar fate.

Jovana Liranzo takes part in a ‘No Kings’ protest in New York City [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera]
While New York’s “sanctuary laws” restrict local authorities from coordinating with federal immigration enforcement, Liranzo has been wary of current Mayor Eric Adams and reports of his cooperation with the Trump administration. She does not see Cuomo, who shares many of Trump’s wealthy donors, as much better.

“Mamdani gives someone like me hope,” she said. “Cuomo can be bought.”

During the final mayoral debate on Wednesday, Mamdani echoed that line while decrying ICE as a “reckless entity that cares little for the law and even less for the people that they’re supposed to serve”.

He added that he was ready to work with Trump to make the cost of living more affordable.

But on the president’s deportation drive and targeting of political opponents, he added: “I will fight him every step of the way.”