Polls have opened in New York and some key US states as fresh "off year" elections test the popularity of Donald Trump's Republican party and Democrats' ability to bounce back from drastic 2024 losses.

Voters in New Jersey and Virginia are choosing their governors, but it is the campaign of young leftist Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat vying to run the Big Apple, which has garnered the most public attention.

He is widely predicted to beat independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and, if elected, would become New York's first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in decades.

'Time for a new day in our politics'

Speaking after voting in New York City, Mr Mamdani said his campaign wanted to "transform the most expensive city in the United States of America into one that'

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