🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be key to the path that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

Should Mamdani secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has created an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate directly. He has labelled Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, started his mayoral bid in last year, few had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first ran for the legislature, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd