🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to voters' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the city has attracted an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate directly. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent elected, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as 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 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has faced some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced suggesting him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, filmed at a DSA gathering in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could express their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd