🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will find out the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will decide who runs and protects the country's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to send military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and promised to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in recent years amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

This represents a rather grubby end to an election that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a surprising comeback victory, it could reinforce the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for the city and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an interview with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the contest.

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 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage surfaced appearing to show him implying the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2023. Mamdani, 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 NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

The progressive addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

Speaking to the behavior of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd