🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will find out the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has vowed to send armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of economic justice and promised to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an election that could be key to the path that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's power moves, takes in the near future.

National Implications

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with voters' frustration 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 the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably 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 June primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, uninspiring opposition – a strategy that has angered the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has attracted an army of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in last year, not many had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The classic establishment figure, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a brighter outlook of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

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

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled 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, he said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

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