🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn the identity of their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when Donald Trump has vowed to deploy military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its response to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

Broader Consequences

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to Americans' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

However, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback victory, it could cement the party's existing approach of cautious, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and warned to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get the independent elected, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by contrast, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, the former governor, left office from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD 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, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could express their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd