🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the country's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has run on a platform of affordability and promised to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who resigned as the state's leader in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, struggling in its response to Trump's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

Should Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

However, should the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York appear to favor 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 snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, the former governor, in his late sixties, 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 Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate personally. He has labelled Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has faced difficulties in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows 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 shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

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