🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will decide who runs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a time when Donald Trump has vowed to send military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against one another. The contest has turned into 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 party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led his rival by significant margins across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an election that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its response to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

If the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the June primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could cement the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message 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 party is widely disliked across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers 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 optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the city has attracted an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly 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 voted in to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has faced some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled 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, he 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 hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd