🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has run on a agenda of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo by double-digits in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a rather grubby end to an election that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a message that has resonated with Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

However, if Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could cement national Democrats' current model of considered, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered the party base. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an force of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

Yet, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had married a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office from the same position.

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 no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in recent days, after video emerged 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 pressure of the police is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a DSA gathering in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed the independent's terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

Speaking to the behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd