🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their new city leader this election day, in a race that will decide who runs and defends the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to send military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The election has become an acrimonious face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has run on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has outpaced Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

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

National Implications

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an enthusiasm within the party arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could convince party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has turned to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate personally. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to do the same to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook 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 difficulties in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting the NYPD and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

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

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, he 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 Muslims could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

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