🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who runs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democratic figures against each other. The election 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 Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a platform of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an election that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive 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 economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries 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 Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A NYC defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent 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 metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate personally. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. 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 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in over a decade ago, 17 years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged suggesting him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a DSA gathering in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to his opponent's escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a realization, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows 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 leave our faith.”

Addressing the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd