🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has threatened to deploy armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid allegations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with voters' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

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

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate personally. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was elected 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 freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in recent days, after video surfaced suggesting him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

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

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled 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 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 shadows alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

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