🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn the identity of their new city leader this election day, in a contest that will determine who runs and defends the country's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has vowed to send armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an election that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts in the near future.

Broader Consequences

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has resonated with Americans' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the party arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been predicted to win easily in the June primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement the party's current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. 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. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, 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

The line of attack mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, 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 classic establishment figure, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook 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 encountered some challenges in recent days, after video surfaced appearing to show him implying 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 laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a realization, he said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could express their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd