🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn the identity of their new city leader this election day, in a race that will decide who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has vowed to deploy military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has led his rival by double-digits across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

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

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the June primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, 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 stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on attacking Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster 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 take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

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

The former governor, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered 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 realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd