🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has vowed to send armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The election has become an acrimonious face-off, laced with accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has run on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly 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 near future.

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback victory, it could reinforce the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. 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 New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – 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 vow to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced difficulties in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a DSA convention in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled 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, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows 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 step out from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd