🔗 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 decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has vowed to send military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The election has become an acrimonious showdown, marked by alleged racial bias 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 midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. 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.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' frustration at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message 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 party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking Mamdani directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has sent the military reserves to the capital and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – 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.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has encountered some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the IDF were connected.

“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 recording, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, 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 Muslims could express their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

Speaking to the behavior of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd