🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover the identity of their new city leader this Tuesday, in a race that will decide who governs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an acrimonious showdown, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has run on a agenda of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led his rival by double-digits across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who resigned as the state's leader in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an election that could be critical to the path that the party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

If Mamdani 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 Americans' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

However, if the former governor, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes against him, the former governor has turned to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting Mamdani directly. He has labelled Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and warned to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had known him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after footage emerged suggesting him suggesting the New York police department 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 laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could express their full identities, 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