🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

This represents a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be key to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been predicted to win easily in the June primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is widely disliked nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate directly. He has labelled Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed the city “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 9/11-style incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC 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 contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, 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 reality, few even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, the former governor, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced suggesting him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed the independent's terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, he 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 hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Addressing the behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd