🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who runs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has threatened to deploy armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the party fares 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 grassroots campaign has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led his rival by significant margins across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an election that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to Americans' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals 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.

Conversely, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement the party's current model of considered, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could convince party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as polls show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate directly. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and warned to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent into office, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, started his mayoral bid in last year, few had heard of him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – present a brighter outlook of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has faced difficulties in recent days, after video emerged suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

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