🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will discover the identity of their new city leader this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to send military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious face-off, marked by 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 midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with voters' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback victory, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of the progressive's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as polls show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as 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, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many had known him, and in reality, few even noticed.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – present a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in recent days, after footage emerged appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a DSA gathering in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, 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 taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam 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 set aside our faith.”

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