🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn who will be their new city leader this election day, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has vowed to deploy armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against one another. The election has become an increasingly bitter face-off, laced with alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has outpaced Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

It's been a particularly ugly conclusion to an election that could be critical to the path that the Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

Broader Consequences

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to embrace at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the party arguably not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer 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 snappy videos on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent into office, as other powerful voices have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, started his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office 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 no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced appearing to show him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd