🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will find out the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who runs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has vowed to send military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democrats against one another. The election has become an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading contenders that could have significant consequences for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who resigned as the state's leader in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its response to Trump's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback victory, it could cement the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of Mamdani'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 nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident during the race. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has drawn an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe 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 get the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit 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 unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after video emerged suggesting 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 neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a DSA convention in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed the independent's terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested 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 taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our faith.”

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