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New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has vowed to send military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, laced with alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying 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 solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and promised to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an election that could be key to the path that the party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to voters' frustration at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could cement national Democrats' current model of cautious, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered the party base. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth 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 negative campaigning in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate personally. He has labelled Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

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

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, 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 more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after footage emerged appearing to show him implying 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 IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

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

The progressive responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows 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 shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd