🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who governs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has vowed to deploy military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The contest has turned into an acrimonious face-off, laced with accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic 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 one-time underdog who defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has outpaced his rival by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an election that could be critical to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a remarkable comeback victory, it could cement the party's existing approach of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on attacking Mamdani personally. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors 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 Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had known him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who apparently held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his parent, the former governor, left office from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video emerged appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. 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 set aside our faith.”

Speaking to the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd