🔗 Share this article

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

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of economic justice and promised to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who stepped down 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 above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the party perhaps not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, 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 get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an force of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate directly. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, 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 seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He became New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced some challenges in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims could express their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

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