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Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to deploy armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious face-off, laced with alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the ideological divide between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led his rival by double-digits across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's power moves, takes in the near future.

Broader Consequences

Should Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

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 Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an army of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on attacking Mamdani directly. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

The line of attack echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to the capital and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get the independent elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, eased his way into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his parent, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – 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.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and IDF.

Emotional Response

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

Mamdani addressed the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “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 shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd