🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will discover the identity of their new city leader this election day, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has outpaced Cuomo by double-digits in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

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

Broader Consequences

If the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with Americans' anger at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

However, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the June primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could cement the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered 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 polls show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited 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 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 youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, 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 throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate personally. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on conservative media for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached 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 paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in 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 – present a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after video emerged appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the IDF were intertwined.

“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 recording, filmed at a DSA convention in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose 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 community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd