🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will find out who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a time when the former president has threatened to send armed forces to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democratic figures against one another. The election has turned into an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

If the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

However, if Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

Yet, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get the independent elected, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the contest in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed 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.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him suggesting 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 throat, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, filmed at a DSA gathering in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to the independent's terrorism comments 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 disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, 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 embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

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