🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will find out the identity of their new city leader this election day, in a contest that will decide who governs and defends the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has vowed to send armed forces to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The election has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led his rival by double-digits across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after sharing an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be key to the direction that the Democratic party, floundering in its response to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to Americans' frustration at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback win, it could cement the party's current model of considered, lackluster resistance – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York defeat 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 present version of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the city has attracted an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on attacking Mamdani personally. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, Mamdani has faced difficulties in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show 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 laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA convention in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police 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.

The progressive responded to 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 realization, he said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

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