🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will find out who will be their new city leader this Tuesday, in a contest that will determine who runs and defends the nation's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has vowed to send military troops to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The contest has become an acrimonious showdown, marked by alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two leading candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racist stereotypes 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 Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's power moves, adopts in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable comeback victory, it could cement the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A New York defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. The candidate's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has turned to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on attacking the candidate personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist 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 New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, started his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. 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 over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in the final phase, after video emerged appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the recording, filmed at a DSA gathering in 2023. 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 NYPD and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani remembered 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 shadows of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express 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 his opponents, who has alleged Mamd