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Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their new city leader this election day, in a contest that will determine who runs and protects the country's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to deploy military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by accusations of racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has run on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has led his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

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 fair manner. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby end to an election that could be critical to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a platform that has resonated with Americans' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback victory, it could reinforce the party's current model of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could convince party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has drawn an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning 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 called his rival, who was born in Uganda 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 reached a nadir recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to New York, 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 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should never have come to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

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 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,” Mamdani said in the recording, filmed at a DSA convention in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, 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 told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. 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 shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd