🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn who will be their new city leader this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the urban center.

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

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by significant margins in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that included a series of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

However, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of considered, uninspiring resistance – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to stick to the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

However, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about the progressive, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have pressured the Republican candidate to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in October 2024, not many 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 seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a brighter outlook of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced difficulties in recent days, after footage 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 boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in 2023. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. 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 shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could express their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our faith.”

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