🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will find out the identity of their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who governs and protects the country's largest city at a time when Donald Trump 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 distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The contest has become an increasingly bitter face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who defeated his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has trashed his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a rather grubby conclusion to an election that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, takes 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 resonated with Americans' frustration at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to embrace at least some of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

However, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of cautious, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. 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 snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking Mamdani directly. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to the capital and warned to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, entered smoothly into the contest 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 married a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced difficulties in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him implying 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 laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

Speaking to the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd