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Residents of the Big Apple will find out who will be their new city leader this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to send armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The contest has turned into an acrimonious showdown, marked by alleged 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 fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. On the establishment side is the former governor, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about two million New Yorkers, has led his rival by double-digits in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

This represents a rather grubby end to an election that could be critical to the path that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

If the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

However, if the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has angered the party base. A New York rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer the progressive agenda. 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 engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Negative Tactics

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

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting 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 discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had known him, and in reality, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has faced difficulties in recent days, after video emerged suggesting him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been influenced 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 the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a family member suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd