🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will decide who governs and defends the nation's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to send armed forces to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has run on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has outpaced his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing 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 the former president's power moves, takes in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' anger at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the party arguably not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could cement the party's existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York rejection of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or new participants.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, 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 his opponent to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting Mamdani personally. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani 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 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, 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 pumped millions into trying to get the independent elected, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, launched his mayoral bid in last year, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his father, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced difficulties in recent days, 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 boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is committing genocide in Gaza, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, 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 safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, 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 behavior of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has alleged Mamd