🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will discover the identity of their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who runs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has vowed to deploy armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has brought international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has run on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo 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, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unachievable, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, struggling in its response to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with Americans' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should Cuomo, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York defeat of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

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

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking the candidate personally. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get the independent into office, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the contest.

Political Histories

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held every edge. The classic political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in recently, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show him implying the NYPD 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 IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a DSA gathering in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to Cuomo’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 the legislature, a family member 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 taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could express 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.”

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