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New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's largest city at a moment when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the urban center.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against one another. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by accusations of racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and grassroots campaign has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. 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 across all surveys conducted in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby conclusion to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to the former president's power moves, 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 compelled to address a platform that has appealed to Americans' anger at economic disparity, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult 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 Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

Conversely, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement the party's current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A New York rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as polls show the present version of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an force of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, Cuomo has narrowed his focus on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called Mamdani, 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 the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and warned to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to drop out from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in last year, few had known him, and in truth, barely anyone even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had married a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has encountered some challenges in recent days, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting 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 influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the recording, recorded at a DSA convention in recent years. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani 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 realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our beliefs.”

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