🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will decide who governs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has vowed to send armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The election has become an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is the progressive, the former longshot who beat Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to freeze rent for about two million city residents, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who resigned as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is Muslim. Recently, the independent was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

This represents a rather grubby end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

If the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to Americans' 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 generated an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House in 2016.

However, if Cuomo, who had been predicted to win easily in the June primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of cautious, lackluster opposition – a tactic that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to remain in the political center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually get out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting Mamdani personally. He has labelled his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about the progressive, and maybe that is expected. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent elected, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, started his mayoral bid in last year, few had known him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The classic political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in recent days, after footage emerged suggesting him suggesting the NYPD 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 recording, recorded at a DSA gathering in 2023. Mamdani, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

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

The progressive addressed Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. 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 seclusion, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

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