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New Yorkers will discover who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a race that will determine who governs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy armed forces 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 become an acrimonious showdown, laced with alleged racism and Islamophobia, 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

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the former longshot who defeated 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 New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a slew of racial caricatures and showed his opponent releasing a group of criminals.

It's been a rather grubby end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be forced to reckon with a platform that has appealed to Americans' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the Democratic ranks perhaps not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president eight years ago.

However, if the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of cautious, uninspiring opposition – a strategy that has angered the party base. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform 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 appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident during the race. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for the city and his willingness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, the former governor, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the stakes against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has labelled Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to New York, has said about the progressive, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw 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 the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held all the advantages. The classic establishment figure, he had married a political dynasty member and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen 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 comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, Mamdani has faced difficulties in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him implying the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a realization, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

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