🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will find out the identity of their new city leader this election day, in a contest that will determine who runs and defends the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has vowed to deploy armed forces to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democratic figures against each other. The contest has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led his rival by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, 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 allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Recently, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after posting an AI-generated ad that featured a series of racist stereotypes and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, floundering in its response to the former president's power moves, takes in the coming years.

Broader Consequences

Should the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has created an excitement within the party arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to win easily in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising comeback victory, it could reinforce the party's existing approach of considered, uninspiring resistance – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York defeat of Mamdani's optimistic platform could convince party leaders that the best plan is to remain in the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular nationwide.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in New York appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

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

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on targeting Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where the candidate asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect the independent elected, as other powerful voices have pressured Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this point. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty New York state assembly members, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, not many had known him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by contrast, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had married a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – present a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced appearing to show him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is committing genocide in Gaza, suggested he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested 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 hidden spaces alone where Muslims could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

Addressing the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd