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Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who runs and protects the nation's largest city at a time when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has matched two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The contest has become an increasingly bitter showdown, marked by alleged racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former New York governor now campaigning independently – and benefiting from the support of ultra-rich donors and big business.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has led his rival by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who resigned as the state's leader in 2021 amid accusations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt manner. He has trashed Mamdani's objectives as unachievable, and in recent days laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after posting an AI-generated ad that included 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 key to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

Should Mamdani secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to adopt at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party arguably not seen since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of cautious, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A New York rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to stick to the political center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of New York appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has attracted an army of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them youth or new participants.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive launching various attacks at Mamdani to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on attacking Mamdani directly. He has labelled his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with a rightwing host, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It hit bottom recently, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this point. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, started his mayoral bid in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held all the advantages. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected 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 city's direction than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the recording, recorded at a DSA convention in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was questioning joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Emotional Response

With the election nearing, the candidate seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, 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 local Muslims 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 express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the behavior of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd