🔗 Share this article

New Yorkers will discover the identity of their new city leader this election day, in a race that will determine who governs and defends the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has threatened to deploy military troops to the urban center.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has matched two distinctly opposing Democrats against one another. The contest has become an acrimonious showdown, laced with accusations of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the ideological divide between the two main candidates that could have significant consequences for how the Democratic party fares in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

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 ex- Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will fight to the finish, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unrealistic, and in recent days laughed as a broadcaster made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was strongly criticized as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent releasing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, adopts in the near future.

Broader Consequences

If Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has resonated with Americans' anger at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be hard for the Senate leader and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the Democratic ranks arguably not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a remarkable riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could cement the party's current model of considered, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince party leaders that the wisest course is to remain in the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of New York seem to prefer the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent during the race. Mamdani's engaging content on digital platforms, his optimistic vision for the city and his willingness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the risks stacked against him, the former governor has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting Mamdani directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and popped up on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist attack.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and threatened to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that is expected. A set of wealthy residents, including some who contributed to Trump in the 2024 election, have pumped millions into trying to elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

For the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should never have come to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in last year, few had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

Cuomo, by contrast, eased his way into the race in this year and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the New York state assembly in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, Mamdani has encountered difficulties in recent days, after video surfaced suggesting him implying the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2023. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed the independent's terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for state assembly, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where followers of Islam could embrace their true selves, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith.”

Addressing the actions of Cuomo and Sliwa, who has claimed Mamd