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New Yorkers will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will decide who governs and protects the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to send armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a race for mayor that has matched two very different Democratic figures against one another. The contest has turned into an acrimonious face-off, marked by alleged racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Progressive Challenger

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the young progressive candidate whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of wealthy contributors and corporations.

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 leading candidate. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and pledged to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has outpaced his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's election to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

However, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after posting an artificial intelligence video that featured a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani freeing a convicts.

This represents a particularly ugly end to an race that could be critical to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' anger at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for the Senate leader and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has created an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been predicted to win easily in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce national Democrats' existing approach of cautious, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A New York defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Campaign Energy

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

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the former governor has turned to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might resonate, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate directly. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and popped up on Fox Business for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said the candidate would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy mirrors much of what the former president, who has sent the military reserves to the capital and warned to do the same to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and perhaps that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who contributed to Trump in the last presidential race, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the race.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his wealthy backers, are worried, it should not have reached to this point. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, launched his mayoral bid in last year, few had known him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

Cuomo, by comparison, eased his way into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the big beast who seemingly held all the advantages. The quintessential political insider, he had wed a political dynasty member and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He became the state's leader in over a decade ago, 17 years after his father, the former governor, left office from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Recent Challenges

Still, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him implying the NYPD 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 clip, filmed at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, the candidate appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to Cuomo’s 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a family member advised 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 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 step out from those seclusion, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

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