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Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their next mayor this Tuesday, in a contest that will decide who runs and defends the country's most populous metropolis at a moment when Donald Trump has threatened to deploy military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against each other. The election has turned into an acrimonious face-off, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading contenders that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

In the progressive corner is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought global notice. Representing the old guard is the former governor, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the backing of ultra-rich donors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is the progressive, the one-time underdog who defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the leading candidate. The candidate, who has run on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about 2 million city residents, has led Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in recent years amid accusations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will battle to the finish, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has trashed Mamdani's goals as unachievable, and in recent days chuckled along as a broadcaster made Islamophobic remarks about the candidate, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after sharing an artificial intelligence video that featured a slew of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a rather grubby end to an election that could be critical to the direction that the Democratic party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's power moves, adopts in the near future.

National Implications

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the party establishment who have refused to endorse his campaign will be compelled to address a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at economic disparity, soaring price rises and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to adopt at least a portion of Mamdani's ambitious ideas about affordability, given the newcomer has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president eight years ago.

However, should Cuomo, who had been predicted to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of cautious, uninspiring resistance – a strategy that has angered grassroots members. A NYC rejection of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince 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 widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city seem to prefer the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's engaging content on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the metropolis has attracted an force of over fifty thousand supporters, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes stacked against him, the ex-leader has turned to negative campaigning in recent weeks.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might resonate, the independent has concentrated on attacking the candidate directly. He has called his rival, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” Mamdani as mayor. It hit bottom last week, when the former governor laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a radio host said Mamdani would “cheer” another terrorist incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what the former president, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps 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 the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When Mamdani, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in last year, few had heard of him, and in reality, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by contrast, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who seemingly held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and served in a Democratic presidency. He assumed office as the state's leader in 2011, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the same position.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a more positive vision of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and rising criminal activity, and his vow to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

Nevertheless, the candidate has encountered some challenges in the final phase, after footage surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were intertwined.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of the Israeli government who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, indicated he was criticizing cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, Mamdani remembered how, when he first campaigned for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a realization, he said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those shadows 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 shadows that we must leave our beliefs.”

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