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Residents of the Big Apple will learn the identity of their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who governs and protects the country's largest city at a moment when Donald Trump has vowed to send military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has experienced a race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has become an acrimonious face-off, marked by accusations of racial bias 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 young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has attracted international attention. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- 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 the progressive, the one-time underdog who beat Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million city residents, has outpaced his rival by double-digits in every poll taken in October, and it is very much the progressive's election to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in recent years amid accusations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair 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 Muslim. Two weeks ago, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an race that could be key to the path that the Democratic party, struggling in its response to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has appealed to voters' anger at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the Democratic ranks perhaps not witnessed since the Vermont senator campaigned for the White House eight years ago.

However, if Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, achieve a remarkable comeback win, it could cement the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a tactic that has angered the party base. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the wisest course is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Voters in the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Polls show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than his opponent's supporters, something that has been evident during the race. The candidate's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for New York and his readiness to actually venture out and connect with voters in the city has drawn an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

Yet, the former governor, 67, continues to fight. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to ugly messaging in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on attacking Mamdani personally. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said Mamdani would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

The line of attack mirrors much of what the former president, who has deployed the national guard to the capital and warned to do the same to New York, has said about Mamdani, 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 elect the independent into office, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to drop out from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a political dynasty member and served in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, 17 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 free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a more positive vision of the city's direction than his opponent's pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Nevertheless, the candidate has faced difficulties in the final phase, after footage surfaced suggesting him suggesting the New York police department and the Israel Defense Forces were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the police is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” the candidate said in the clip, recorded at a DSA gathering in recent years. Mamdani, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the nation is engaging in atrocities in Gaza, suggested he was questioning cooperative programs between the NYPD and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a family member advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could express their true selves, and that if we were to emerge from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our beliefs.”

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