🔗 Share this article

Residents of the Big Apple will learn the identity of 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 send armed forces to the city.

Against that backdrop, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against one another. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by accusations of racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have significant consequences for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has brought international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent – and enjoying the support of ultra-rich donors and corporations.

With days to go, it is Mamdani, the one-time underdog who beat 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 pledged to freeze rent for about 2 million New Yorkers, has led Cuomo by double-digits in every poll conducted in October, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, Cuomo, who stepped down as the state's leader in recent years amid allegations of misconduct, has stated clearly he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an above-the-belt fashion. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch chuckled along as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was strongly criticized as racist 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 key to the direction that the party, floundering in its reaction to the former president's authoritarian grabs, takes in the near future.

National Implications

If Mamdani secures a clear victory, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least a portion of Mamdani's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the fresh face has created an enthusiasm within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been predicted to win easily in the June primary, achieve a surprising comeback win, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of considered, lackluster resistance – a tactic that has angered grassroots members. A NYC defeat of the progressive's progressive, positive message could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as surveys show the current iteration of the Democratic party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Polls show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for New York and his willingness to actually venture out and meet people in the metropolis has drawn an army of more than 50,000 supporters, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, in his late sixties, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on attacking Mamdani personally. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an "radical", and appeared on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It reached a nadir last week, when Cuomo laughed along and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

This strategy mirrors much of what Trump, who has deployed the military reserves to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to New York, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to the Republican in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to get Cuomo elected, as other influential figures have urged the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race.

Political Histories

For the Cuomo camp, and his wealthy backers, are concerned, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 New York state assembly members, started his campaign for mayor in last year, not many had heard of him, and in truth, few even noticed.

Cuomo, by comparison, entered smoothly into the contest in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, 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 father, the former governor, stepped down from the same position.

Mamdani, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his dedication to providing free buses and free childcare – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to hire more police officers.

Campaign Controversies

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

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your throat, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a DSA convention in 2023. The progressive, a longtime critic of Israel who has said the nation is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and Israeli forces.

Emotional Response

As the race closes, Mamdani seems to have gained empathy and backing, however, for his reaction to Cuomo’s increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to disclose about his religion. It was a realization, Mamdani said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where followers of Islam could embrace their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Speaking to the actions of his opponents, who has claimed Mamd