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Residents of the Big Apple will discover who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects 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 race for mayor that has pitted two very different Democrats against each other. The election has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, marked by accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, 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 Progressive Challenger

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the young democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and people-powered movement has brought global notice. On the establishment side is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- Democratic New York governor now campaigning independently – and enjoying the backing of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a agenda of affordability and pledged to freeze rent for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by significant margins across all surveys conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

Yet, Cuomo, who resigned as governor in recent years amid allegations of sexual harassment, has made it clear he will fight to the end, and not necessarily in an fair fashion. He has criticized his opponent's goals as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about Mamdani, who is Muslim. Recently, Cuomo was widely condemned as racist after posting an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racial caricatures and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

This represents a particularly ugly conclusion to an race that could be critical to the path that the party, floundering in its reaction to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

If the progressive secures a clear victory, the party establishment who have declined to support his bid will be compelled to address a platform that has resonated with Americans' frustration at inequality, soaring price rises and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to embrace at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about affordability, given the fresh face has generated an excitement within the party perhaps not seen since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

However, if Cuomo, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, complete a surprising comeback victory, it could cement national Democrats' existing approach of cautious, lackluster opposition – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade party leaders that the best plan is to stick to the center – even as polls show the current iteration of the Democratic party is widely disliked across the country.

Campaign Energy

Voters in the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that his backers are far more enthusiastic about their candidate than Cuomo backers, something that has been evident throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on social media, his optimistic vision for New York and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has drawn an army of over fifty thousand volunteers, many of them young or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, Cuomo, 67, continues to fight. And with the risks stacked against him, the ex-leader has resorted to negative campaigning in the final days.

Following extensive throwing basically everything at Mamdani to see what might stick, the independent has concentrated on targeting the candidate directly. He has called Mamdani, who was of Ugandan origin to South Asian heritage, an “extremist”, and appeared on Fox Business for an interview with a rightwing host, where Cuomo asserted the city “will not survive” his opponent as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when the former governor chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style attack.

Campaign Dynamics

The line of attack echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of wealthy residents, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should never have come to this. When Mamdani, one of 150 state legislators, started his campaign for mayor in October 2024, few had heard of him, and in reality, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in March 2025 and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who seemingly held every edge. The quintessential political insider, he had married a political dynasty member and served in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in over a decade ago, seventeen years after his father, the former governor, left office from the same position.

The progressive, who was voted in to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing no-cost transit and free childcare – along with the rent control promise – offer a more positive vision of the city's direction than Cuomo’s pessimistic predictions about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Recent Challenges

Still, Mamdani has faced some challenges in the final phase, after video emerged appearing to show him suggesting the New York police department and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the pressure of the NYPD is on your throat, it’s been laced by the Israeli military,” Mamdani said in the clip, filmed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2023. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, suggested he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

As the race closes, Mamdani appears to have won empathy and backing, however, for his response to his opponent's escalating attacks.

Mamdani addressed Cuomo’s terrorism comments in an emotional video. In it, the candidate recalled how, when he first ran for state assembly, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, Mamdani said, that many local Muslims had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the shadows of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those silence that we must set aside our faith.”

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