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Residents of the Big Apple will learn who will be their next mayor this election day, in a race that will decide who runs and defends 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 experienced a mayoral election that has matched two very different Democratic figures against one another. The contest has turned into an increasingly bitter face-off, laced with alleged racial bias and anti-Muslim sentiment, but it is the political differences between the two main contenders that could have major implications for how the party performs in next year's midterm elections.

The Progressive Challenger

On the left side is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose rapid ascent and people-powered movement has attracted global notice. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the ex- New York governor now campaigning independently – 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 beat Cuomo in the party primary who is solidly positioned as the leading candidate. Mamdani, who has campaigned on a platform of economic justice and promised to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced his rival by significant margins in every poll conducted in the fall, and it is very much the younger man's race to throw away.

The Controversial Campaign

However, the former governor, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid allegations of misconduct, has made it clear he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized his opponent's objectives as unachievable, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made Islamophobic remarks about Mamdani, who is a Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as bigoted after sharing an artificial intelligence video that included a series of racist stereotypes and showed his opponent freeing a group of criminals.

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

National Implications

Should Mamdani wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have refused to endorse his campaign will be forced to reckon with a message that has appealed to voters' frustration at inequality, inflation and the political elite. It would be hard for Chuck Schumer and the House leader not to embrace at least a portion of the candidate's ambitious ideas about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an excitement within the party perhaps not witnessed since Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, should the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the June primary, complete a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches win, it could reinforce national Democrats' current model of cautious, uninspiring opposition – a strategy that has infuriated grassroots members. A NYC defeat of Mamdani's progressive, positive message could convince Schumer and Jeffries that the wisest course is to stick to the political center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is deeply unpopular across the country.

Voter Enthusiasm

Residents of the city appear to favor the Mamdani vision. Surveys show that his backers are much more excited about their candidate than his opponent's supporters, something that has been apparent during the race. The candidate's snappy videos on social media, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually get out and meet people in the city has attracted an army of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Negative Tactics

Yet, the former governor, 67, isn't giving up. And with the stakes against him, the former governor has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months launching various attacks at his opponent to see what might stick, the independent has narrowed his focus on targeting the candidate personally. He has called his rival, who was of Ugandan origin to Indian parents, an “extremist”, and appeared on conservative media for an interview with Maria Bartiromo, where the candidate asserted New York “will not survive” his opponent as mayor. It reached a nadir recently, 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 echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the military reserves to Washington DC and warned to take similar action to NYC, has said about Mamdani, and maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. A group of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the last presidential race, have pumped millions into trying to get Cuomo into office, as other powerful voices have urged Curtis Sliwa to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the Cuomo camp, and his billionaire supporters, are worried, it should not have reached to this. When the assemblyman, one of 150 state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in last year, few had known him, and in truth, few even paid attention.

The former governor, by comparison, eased his way into the contest in March 2025 and became the instant favorite. He was the political heavyweight who apparently held every edge. The quintessential establishment figure, he had wed a Kennedy and worked in a Democratic presidency. He became the state's leader in 2011, seventeen years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

The progressive, who was elected to the state legislature in 2020, does not have the same political heritage. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – offer a brighter outlook 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 recent days, after footage emerged appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD and the Israel Defense Forces were intertwined.

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

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, Mamdani seems to have gained sympathy and support, however, for his reaction to his opponent's escalating attacks.

The progressive responded to the independent's 9/11 remarks in an emotional video. In it, the candidate remembered how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle advised to him that he did not have to tell people about his religion. It was a lesson, he said, that many local Muslims had been told “again and again”: “That safety could only be found in the margins of our community. That it is in those hidden spaces alone where Muslims 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 set aside our faith.”

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